by A lot of people make a big deal about the circle of 5ths.
If you open up pretty much any music theory book, you’ll find the circle of 5ths. If you take music theory classes, you’ll be told about exactly how ‘essential’ the circle of 5ths is. Even some bass teachers extol the virtues of the circle of 5ths.
I’m calling B.S. on it though.
The circle of 5ths should be WAY down on the list of priorities as a bass player.
Why?
Simply put, the circle of 5ths doesn’t have a solid practical application for playing bass.
Every once in a while, I’ll get an email from a student or a comment on the site about the circle of 5ths and what’s the best way to learn it. But my answer is usually the same:
Don’t worry about learning it right now. There are so many other things that will help you improve so much more than learning the circle of 5ths.
For some people, this is liberating – they’re free from having to learn this ‘thing’ that doesn’t seem to make any sense.
Other people though – especially the ones who had to learn the circle for whatever reason – get up in arms when you suggest the circle isn’t worth it. They had to learn it, so everyone else should have to go through what they did.
Like I say in today’s video, you don’t need to learn it and I’ll show you:
- Why you shouldn’t learn circle of 5ths (until you’ve taken care of some other, far more important parts of your playing)
- The data that proves the circle is optional – you don’t need to learn it
- Why the biggest reason to learn the circle of 5ths doesn’t make sense when it comes to bass
- Who should learn the circle – the list is pretty short
Check out the lesson here:
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If you’ve found the circle of 5ths useful in the past, that’s great; but, I’m afraid to say you’re in the minority – and I have the data to prove it.
By the way, this isn’t about discouraging you from learning the circle of 5ths. It’s about encouraging you to focus on the things that will actually make a meaningful difference in your playing BEFORE going seeking out these cerebral, high-level ideas.
So what do you think?
If you have any kind of opinion about this, I’d love for you to leave me a comment on the YouTube video. I’ll be in the comment section over there for the next little while because I know this will probably ruffle some feathers, but that’s OK.
Good luck with the lesson and happy playing!
Cheers,
I couldnt agree more. I think the circle of fifths is a con, its just a visual way of showing something that we need to understand but it doesnt help you to learn the info so to me its a waste ot time and energy – pianist
There is a lot on internet about circle of fifths, but nearly nothing practical, The best for me was simple explanation from Jermaine Griggs from HearAnd Play gospel music, where he describes pasing between chords (or bass notes) as circular movement vs stepvise movement. I for one never have memorized this circle of fifths, but I extensively use it in my playing on bass and piano. It is a way of dramatizing and reharmonizing simple concepts in much more sophisticated and pleasing music imo. But to memorize it, is probably the same pain as to learn most of theory rigorously. Some people play by feel and ear, some play according to some system of thoughts, or just plain reading, some combine it all. But as for most of us, music is supposed to be a joy and we need to find our way of how to do it ourself. If you play by feel, you still need to comunicate it somehow, if you play with other people. So you need to be somewhat predictable and great way of agreeing on progression as you play live is to communicate in number system of intervals. This is where circle of fifths often comes into play if you use such bits and peaces of it like 2-5-1, or 6-3-2-5-1, or even 7-4-6-3-2-5-1 lol. Anyway have fun with music and do not be to hard on yourself 🙂