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Why the Circle of Fifths is Not a Chart of Chord Progressions, and the "Circle Progression" is Not Very Useful Either
The circle of fifths does not work as a chart of chord progressions. On Figure 58 above, start at the top of the circle of fifths with the first chord, which is C, the tonic chord in the key of C. Then, moving counter-clockwise around the circle, progress to the next “chord,” which is F. Now you have a perfectly good two-chord progression in the key of C, namely C progressing to F.
So far, so good.
However (continuing counter-clockwise), the next “chord” you progress to is B♭. Now you’ve got a problem. The chord B♭ is not a chord in the key of C. Therefore, at this point you've actually exited the key of C.
As you progress the rest of the way round the circle of fifths, you do not re-enter the key of C until you get to the “chord” G.
Clearly, then, any notion that the elements of the circle of fifths have anything to do with chord progressions is wrong. The circle of fifths shows relationships among and between keys, not relationships among and between the chords of a given key.
To summarize, the circle of fifths does not work as a chord progression device. That’s the job of the circular harmonic scale—which also happens to be circular in shape, but has no functional relationship with the circle of fifths.
As for the circle progression, introduced earlier, it closely resembles the circular harmonic scale, but has limited usefulness in several important respects. Table 44 (B) summarizes these differences:.
TABLE 44 (B) Summary of Differences Between the Circle Progression and the Circular Harmonic Scale
Circle Progression |
Circular Harmonic Scale |
|
|---|---|---|
Number of Versions |
Two—one version for major key progressions and one for minor key progressions. | One—a single version shows the chords of both the major and relative minor keys (or vice-versa). |
Tonic Chords Identified Per Circle |
One per circle. | Two per circle—the major key tonic chord and the minor key tonic chord. |
Dominant 7th Chords Identified |
None—dominant 7th chords are not shown on either the major or the minor versions of the circle progression. | Two—the dominant 7th chords for both the major and relative minor keys (or vice-versa) are shown. |