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Hi @lisa18wheels ,
Here’s how I was able to “memorize” the circle of fifths. (I don’t really memorize, I see relationships that allows me to reconstruct it.)
So lets’ start with the mnemonic, “Fat Cats Go Down Alleys Eating Bats”. These are all seven notes in the “5ths” order. If you go backwards, they are the 4ths order.
Now, notice the the first sharp is F. But F is sharped in the key of G, because the key of C has no sharps or flats. So we start with the key of G, but our mnemonic is the order of sharps. So, G has 1 sharp, F. Then D has 2 sharps, F and C. Then A has 3 sharps, F and C and G. Starting to see the pattern? We can jump to B since it is a fixed pattern. If we start counting from G, B is number 5, to there are 5 sharps. What at they? F, C, G, D, A. Now, you can work out the “cross overs” on your own as they get too muddy to cover here. I will mention them at the end just so you know what I mean by the “cross overs”
Now, let’s go back to C and go in the other direction. Again, our string of letters in that particular order is important (F C G D A E B). The key of F has 1 flat. What is it? Start at the other end and go backwards. It is a B. Continuing to the left, the next key is B, and it has 2 flats, B and E. The next key is E and it has 3 flats, B, E, and A. See the pattern? This pattern is a little more complicated, so let’s not jump ahead. Ok, the first key with a flat is F, then B, then E, then A, then D. We’ll stop at 5, and I’ll explain. The flat notes are B, E, A, D, G.
Now, starting at the top you have C. Going to the right by fifths, you have the keys of G, D, A, E and B. Those are the most common keys with sharps. Then going to the left by fourths, you have F, B, E, A, and D. Again, most common.
Here’s where it gets muddy. C# and Db are called enharmonic notes since they are the same note with 2 names. So, the key of Db with 5 flats is an enharmonic key. There is also a key of C# with 7 sharps. They have the same notes with different names. (Yes, you end up with an E# which is actually an F). You can work this out yourself. So, going farther around the bottom of the circle, you have the key of Gb with 6 flats, and is the same as the key of F# with 6 sharps. (The key of F# has an E# and the key of Gb has a Cb). One more, the key of B has 5 sharps and is the same as the key of Cb with 7 flats. You can use pencil and paper and work these out for yourself.
Notice, that all of this uses the same 7 notes in the same order like they are in a circle. The order remains the same no matter which direction you go or where you start. When we started adding sharps, the first one was F. So, when you get to the key of C#, the last letter to be sharped was B. But when we started adding flats, the first one was B, so the last one added when we got to the key of Cb was F.
Anyway, because of that simple mnemonic giving me the order of the 7 notes, and working things out in my head literally hundreds of times, I was able to type all of this out of my head very quickly. Most people just use the Circle of 5ths.
MG 😀