Circle of 5ths Info

[ghodaddyyo]

My guitar teacher gave me an acronym for memorizing the sharps: Fat, Cats, Go, Down, And, Eat, Birds. F#,C#,G#,D#,A#,E#,B#
However, I still need my diagram to figure out how far from the key of C my target key is. For instance, If someone asks "How many sharps are in the key of A"? I look to my diagram and see that it is 4 keys down(in the diagram) and then I apply my formula; 4 sharps: F,C,G, and D. Besides memorizing, are there any tricks to knowing how many sharps to a key without consulting a diagram or counting on your fingers?

[StoneDragon]

Hey... that fat cat stuff is pretty hip http://www.zentao.com/ubb/cool.gif

I was on this other theory site that used Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle... now that is lame.

Did he give you one for memorizing flats?

One thing that has helped me is to see the circle on the guitar neck. So when someone asks how many sharps in the key of A, I see my guitar neck in my head... sure beats dreaming about some crummy diagram http://www.zentao.com/ubb/smile.gif

[ghodaddyyo]

I haven't learned the flat side yet, but I know he has an acronym for that as well. About visualizing the circle of 5ths on the guitar neck, how would you go about doing that? Major scales and memorizing what notes are in the scale? I'm trying to find tricks to aid me in my memorization.

[StoneDragon]

Well... since a picture is worth a thousand words, and it would take at least twice that many words for me to try and explain it....

Here's a couple of pictures http://www.zentao.com/ubb/smile.gif

Circle of 5ths with number of #s in each key:
www.zentao.com/guitar/circleof5ths.gif (http://www.zentao.com/guitar/circleof5ths.gif)

Circle of fourths with the number of bs in each key:
www.zentao.com/guitar/circleof4ths.gif (http://www.zentao.com/guitar/circleof4ths.gif)

[ghodaddyyo]

So...If someone randomly asks me what the sharps are for the key of E, I use your circle of 5ths method, starting at the C note on the 5th string, ping-pong between the 5th string, and the sixth string on the dotted frets arriving on the count of 4 at the E note on the 5th fret. The majic number being 4, apply Sharp Acronym giving: 1=Fat, 2=Cats, 3=Go, and finally 4=Down.

Or did I just confuse the whole thing? http://www.zentao.com/ubb/confused.gif

[StoneDragon]

Works for me http://www.zentao.com/ubb/smile.gif

[ghodaddyyo]

Very cool! http://www.zentao.com/ubb/smile.gif Thanks for the help!

[lutzow]

If you know the 5 basic patterns and the 3 notes per string system and then be able to memorize the scale tones, that will do you for playing but if you can read and write then I guess you need to know if the note your playing is flat or sharp but Im not worried about it

[ghodaddyyo]

Hello all, I'm just trying to rehash this thread as I'm still not confident with my knowledge here yet. I took a beating taking that "Interval Test" over at Wholenote.com, and they don't give very good lessons about understanding intervals.

Anyone have any acronym for Flats yet? I seem to have the most trouble when I'm trying to find the intervals of a flat root.http://www.zentao.com/ubb/smilies/frown.gif

[Guitarzan]

Check out this PDF lesson. You can print out the quiz pages and take the test until you get it. Get it?
http://www.zentao.com/ubb/smilies/smokin.gif

http://www.guitar4u.com/library/articles/fundamental/Interval.pdf

[OmniAxiS]

haha i was just rereading this thread and i made up my own little acronym. Fat Chicks Get Dumped And Eat. =? anyways, what i did to memerize all the keys was repitition. my teacher says that to really have the keys down, u gotta be able to spit it out without hesistaion. when u can do this, u pretty much have the keys down. He told me about how he would perform with some guys on stage and when they wanted to change keys, he would hold three fingers down (for instance) to tell the other guys that the key they were gonna go to next was Eb (three flats i Eb scale). very handy

[ghodaddyyo]

Guitarzan, I checked out your link and I've got to say that this was one of the most usefully informative instruction on the subject of intervals, I've read to date. Thank you very much. If anyone else ever had trouble with making sense out of intervals, I highly recommend reading the link.

[ghodaddyyo]

WooHoo! I can Ace that Wholenote.com Interval test now! I only get wrong answers when I'm careless. When I get them wrong, I can go back and say "oh, yeah! Stupid me!". This is all due to Guitarzan's link above. Thanks again dude!

[Fins]

I like Father Charles why. Because you don't need to memorize flats just turn father Chares around... Battle Ends And Down Goes Charles's Father.
Hope that help.

[ghodaddyyo]

That was just so obvious that I now feel like a moron! I guess genius lies in simplicity. Thanks for finally giving me an answer. I've been trying to come up with something catchy all this time, and just ended up memorizing them in the process!

[StoneDragon]

Yeah.... that's probably why that one is pretty standard. I still like the Fat Cats though.