When the term 'fifth' is used in music it is usually referring to a perfect fifth. A perfect fifth is five staff positions up or down from any other note including the starting note. A D up to an A, an E to a B, and an F to a C are all perfect fifths. We need to get a little more specific and say that a perfect fifth is seven semitones, or half-steps away. We say this because a perfect fifth up from B is not an F, but instead an F#. Sometimes a perfect fourth (five semitones/half-steps away) is used instead of fifth. Starting on any note. A fourth can easily replace a fifth because a fourth down, and a fifth up (or vise versa) will land on the same note. |
Memorizing the circle of fifths can seem like a difficult task, and having to count seven semitones for each note is even harder. Luckily string players have an easy cheat sheet right at their finger tips. Our strings are a perfect fifth apart! Bass strings are a perfect fourth, but as discussed earlier, if you just reverse the steps a perfect fourth, and perfect fifth will be the same note.
If you start on any C on the instrument, and move up to a higher string (lower for bass) you will go directly to the fifth above it, and the next letter in the circle of fifth. Up a string from a C will take you to a G, up from G will take you to D, and so on. You can see visually with the red arrows going clockwise around the circle, and with the blue arrows going counter clockwise. Starting on a C and moving down a string (up for bass) you will be moving down a perfect fifth. C will take you to an F, F to B-flat, B-flat to E-flat. Soon you run out of strings, but you can still go to any note on the instrument, and do the same technique to find the next note in the circle. |