Songwriters
Get past the blank page: generate a verse, lock the chorus you like and hum a melody over the loop. Sing it into voice to MIDI to keep it.
Chord Progression Generator: Build Progressions You Can Hear and Export
ToMIDI is a free chord progression generator for songwriters, producers and players. Pick a key, one of seven modes, a tempo and 4 to 16 chords, then start from one of 48 documented progressions in 11 styles or let the rule-based generator write a new one. Lock the chords you like and generate the rest, or set any chord by its Roman numeral, borrowed chords and secondary dominants included. Hear it loop with smooth voice leading, a rhythm and a bass line, read the chords on piano and guitar, transpose them, copy them, share a link or download MIDI for your DAW, all in your browser.
- 48 Documented Progressions
- Lock and Regenerate
- Piano and Guitar Diagrams
- Free MIDI Download
Free · runs in your browser
Style
Documented progressions
C major
Documented: Axis (four-chord pop)
Transpose
1
2
3
4
Chord 1
CI1
C major · Tonic · In the key
Notes: C E G
Fits here
In the key
Borrowed
Secondary dominants
Colour
Bass note
Sound and feel
Instrument
Chord size
Voicing
Voice leadingEach chord takes the inversion that moves the voices least
BassSmooth picks inversions so the bass moves by step (C – G/B – Am)
Rhythm
Beats per chord
Bass line
Swing
On the piano
1CIGuitar chord shapes
Space play / stop · R generate · 1–8 select a chord · L lock · ↑↓ change chord · [] transpose · Ctrl+Z undo
Chords come from functional-harmony rules and documented progressions, not an AI model. No melody, nothing uploaded.
What a Chord Progression Generator Does
A chord progression is the order of chords under a song, such as C, G, Am and F looping under a pop chorus. A chord progression generator writes that order for you; some call it a chord sequence generator. It starts from a key, so every chord belongs together, and follows the habits of real songs: the I chord feels like home, IV lifts, V pulls back to I and vi turns it sad. This one shows each chord as a name, a Roman numeral or a Nashville number, plays it with voicings that move smoothly, and lets you change anything it chose. To see all the chords of a key around the wheel, open the circle of fifths.
Generate a ProgressionWhen a Chord Progression Maker Idea Sounds Off
A generated loop is a start, not a finished song. When it does not sound right yet, it is usually one of these, and each has a control:
- Too plain: every chord comes from the key. Swap one for a borrowed chord such as iv or ♭VII, or lead into a chord with its secondary dominant.
- Too jumpy: root-position chords leap around the keyboard. Voice leading picks the inversions that keep shared notes and move the rest by a step.
- Too stiff: a block chord on every beat sounds like a metronome. Pick a rhythm such as Pop strum or Up & down and add a bass line.
- Too short or too long: four chords loop like a chorus, eight or more tell a story. Set any length from 4 to 16.
- Wrong key for the singer: transpose the whole progression a semitone at a time until it sits in their range.
Why Use This Chord Progression Generator
Most chord progression generator pages hand you four chord names and stop. This one plays them, explains them and lets you keep going.
Beat writer's block
One click gives you a progression that fits the key and the style. Do not like it? Press Generate again.
Keep what works
Lock the chords you love and generate only the others, so a good idea never gets thrown away with a weak one.
Theory you can see
Every chord carries its Roman numeral and its role, so you learn why a progression works while you use it, with no theory needed to start.
Sounds like music
Smooth voice leading, ten rhythm patterns, swing and four bass lines make the loop sound like a song, not a chord chart.
Piano and guitar
See the chord on a piano keyboard and as a guitar chord diagram, ready to play on the instrument in your hands.
Free MIDI download
Download the progression as a .mid file for any DAW, copy it as text or share a link. No account, no watermark.
How to Use the Chord Progression Generator
From a blank page to a loop in your DAW in four steps.
Choose a key note and a mode, from major and natural minor to Dorian or Mixolydian, the tempo and 4 to 16 chords. Not sure of your song's key? The key finder reads it from a recording.
Tap a style such as Pop, Jazz or Lo-fi and choose one of its documented progressions, or press Generate for a new one that follows the rules of the key. A style also sets its own tempo, rhythm and sound.
Lock the chords you want to keep and generate the rest, or click a chord to pick another from the key, a borrowed chord or a secondary dominant.
Loop it with a rhythm and a bass line, transpose it if you need to, then download MIDI, copy the chords or share a link.
Step 1 · Set the key, mode and length
Chord Progression Builder Features
Create chord progressions, shape them, hear them and keep them on one page, with the same chords in view the whole time.
