Cycle of Fourths (4ths) in Jazz
In This Section:
THE DIFFERENCE - CYCLE OF FOURTHS & FIFTHS?
The only difference is really in the direction in which you travel around the circle. Look at the diagram and you will see that if you travel anti clockwise, the intervals are intervals of a fifth downwards. If you travel clockwise, the intervals are a fourth downwards.
A descending fifth is an important interval. When chords move from a dominant seven down a fifth to a tonic, this is a perfect cadence, a very strong movement which is often denotes the end of a phrase or the entire tune. As you may imagine, there is some confusion, as some people refer to the cycle of 5ths as the cycle of 4ths.
