The circle of fourths is actually just an overcomplication of the circle of fifths and only useful if you haven’t mastered the keyboard (Affiliate-Link)Ne, keine PC-Tastatur... schau rein bei Amazon!¹ backward… As we know, a circle of fifths shows us the key signatures of the various scales. To do this, starting from C, we always jump a fifth higher for the sharps. So it goes: C, G, D, etc., for the sharps (G major one sharp, D major two, etc.). Normally, for the flats, we would start the whole thing ‘backward’ starting from C, i.e., always going down a fifth: C, F, Bb, etc. Now, with the circle of fourths, logically we jump up a fourth from C and arrive at the same result: C, F, Bb, etc… So, with the so-called circle of fourths, we can calculate the flats by always jumping up a fourth instead of down a fifth. However, you only need this if you haven’t mastered the keyboard backward… Actually, the circle of fourths is unnecessary and only overcomplicates the otherwise simple circle of fifths… By the way, the circle of fourths also works ‘backward’: for the sharps.
