Guitar Lesson - THE CIRCLE OF FIFTHS

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mikegeorge.locals.com/post/41...
00:00 - Introduction
00:42 - Making sense of chords
02:41 - Using the circle of fifths
07:50 - Song summary
All the best songwriters use the circle of fifths to write good music. That's because it’s like a map musicians have in their heads - of how chords are related, which helps them navigate through harmonic space. In this video, I explain using Paul Simon’s masterpiece, “Kodachrome” from 1973.
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Songwriting is fun when you can actually see what you're doing. I use the familiar patterns of color to explain music theory so you can write songs.

[@Nour_Meka]

Man i am so happy that you are uploading. Keep it up 👍🏻 we are waiting for the next video🎉

[@mikegeorge360]

Cheers -- much more to come. 🤘

[@lukeroberts3464]

@@mikegeorge360 Are studio albums big or small compared to a chapter book 📕 📖 📚? And in your own opinion It is a cohesive collection of songs used to tell a bigger theme or project an overall vibe. Think of an album as a book. And your songs as chapters. Every book has chapters. Every album has songs. Each chapter is different. Each song is different. But the collection of chapters (the collection of songs) is what tells the full story of the book (of the album) 💿. Usually the songs on an album are the result of an artist's creations during a season of life. This means the songs can all speak to a similar set of themes, ideas and topics. So the aim of an album name is to try and sum up the big story/concept that all the songs pull from when they were written. It's not always like these, especially today. But traditionally, an album is like a "book" with the songs inside being like "chapters." You agreed 👍 chapters in a book yes taking taking the different song sections and compiling them building out a story is like a mini book with different chapters and uh adding in those details to make the song really shine . Chapters of the book are very detailed and some people say instead of track one they say chapter one yeah . so with the different uh uh the analogy to storytelling is is maybe not even an analogy it might even be like exactly the same because the song lyrics are in essence telling a story um other people who said the music of the words uh or the music of the words then the Rhythm then the bass then the basic Baseline Melody then tweak the words then detail of the melody harmonies then transitions then tweak the harmonies then recycle ♻. Song title plus numbers equals 🟰 chapters lyrics equals 🟰 details. Are studio albums are leaning towards mini which is small book 📕 or full book 📕 📖 📚 both mini and full book 📕 📖 📚 chapter book 📕 📖 📚 which is In my opinion the number is a chapter which means a main division of a book, typically with a number or title while the song title is a song title more of chapter 1 leaning towards book 📕 📖 📚. It dosen’t matter how you say it if an album total 🟰 duration is about 29:25 and it has about 10 chapters it would considered a mini book 📕 📖 📚 but an album that has 8 chapters and the total 🟰 duration is about 49:37 it would consider as a full book 📖 📕 📚 to me it dosen’t matter how long or short the albums are but in my preference albums are books 📖 📚 📕. But what’s your own opinion about it? Are studio albums are leaning towards chapters In my opinion the number is a chapter which means a main division of a book, typically with a number or title while the song title is a song title more of chapter 1 leaning towards book 📕 📖 📚.

[@donindri]

The colors used with chords and the circle of 5ths makes more sense to me than individual notes. Thanks for posting

[@aivantg]

This is great! It's nice seeing the relationships between the chords on the circle of fifths visualized. I recently started to understand the relationships between notes, but it feels like there's a name for every chord in relation to another within a given key. I want to learn more about which relationships are special and why they sound good, and the visuals here are useful!

[@PlenumGaming]

Love this series.

[@mikegeorge360]

Thank you!

[@sfawsf]

I love how much more comprehensive your circle is than most circle fifths layouts. You not only include the extra circle for the relative minors but a third circle to include each keys diminished chord. Would there ever be a reason to include a 4th circle? If so what would be the interval to include on that circle? Perhaps the Tritons? Curious to see what you think about an additional 4th circle.

[@sfawsf]

Tritons* KZbin isn’t letting me edit my typos. Also How can I get a copy of your version of the circle of fifths?

[@mikegeorge360]

Other rings are possible for sure, such as the augmented chords for Harmonic minor progressions. You'll find resources in the shop link of the video notes. Cheers.

[@lukeroberts3464]

Think of an album like a movie or a book. Directors and writers order their scenes and chapters in a very specific way to illuminate narrative and thematic content, and in any good film or piece of literature, each section builds off the others so that there’s a satisfying conclusion. But at the same time, it’s not something that calls attention to itself, since each part works together organically to make this seamless whole. Are album 💿 are like a movie 🍿 or book 📖 or only movie or book 📖 or both movie 🍿 🎥 and 📖?

[@michaelbaudin]

Magistral!

[@thetinkercook5430]

Great theory explanation¡ Thank you

[@bohnulus]

very helpful Mike.

