Chord progression generator
A chord progression generator plays a progression in the key and style you choose. Pick one of the common progressions, pick a key, and hear the same chords as pop, house, lo-fi hip hop, trap or reggaeton, or press Surprise me for a random progression in a random key. No sign-up, nothing to install.
The chord progression generator
The four chords under half of pop.
- IC
- VG
- viAm
- IVF
Playing I–V–vi–IV in C major: C, G, Am, F, one bar each. The link in the address bar keeps your progression, key and style.
Make a track around these chords
The course teaches chords, keys and moods by ear, after the beat and the bass, all in your browser. Unit 1 is free with a Google sign-in.
Pick up where you left off
Carry on with Unit 1; chords come in Unit 4: Harmony.
How to use the chord progression generator
Pick a progression from the row of buttons. Each one is named in Roman numerals, which count the chords of a key from its home note, so the same progression works in every key. The numbers beside each name are how people search for it, like 1 5 6 4. Press play and the loop repeats, one chord per bar, with the chord playing now lit in the strip.
Pick a key to move the whole loop up or down: the chord names change and the shape stays the same. Progressions that start on the minor chord list their keys as minor keys, with the major key that shares their chords in brackets.
Pick a style to hear what a genre does to the same chords. The chords never change; the drums, the bass rhythm and the way the chords are played do. Pop strikes them on the beat, house stabs them off the beat, lo-fi spreads them into soft ninth chords, and trap holds one dark pad over an 808.
Surprise me picks a different progression and a random key and starts it playing. Keep pressing until something sounds like the start of a song.
What you just heard: I–V–vi–IV voiced as pop. Its own page plays it in every key and names songs that use it. The piano stabs and jazzy seventh chords patterns are the chord rhythms the styles borrow.
Every progression, in C major
The chords as plain three-note chords; the styles above add sevenths and ninths. Change the key in the player and this table follows.
| Progression | Chords | What it is | Play |
|---|---|---|---|
| I–V–vi–IV 1 5 6 4 | C – G – Am – F | The four chords under half of pop | |
| vi–IV–I–V 6 4 1 5 | Am – F – C – G | The same four chords, started from the sad one | |
| ii–V–I 2 5 1 | Dm – G – C – C | The turn at the heart of jazz | |
| I–IV–V 1 4 5 | C7 – C7 – C7 – C7 – F7 – F7 – C7 – C7 – G7 – F7 – C7 – G7 | Three chords over twelve bars | |
| i–VII–VI–V 1 7 6 5 | Am – G – F – E | Four chords stepping down a minor key | |
| I–vi–IV–V 1 6 4 5 | C – Am – F – G | The fifties progression, from doo-wop to now |