Use the Riptide Guitar’s Guitar Circle of Fourths to Get the Tones of Any Scale or Chords of Any Key

The Guitar Circle of Fourths rocks. It does. You can use the Guitar Circle of Fourths to work out the tones of any scale or chords of any key.

In Riptide Guitar’s Guitar Circle of Fourths, I showed you how you can find the Guitar Circle of Fourths on the fretboard.

MINOR 5 (MINOR PENTATONIC)

• The intervals of any minor pentatonic scale: m3 M2 M2 m3 M2
• The intervals of E Minor 5 from E: m3 P4 P5 m7 P8

The Visual Way:

1. Pick your tonic
2. The P5 is to the first left of your tonic
3. The P4 is to the first right of your tonic
4. The remaining two tones are to the right of the P4
5. The 2nd remaining chord is the 2 chord of the scale
6. The 1st remaining chord is the 4 chord of the scale

THE BLUES

• The Blues scale is the minor pentatonic scale with the TT added.
• The intervals of any minor pentatonic scale: m3 M2 m2 m2 m3 M2 
• The intervals of E Blues from E: m3 P4 TT P5 m7 P8
• The Blues splits the second M2 of the pentatonic scale into two m2.

The Visual Way:

1. Use the Riptide Guitar Circle of Fourths™
2. Use the Visual Way to get your tones for Minor 5.
3. Add the TT.
4. The TT is directly opposite of the tonic on the Guitar Circle of Fourths.

E MAJOR 5 (E MAJOR PENTATONIC)

• Any major 5 scale flattens the 2, 3 and 5 of the minor 5 scale.
• The intervals of any major pentatonic scale: M2 M2 m3 M2 m3
• The intervals of E Major 5 from E: M2 M3 P5 M6 P8
• The major 5 swaps the 1 and 3 and the 4 and 5 of a minor 5 scale.

The Visual Way:

1. Pick your tonic
2. The P5 is to the first left of your tonic
3. The rest of the tones are to the left of the P5
4. Two left from the tonic is the M2
5. Four left from the tonic is the M3
6. Three left from the tonic is the M6

E MAJOR 7 (E IONIAN)

• Any Major 7 scale adds the P4 and the M7 to the Major 5 scale.
• The intervals of any major 7 scale: M2 M2 m2 M2 M2 M2 m2
• The intervals of any major 7 scale from the tonic: M2 M3 P4 P5 M6 M7 P8
• Any Major 7 has two Major tetrachords (2-2-1) that hinge around a M2.
• The hinge is a P5 from the tonic and starts the second tetrachord.

1. Take the tones of the minor 5 and flatten the 2, 3 and 5.
2. Add the P4 and the M7.

The Visual Way:

1. Use the Visual Way to get your tones for Major 5.
2. Add the P4.
3. The P4 is to the first right of your tonic
4. Add the M7.
5. The M7 is right seven of your tonic
6. Another way: The M7 is left one of your TT and your TT is opposite your tonic.

CHORDS OF A MAJOR KEY

• The root of the chords of a major key match the tones of the Major 7 (Ionian) scale. 
• The intervals of Major 7: M2 M3 P4 P5 M6 M7 P8 
• The perfect tones root the major chords. 
• The major tones root the minor chords. 
• The M7 chord is a diminished chord. A diminished chord is like a minor chord with a flatted 5th. The intervals of a diminished chords: m3 m3. 

The Visual Way:

1. Pick your root
2. The P5 is to the first left of your root
3. The P4 is to the first right of your root
4. The remaining four chords are to the left of the P5 and before the TT
5. The 2 chord is first
6. The 4 chord is third
7. The 6 chord is second
8. The 7 chord is fourth

The Step Way:

1. Pick your root
2. The P5 is -1
3. The P4 is +1
4. The M2 is -2
5. The M3 is -4
6. The M6 is -3
7. The M7 is -5

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Riptide Guitar’s Guitar Circle of Fourths

Many try to teach from the Circle of Fifths.  The Circle of Fifths is useful for general music theory.

The Circle of Fifths diagrams the relationship of the 12 tones of Western music. Specifically, the Circle of Fifths arranges the 12 tones of music so the next tone is a P5. On the guitar, a P5 is seven frets higher than the last tone.

As you should recall from the lesson on intervals, intervals have inverse relationships, which depend on the direction you’re going. So the inverse of P5 is a P4.

In the above, the sequence for the major keys follows the Circle of Fifths. Each successive tone is a P5 above the preceding tone. Circling in the opposite heading, the Circle of Fifths becomes a Circle of Fourths.

You should know already that from Low pitch E, the intervals (successive tones) of the strings are perfect fourths (P4) from head to toes, except between G and B, which is a Major 3rd (M3). So instead of a Circle of Fifths, guitarists should want a Circle of Fourths. 

But guitarists shouldn’t want any old Circle of Fourths. Guitarists should want the Riptide Guitar’s Guitar Circle of Fourths™. It’s a Circle of Fourths made for guitarists!

The Guitar Circle of Fourths starts with E the same as the guitar does. And this Guitar Circle of Fourths is so powerful that you will learn guitar so much faster with it.

Let’s see how you can put to work the Guitar Circle of Fourths straight away. Let’s use the Guitar Circle of Fourths to learn the Circle of Fourths on the guitar once and forever. 

As an added bonus, you can work on your fret-board mastery. 

The E at the 12 o’clock matches the low E on your guitar, that is the E closest to your chin. 

1. Pluck the first four strings as open to sound E-A-D-G.
2. The next string is B. Fret the 1st fret on B, which is C.
3. Now remember, the E strings are the same, so skip the high E and circle back to low E.
4. Fret the 1st fret on low E, which is F.
5. Fret the 1st fret on A, which is B♭.
6. Fret the 1st fret on D, which is E♭. 
7. Fret the 1st fret on G, which is A♭. 
8. Fret the 2nd fret on B, which is a D♭. 
9. Fret the 2nd fret on E, which is a G♭. 
10. Now remember, the E strings are the same, so circle back to low E.
11. The next string is A. Fret the 2nd fret on A, which is a B. 

So once you get this into your mind, permanently, you will have the Guitar Circle of Fourths always at your finger tips. And with this, not only can you learn the fret board with ease, but you can master it.

It’s really this simple. If you know the name of a tone on one fret, you can figure out the names of the tones above or below using the Guitar Circle of Fourths.

How awesome is that?

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