Chord Progression Generator

About the Chord Progression Generator

Make a chord progression for a song in any key. Choose a scale — major, natural or harmonic minor, Dorian, Mixolydian, Lydian or Phrygian — and a mood, then pick one of 24 well-known progressions (I–V–vi–IV, the ’50s progression, ii–V–I, the 12-bar blues, the Andalusian cadence, the royal road, Pachelbel’s Canon and modal vamps) or let the page write a new one from the usual moves of tonal harmony. Every chord is shown with its Roman numeral or Nashville number and a guitar, ukulele or piano diagram.

Play it back at any tempo as held chords, a pulse, an arpeggio or a strum, with a bass line, and loop it while you try out a melody. Keep the chords you like and roll new ones around them, change any chord to another chord of the key or a borrowed one, switch to seventh chords or added colour, transpose, and see which capo makes it easiest on guitar. Download MIDI gives a chords part and a bass part with the key, tempo and time signature for any music app, and Copy chord chart a plain-text chart, both with a pass or after unlocking this result.

Common uses

• Starting a song: a progression in your key and mood to write a melody or lyrics over.
• Practising chord changes on guitar, ukulele or piano at a slow tempo, then faster.
• Learning how the famous progressions sound in every key, and why they work.
• Making a MIDI backing part to load into a music app and build an arrangement on.
• Writing charts for a band in Roman numerals or Nashville numbers.

Roman numerals and Nashville numbers

Each chord is named by the step of the scale it is built on: I to VII, upper case for a major chord (I, IV, V), lower case for a minor one (ii, iii, vi), ° for diminished (vii°) and + for augmented. A ♭ or ♯ in front is read against the major scale of the key, as pop and jazz charts write it: ♭VII in C is B♭, and in A minor the progression i–♭VII–♭VI–V is Am–G–F–E. Extensions follow the numeral: V7, Imaj7, iiø7 (half-diminished). The Nashville number system writes the same thing with numbers (1, 4, 5, 6m), which is why one chart works in every key.

How new progressions are made

A new progression starts on the home chord and moves the way tonal harmony usually does: the home chords (I, vi, iii) can go anywhere, the “predominant” chords ii and IV lead to the dominant chords V and vii°, and the dominants resolve home (or to vi for a surprise). Each move is drawn at random with weights for these tendencies, the mood shifts the weights (sad moods lean on vi, iii and IV; epic ones bring in ♭VI and ♭VII; jazzy ones favour ii–V), a chord is never repeated straight away, and the last chord is one that leads back to the first, so the loop repeats smoothly. Modal progressions keep returning to the chord that gives the mode its colour (IV in Dorian, ♭VII in Mixolydian, II in Lydian, ♭II in Phrygian). The results are starting points to play with, not finished songs.

Seventh chords and colour

Seventh chords turns each chord into the seventh chord the scale builds on it: Cmaj7, Dm7, Em7, Fmaj7, G7, Am7 and Bm7♭5 in C major. Chords written with a seventh keep it, so the 12-bar blues stays I7, IV7 and V7, and a chord borrowed from outside the scale takes the seventh the scale has: II and III in a major key become the dominants II7 and III7 (A7 and B7 in G major), and ♭VII in A harmonic minor becomes G7. With colour adds a ninth to the home chord (Cadd9), the scale’s seventh to the IV and V chords (Fmaj7 and G7 in C major, G7 for IV in D Dorian) and a seventh to minor chords (Am7), always with notes of the scale: in A harmonic minor, whose seventh note is G♯, the home chord becomes Am(add9) rather than Am7.

The progressions in the list

• I–V–vi–IV: the most common pop progression (the “Axis” progression).
• vi–IV–I–V: the same four chords starting on the minor chord: emotional pop and ballads.
• IV–I–V–vi: another rotation of the pop progression, rising and hopeful.
• I–vi–IV–V: the doo-wop or “’50s” progression.
• I–vi–ii–V: the ’50s progression with ii in place of IV, also a jazz turnaround.
• I–IV–V–I: the three primary chords: folk, country, rock and roll.
• IVmaj7–V7–iii7–vi: the “royal road” progression (ōdō shinkō) of Japanese pop.
• I–V–vi–iii–IV–I–IV–V: the chords of Pachelbel’s Canon.
• ii7–V7–Imaj7: the basic cadence of jazz.
• Imaj7–vi7–ii7–V7: the jazz turnaround that loops back to I.
• vi–ii–V–I: roots falling by fifths into the home chord.
• 12-bar blues: the basic twelve-bar blues with seventh chords, ending on V to go round again.
• 12-bar blues, quick change: the twelve-bar blues with IV in the second bar.
• I–♭VII–IV–I: the Mixolydian rock progression with the flat seventh chord.
• i–♭VII–♭VI–V: the Andalusian cadence of flamenco, stepping down to a major V.
• i–♭VI–♭III–♭VII: the pop progression seen from its minor chord: film and stadium songs.
• i–iv–v–i: the three primary chords of the natural minor key.
• i–iv–V–i: the minor key with the major V of harmonic minor: a strong pull home.
• iiø7–V7–i: the minor-key jazz cadence.
• i–♭VI–♭VII–i: a rising minor rock and film progression.
• i7–IV7 (Dorian vamp): two chords with Dorian’s major IV: funk, soul and jazz.
• I–♭VII (Mixolydian vamp): the flat seventh chord as the colour of rock jams.
• I–II (Lydian vamp): the major II of Lydian: floating film-music colour.
• i–♭II (Phrygian vamp): the half step above the tonic: dark, Spanish or metal.

Playback and the MIDI file

On piano each chord takes the inversion that moves least from the chord before (a smooth “voice leading” around middle C), with the bass playing the root below; on guitar and ukulele each chord plays its first shape, strummed from the low string. The MIDI file is a Standard MIDI File (format 1) with a Chords part and a Bass part on their own channels, 480 ticks per quarter note, the tempo, the time signature and the key signature. It uses General MIDI instruments: Acoustic Grand Piano, a steel-string or a nylon-string guitar (General MIDI has no ukulele) and Acoustic Bass.

Capo suggestions

With guitar diagrams and no capo, the page tries every capo position from fret 1 to fret 7 and adds up how hard the shapes of all the chords are there. When a capo makes the whole progression clearly easier, it says which fret, and Use capo redraws the diagrams with frets counted from the capo. E♭–B♭–Cm–A♭, for example, becomes the C, G, Am and F shapes with the capo on fret 3.

Limitations

• New progressions follow the common rules of tonal harmony; they are starting points and can sound plain.
• The sounds are made in your browser (a plucked string and a simple piano tone), not recordings; the MIDI file plays with the instruments of your own music app.
• One progression at a time: songs with several sections, key changes or tempo changes are not built here.
• MIDI notes sit on a strict grid with simple accents, with no swing or human timing.

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