Coltrane

Shapes in the tone circle

John Coltrane once sketched the twelve notes as a circle crossed by lines and shapes, and gave the drawing to his friend Yusef Lateef. These are a few toys for playing with it. Turn on your sound.

Built on Tom Schroeder’s “Coltrane’s Tone Circle”, which decodes the diagram in depth. Read it first, or after.

01 The circle

The big notes step clockwise by fourths. Between each pair, four small notes climb chromatically and alternate between two rings, which are the two whole-tone scales. The degrees in the middle stay put while the notes rotate under them, so every shape reads the same in any key.

14♭7♭3♭6♭2♭573625CC♯DE♭EFF♯GA♭AB♭BCC♯DE♭EFF♯GA♭AB♭BCD♭DE♭EFF♯GA♭AB♭BCC♯DE♭EFF♯GA♭AB♭BCC♯DE♭EFF♯GA♭AB♭BC
KeyC

Triangle · C+

Stacked major thirds make an augmented triad. Only four exist. Pick E♭+ to see the keys of Giant Steps.

C · E · A♭

02 Giant Steps

“Giant Steps” moves between three keys a major third apart. On the circle that is a triangle, so the music keeps jumping a third of the way around. Press play and watch it rotate.

14♭7♭3♭6♭2♭573625CC♯DE♭EFF♯GA♭AB♭BCC♯DE♭EFF♯GA♭AB♭BCD♭DE♭EFF♯GA♭AB♭BCC♯DE♭EFF♯GA♭AB♭BCC♯DE♭EFF♯GA♭AB♭BB

The three keys, B, G and E♭, sit a major third apart: the corners of the triangle.

Bmaj7D7
Gmaj7B♭7
E♭maj7
Am7D7
Gmaj7B♭7
E♭maj7F♯7
Bmaj7
Fm7B♭7
E♭maj7
Am7D7
Gmaj7
C♯m7F♯7
Bmaj7
Fm7B♭7
E♭maj7
C♯m7F♯7

03 Interval stars

Lay the twelve notes out chromatically and keep stepping by one interval. Some intervals trace a single star through every note. Others close early and leave the octave in pieces.

CC♯DE♭EFF♯GA♭AB♭B

Visits all 12 notes before coming home.

Only steps that share no factor with 12 (half steps, fourths, fifths and major sevenths) reach every note. That is why the circle of fourths works. Steps that divide 12 evenly break into the symmetric shapes from the circle: triangles, squares, hexagons and the tritone line.