[@classicalguitarLAM]

Great video bro!! Pretty refreshing

[@nightlytunes]

I was struggling to fully grasp how to use chord progressions for the past while now and this video makes everything very clear. Thank you for this. Also, is there a way to purchase this exact coloured circle of fifths wheel you featured in the video?

[@mattwoodman3017]

Thank you!! I am actually starting to understand circle of fifths now!!!!! Btw- would the secondary dominance chords that you showed here, are those considered Borrowed chords?? Also, where can we get a circle of fifths diagram with the rotating "key" diagram thing that you have ,my friend! Wow! You really explained it well for me!!

[@mikegeorge360]

While "borrowed chords" are often pulled from parallel modes, these secondary dominants are borrowed in the sense that they come from other keys as well. You'll find resources in the shop link of the video notes. Cheers.

[@user-sv9by7vf5g]

สอนดีมากครับ แม้ผมจะฟังไม่ค่อยเข้าใจ ในภาษาพูด แต่ดนตรีที่คุณสอนเป็นภาษาสากล ขอบคุณครับ 🧡🙏

[@rodneyhallsworth8954]

Very nice lesson Mike, and I of course followed your discussion with my new ChordMap. Your singing and playing are very good. Could you please provide a strum pattern at least for the verse.

[@mikegeorge360]

Thank you, Rodney -- very cool. I tagged you on post 220 in the Library just now with an approximation of the strum pattern. Cheers.

[@Fretnagin]

Thank you. Where can we purchase the tool you used?

[@pathstopeace9515]

Where can I buy the circular tool Mike's using?

[@allentaylor3325]

huh? feeling quite dumb right now. perhaps i will understand one day ... but not this one! thanks anyway. your videos are very well produced.

[@kachiyoungsoul9690]

I would love to make one of these, I’ll definitely also put solfa notation on mine cos I think solfa really helps me. Any tips on crafting this circle of fifths? I really like how it spins

[@VirtuousHereticKristin]

He sells them. You can write on it with a dry erase marker.

[@kachiyoungsoul9690]

@@VirtuousHereticKristin I live in Lagos, Nigeria 🇳🇬 not sure if they can deliver across the Atlantic 😔

[@VirtuousHereticKristin]

@@kachiyoungsoul9690 If UPS will deliver to you, you can buy one. They're currently sold out, but should be back early July.

[@tonyjones1560]

Is it too much to say, “If you don’t learn much or anything else, get the Circle of Fifths down”?

[@tuna22lm]

Well I tried to join your group today and they wanted a username so I tried 3 different ones that I knew I would not forget because I am 70 years old now and they were all rejected even though I had the right amount of letters so I said to heck with it an got out of that page, I haven't made up my mind about unsubscribing wouldn't be a big loss to you anyway as I can't even afford to donate at all. Did love your channel,content and the way you teach.

[@johnhancock1748]

@5:26 im lost now

[@DragoJack95]

So I had to watch another video to figure it out. So basically what he means by major five, is that III (Db/C#) is 5 steps up from iv (F#m). vi(1step),vii(2step),I(3step),II(4step),III(5step). Keys that are 5 steps apart are called Perfect 5s which is what he is referring to with major 5. Since III and iii share the same color in the pattern it can replace vi since it is iv's perfect 5. Hope that kinda helps, I'm still learning too, I might be a little wrong and I know you commented this 8 months ago but I was also confused here.😅 Watch a video about perfect 5s and his other one he did after this one, Songwriting with Chord Substitutes. That might help it make sense, that's what I did.

[@PiyushKumar-ru6io]

I feel so stupid.

[@jackdelainey8229]

I had a lot of a ha moments watching this live. I was over complicating everything 🤦

[@user-xm6vp8eb6n]

Sorry but should have picked a song that stays within the main key(s). Would have far more valuable.

[@RyderGemini]

Your graphics are tite. I'm slapping an extra string for the 7 string guitar or what I like to call the instrument Jesus would play.

[@RickMcCargar]

The "E"s are like the "E"s. F# is like the other F#, etc. The colors just complicated it. And as I noted the first time I saw you introduce colors to demystify the fretboard, your colors are such non-contrast that it becomes an additional jumbled mess. I get it, you are hanging your hat on this color system, but to me, it just looks worse. Which is a pity, because you do a great job explaining things. The markers on your fretboard make it look like a jumbled mess. sorry...I think this is a bad way to do it, and I say that as someone who wants to learn more. I just don't want unnecessary complications, particularly color schemes that have too little contrast to actually stand out edit: had you just pointed to the similar chords and said they could be considered equivalent, it would take a fraction of the time, we'd get the point, then you could tell us, if you thought it useful, why the chord type was varied at certain points.

[@gregmonks]

Cycle of fifths, not circle. Get that right before you think you're qualified to teach others.