During that time I just play simple things like my CAGED exercise around the circle of 5ths

[Mike A]

Griff mentioned this in his blog today. I kinda understand The circle of fourths and a little of the circle of fifths but then I get confused. I have tried to learn it a couple times as long as it stayed elementary I was OK. So I was hoping that someone or even Griff could give an example of how he practiced This going around the circle of fifths. I wasn’t sure where to post this as it was in Griffs blog this morning.

 

[MikeS]

He uses the Circle of 5ths to work his way through all the chords so that he's not doing them in alphabetic order (I think).. Start with one shape and play all the chords using that shape, then move to the next note in the circle of 5ths and play all the chords using that chord shape.

Or I may have that backwards.
I'm now thinking that he plays for instance a C chord using all the chord shapes (E, G, A, C, D) then moves to the next note in the Circle of Fifths and plays that chord using all the shapes....

 

[snarf]

I'm now thinking that he plays for instance a C chord using all the chord shapes (E, G, A, C, D) then moves to the next note in the Circle of Fifths and plays that chord using all the shapes....

This is what he would do. He'd take that C chord and play it up and back down the neck using each of the different shapes. Then he'd move to G and play it the same way, up and down the neck using each of the shapes. Then he'd move to D. Rinse, repeat until he had played through the Circle. 60bpm I think is what he suggested in the course.

Edit to add: Use your AAP and check out video Circle of 5ths Connections in the Mastering the CAGED Shapes in Practice in the CAGED course. Griff demonstrates it for you there.

 

[Paleo]

He also follows the Circle in his "Learning Notes On The Guitar" lesson. It's just a way to make sure you hit every key/note without just going up in half-steps.

In CAGED you start with playing a C chord in the 5 shapes, then a G chord, D chord, etc. going around the circle as shown on page 9 in CAGED Unleashed.

C G D A E B F# C# Ab Eb Bb F C

The "easiest" way to think about the circle is:

If you start with a C Major scale, the 5th note is G, i.e. up a 5th.

Then in a G Major scale, the 5th note is D.

In D, the 5th note is A.

etc, etc. around the circle.

If you go the other way:

The 4th note in C Major is F, i.e. up a 4th.

The 4th note of F Major is Bb.

etc, etc, around the circle in "reverse".


To the right (clockwise) is always up a 5th, all the way from Cb around the circle to C#.

Going to the left is always going up a 4th, in the reverse order all the way from C# back to Cb.

What gets a bit confusing is that going up a 5th gets you the same letter name or key as going down a 4th and vice versa.

 

[Mike A]

He also follows the Circle in his "Learning Notes On The Guitar" lesson. It's just a way to make sure you hit every key/note without just going up in half-steps.

In CAGED you start with playing a C chord in the 5 shapes, then a G chord, D chord, etc. going around the circle as shown on page 9 in CAGED Unleashed.

C G D A E B F# C# Ab Eb Bb F C

The "easiest" way to think about the circle is:

If you start with a C Major scale, the 5th note is G, i.e. up a 5th.

Then in a G Major scale, the 5th note is D.

In D, the 5th note is A.

etc, etc. around the circle.

If you go the other way:

The 4th note in C Major is F, i.e. up a 4th.

The 4th note of F Major is Bb.

etc, etc, around the circle in "reverse".


To the right (clockwise) is always up a 5th, all the way from Cb around the circle to C#.

Going to the left is always going up a 4th, in the reverse order all the way from C# back to Cb.

What gets a bit confusing is that going up a 5th gets you the same letter name or key as going down a 4th and vice versa.

Will it go round in circles?
Will it fly high like a bird up in the sky?
Will it go round in circles?
Will it fly high like a bird up in the sky?

 

[Paleo]

And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look behind
From where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game