In order to assist you with this, video game composer Sebastian Karikra has created Mindful Harmony, a free web-based composing tool that’s based on that old music theory staple, the circle of fifths.

The circle of fifths is a deceptively simple diagram that lays out every musical note, key, three-note chord and scale, and charts the relationship between them. A bit like a musical version of the ...

The circle of fifths looks confusing but it's only ever here to help. And a basic understanding of what it's trying to tell you could lead you down a whole new creative superhighway.

A major chord is made up of the scale degrees 1, 3, and 5, use those notes on the circle to draw a triangle from C-E-G for C major. Now anywhere that triangle moves will be a major chord.

The circle can show you the diatonic chords for the parallel key to the one you’re currently in. Choose your tonic note, then locate its parallel key by finding the same note on the other ring.

Picture: Classic FM Because of how the circle is arranged, Chord V (E) and Chord IV (D) can be found immediately to either side. So far so good. But there’s more: the other three diatonic chords in ...