The Circle of Fifths

The name of the Major Key for each key signature is outside the circle (in upper case). The name of the Minor Key for each key signature is inside the circle (in lower case). The three enharmonic equivalent keys are on the bottom.

Three Facts on Related Keys

The key on either side of a note has one pitch difference. C Major has a B natural, F Major has a Bb. The other 6 pitches are identical. The Key of C and F are related. Major and Minor keys that have the same key signature use the same 7 pitches. They have different tonic (starting) notes. G is the Major key and Em is the relative minor key. The Major and Minor keys that have the same tonic (starting) note are called Tonic Major and Tonic Minor, or Parallel Major and Parallel Minor. The key of G and Gm both have the same tonic (starting) note. Observe that they do not have the same key signature. They only have four of the seven notes in common, but because of the same tonic (starting) note, these keys are related.