If you’ve studied many music instruction books you may have read the admonition after a musical example: “Practice this in all of the keys”. This is easier said than done, and where exactly do I start?
Maybe try the keys you use the most, but often just learn it in one key and move on?
By using the Circle of Fifths you can learn your musical ideas all over the neck and it will sound more like music because the Circle is where many common chord progressions come from. Once you look at it for awhile you will begin recognizing chord progressions you are familiar with.
Use the note chart that you made for your tuning and move your lines around to fit the Circle.
In the case of this ii/V/I progression, look at the wheel and see that the chords start at the desired spot with a minor seventh chord and go one step counter-clockwise to the V7 chord and one more step to the destination or “home” key. This is an easy way to find references to iiV/I progressions and where their target home chords are. Everything in this example moves in a counterclockwise direction. You can use little pieces of the Circle for practice or reference and always know that the progression will make musical sense.
The Clockwise direction gives the chords moving up in fourths just like using your A and B pedals on the E9th.
By being familiar with the Circle of Fifths your knowledge of chord progressions will grow and what may have seemed mysterious will start to make more sense,
Giant Steps, anyone?
