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Major, minor and the circle of fifths
We have only looked at the circle of fifths (or maybe better: the cycle of fifths) for major scales.
You could make the same cycle for minor chords. That however is a lot of work.
It is better to dive deeper in the relation, or parallels, between major and minor.
We already saw that C major and A minor consist of the same tones:
The sixth tone of C major is the A.
This parallel is valid for all major scales. E.g. The scale of F major is:
F - G - A - Bb - C - D -E
The sixth tone is D.
Now we know the scale of D minor: same tones as F major, but we start on D:
D - E - F - G - A - Bb - C
Here is an overview of all major and related minor scales:
With sharps:
C -> Am
G -> Em
D -> Bm
A -> F#m
E -> C#m
B -> G#m
With flats:
F -> Dm
Bb -> Gm
Eb -> Cm
Ab -> Fm
Db -> Bbm
Gb -> Ebm
Note! In the above "major" is not written, while "minor" is abbreviated to a "m". This is common: if it is major, there is no indication,
if it is minor, it is indicated.
Sometimes a little horizontal line is written in stead of "m":
A minor = Am = A-
Let's add the minor scale to the cycle of fifths scheme:
I suggest we no longer call this the circle of fifths, but the "Bat of Flats and Sharps"!
