Circle of fifths · click a key to jump there
Neighbours on the circle share 6 of 7 notes, so moving one step sounds smooth. Outer ring = major keys, inner ring = their relative minors (same notes). The number is the key signature.
How to use
- Click or drag across the piano to play. Touch works too.
- Computer keyboard plays only scale notes: A S D F … ; walk up the scale from the home note, Q W E … is one octave higher and Z X C … one octave lower. No wrong notes possible ✧
- 1–7 load the chord on that scale step into the Chord Crafter. Space plays the scale. Esc stops everything.
- Chord Crafter: (1) choose a chord by its relationship to the key, (2) build it: triad, added notes, bass note, (3) follow "Where next?" to hear good moves. The Voicing bar applies to every chord played and stays as you left it. + Add puts a chord in My progression, which moves with you when you change key.
- Degrees (1, ♭3, ♯4 …) count from the home note: ♭ = one key lower than in the major scale, ♯ = one key higher. They're the "numbers" trick for writing melodies down.
- Ambient recipe: turn on Drone, pick the Pad sound and Sustain, then play slow notes from the scale. End phrases on 1, 3 or 5.
- Hold several notes and the bar under the piano names the chord: its notes, its Roman numeral in your key, and which notes are outside the scale. Try A + D + G together (scale notes 1, 3, 5).
- MIDI keyboard: plug it in, then press 🎹 Connect MIDI (Chrome, Edge or Firefox; Safari has no MIDI support). Velocity and the sustain pedal work. Lock to scale applies to it too.
- Reading the piano: gold = home note, blue = in the scale, grey = outside it. Pink circles are the exact notes of the current chord (the darker one is its root), and pink rings are the same notes in other octaves. Pressed keys turn green, or orange if the note is outside the scale. A note beyond the keyboard's range lights up in the nearest octave that fits.
- The page link remembers the key and scale, so you can share it.