The circle of fifths has become increasingly useful to me over the past couple of years. The cycle is well documented so I’m not going to bother with a description of what it is or how to use it. Here I’ve compiled several mnemonics to aid in the recollection of the basic information contained in the cycle of fifths. A couple of the mnemonics are well known and one or two I’ve devised myself.
Firstly, the common ones (for details of how they work see the tables below):
- The sharp keys – Caroline Gets Drunk And Eats Butter Flies
- The flat keys – Caroline Fondles BEADS
That’s cool but I extended things somewhat to help me remember the actual sharps and flats in each key. The following tables are the ones I use.
Sharp keys
The formula for working out what sharp to add as you move from one sharp key in the cycle to the next is:
- Go up a fifth and sharpen the new 7th
So, if we start in the key of C we go up a 5th to G and sharpen the new 7th (F goes to to F#).
| I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | Sharps in key | |
| Caroline | C | D | E | F | G | A | B | |
| Gets | G | A | B | C | D | E | F# | F# |
| Drunk | D | E | F# | G | A | B | C# | F#, C# |
| And | A | B | C# | D | E | F# | G# | F#, C#, G# |
| Eats | E | F# | G# | A | B | C# | D# | F#, C#, G#, D# |
| Butter | B | C# | D# | E | F# | G# | A# | F#, C#, G#, D#, A# |
| Flies | F# | G# | A# | B | C# | D# | E# | F#, C#, G#, D#, A#, E# |
The sharps add up as you go along (start with F#, then add C#, then add, G# etc.) which results in this mnemonic to remember the order they are added in:
- Five Chinese Gentlemen Dining At Eight
Flat keys
The formula for working out what flat to add as you move from one flat key in the cycle to the next is:
- Go up a fourth and flatten the new 4th
So, if we start in the key of C we go up a 4th to F and flatten the new 4th (B goes to Bb).
| I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | Sharps in key | |
| Caroline | C | D | E | F | G | A | B | |
| Fondles | F | G | A | Bb | C | D | E | Bb |
| B (Bb) | Bb | C | D | Eb | F | G | A | Bb, Eb |
| E (Eb) | Eb | F | G | Ab | Bb | C | D | Bb, Eb, Ab |
| A (Ab) | Ab | Bb | C | Db | Eb | F | G | Bb, Eb, Ab, Db |
| D (Db) | Db | Eb | F | Gb | Ab | Bb | C | Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb |
| S (Gb) | Gb | Ab | Bb | Cb | Db | Eb | F | Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, Cb |
The flats add up again but notice that they follow the same order as the cycle except for the C which appears at the end rather than the start. This results in the following mnemonic to remember the order in which they are added:
- BEADS, Caroline!
The best mnemonics for the circle of fifths I have found so far. Thank you!
Two that I came up with, off the top of my head:
Sharps:
Can go down any escalator blindfold.
Flats:
Can fries be eaten and di-gested?
Nice!
I’m just beginning to learn a bit about theory from a book on folk songwriting, and I encountered the circle. So, I came up with my mnemonics last week, but today I thought “I can hardly be the first”.
The nice thing about your page is the added mnemonics for all the additional tidbits to know about various points on the circle.
(On other sites, I kept running into “Father Charles goes down and ends battle” or variations thereof a lot.)
I think coming up with your own mnemonics may actually help with remembering the information because you’re more engaged. Good luck with your investigations into music theory and glad my page was of help. There’s a lot to learn and I’ve only scratched the surface myself.
The mirror of 5ths/4ths and its universal mnemonic device is an alternative to the circle of 5ths. you can find it in the book the mirror of 5ths/4ths decoding the circle after 300+ years. check it out i know it will be of great help to many.
Hi Thomas. That sounds very interesting, although I think you should have called out that you are the author of the book you recommend (unless I am mistaken).
I’m not getting where the S comes from in the acronym BEADS
Hi Michael. You’re right, it is weak. The “Caroline” mnemonics are traditional ones – so not created by me – and the ‘S’ is somewhat out of place. Because it’s the last letter I just know it must be a G as it hasn’t appeared in the rest of the mnemonic and because we’re doing flats it must be Gb. Basically, I just know that S means Gb. Maybe you need to come up with a different mnemonic. All the best.
I’ve just started learning about the circle of fifths and came across Father Christmas Gave Dad An Electric Blanket. I noticed that the keys that use flat symbols add the flats in the opposite direction BEADGCF. So I’ve been trying to come up with a mnemonic that still scans if you recite it backwards.
That’s a good one – really easy to remember – but I prefer to start at C because that key has no sharps or flats.