Hey Friend,

Okay, where were we?

Oh yeah, the key of E major. Next up in the harmonic progression is A major acting as the IV chord. 

A major was also the last key we studied before coming to E major. As I was thinking about that, I realized there's another pattern emerging about the Circle of Fifths that had been hiding in plain sight in front of me.

We know that to figure out which key comes next as you work clockwise around the circle, all you have to do is count up five scale degrees (notes). That's fifth note is the next key in line. 

Here's the little pattern that revealed itself to me today - the IV chord of the key you're working in also happens to be the I chord (root) of the previous key.

Look at these scales:

Do you see the patterns? The 5 notes tell you which key comes next in the circle, and the 4 note reminds you what key came beforehand. From a harmonic standpoint, the I,IV and V chord are all major.

Maybe this doesn't sound all that interesting to you. Or maybe it seems like one of those rabbit holes you can find yourself lost in from time to time. I guess that's the music geek in me, always on the lookout for ways to help learn and remember the secrets of the notes and fingerboard.

Here's a way you can identify the 1, 4 and 5 notes on the fingerboard: if you place your index finger across two strings, your finger is fretting the 1 and 4 notes from the scale of the key.

For example, put you index finger on the sixth and fifth strings, fifth fret. The notes are A and D, the 1 and 4 notes form the key of A major. If you move two frets up on the fifth string, that's E, your 5 note from the key of A.

Knowing where these notes fall helps you to memorize the fingerboard, and helps to remind you of where you can play certain chords and scales.

Questions? Comments? Let me know. Happy Friday!

Peace~

Dave