Styles, 48 documented progressions and a random chord generator with rules
Start from a sound you know: Pop, Rock, Jazz, Blues, Lo-fi, R&B / Soul, EDM, Cinematic, Classical, Sad or Happy, each with the progressions it is known for, from the Axis loop and the 12-bar blues to Pachelbel's Canon and the Andalusian cadence. Or use it as a random chord progression generator: Random follows only the rules of the key. It is never a dice roll. Chords move from home to the predominant to the dominant and back, every secondary dominant resolves, and the last chord leads back to the first so the loop works. Each result says where it came from: documented, a variation on one, or rule-based.
Try a StyleLock the chords you like, regenerate the rest
Found a great first chord and a perfect last one? Lock them, by the button or the L key, and press Generate. The chord progression generator keeps the locked chords in place and writes new ones around them that still fit, so you can try idea after idea without losing your favourite part. Each slot also has a New chord here button, plus undo and redo.
Lock and RegenerateEdit with Roman numerals: borrowed chords and secondary dominants
Click any chord to open the picker. Fits here ranks the chords that suit their neighbours, then come the seven chords of the key, borrowed chords such as iv, ♭VI or ♭VII for a bittersweet colour, and secondary dominants such as V/vi that lean into the next chord. Give a chord its own colour (7th, 9th, sus2, sus4, add9, 6th or power chord) or another bass note for a slash chord like G/B. Want to name a chord you found by ear instead? The chord finder does that.
Edit a ChordVoicings, rhythm patterns and a bass line
With voice leading on, each chord takes the inversion that moves the voices least, the way a pianist would play them, in close, open or drop 2 voicing. Smooth bass walks the bass line by step, as in C, G/B, Am. Choose one of ten rhythms, from Block and Pulse to Pop strum, Charleston and Waltz 3/4, add swing, and pick a bass line: roots, root and fifth, eighths or walking. Set 40 to 220 BPM and loop it while you write a melody on top. The sound is a simple piano, guitar or keys synth that runs in your browser.
Hear the LoopPiano and guitar diagrams, Roman or Nashville view
The chord you pick or hear lights up on a four-octave piano, and the chords get guitar diagrams chosen to stay close on the neck; click one for another shape. That makes the page a guitar chord progression generator and a piano chord progression generator at once. Switch the labels between chord names, Roman numerals and Nashville numbers, and transpose the progression a semitone at a time while the numerals stay put.
See the DiagramsDownload MIDI, copy the chords or share a link
Download MIDI saves what you hear: the rhythm, a chords track, a bass track when the bass line is on, the tempo, the key signature and the chord names as markers. Drag it onto a track in FL Studio, Ableton Live, Logic Pro or GarageBand. Copy gives four lines of text: the key and tempo, the chord names, the Roman numerals and the Nashville numbers. Share link opens the same key, chords and sound for a bandmate. Open the MIDI in the MIDI editor to change the rhythm note by note.
Download MIDIA Real Chord Progression Generator Result
The Axis progression in C major, then one borrowed chord and a new key. This is what the chord progression generator shows, voicings included.
What you are looking at
The pop style's Axis progression gives C, G, Am, F, the I, V, vi and IV of C major and the loop under countless choruses. Voice leading keeps the right hand still: C to G moves two notes, and Am to F moves just one, E up to F. Lock C and swap the last chord for the borrowed minor iv, Fm, and the end of the loop turns bittersweet before it lands home again. Transpose up to G and the names become G, D, Em, Cm while the numerals stay I, V, vi, iv.
How the Chord Progression Generator Picks Chords
No AI and no black box: the chord progression generator follows rules written by hand from the way songs and theory books use chords, so you can see why every chord is there.
It starts at home and loops cleanly
Progressions usually open on the tonic, or on vi in some pop and sad styles, and the last chord is chosen so the jump back to the first one works.
Chords move by function
Tonic leads to predominant, predominant to dominant, dominant home, with the deceptive V to vi and rock's V to IV where the style allows.
Styles set the flavour
A style changes which chords are likely, how often borrowed and secondary chords appear, and whether it starts from one of its documented progressions.
You have the last word
Every rule can be overruled: lock a chord, pick a numeral, or keep a progression the rules would never write.
Chord Progression Generator Comparison
Three free chord progression generator pages side by side, facts as of November 2026 from each page: openmusic.ai/chord-progression-generator and jukeblocks.io/free-tools/random-chord-progression-generator.
| This siteToMIDI | OpenMusic AI generator | Jukeblocks random generator | |
|---|---|---|---|
| How chords are chosen | Music theory rules you can see | AI that analyzes hit songs, per the page | Random, within the scale |
| Keys and modes | 12 keys, 7 modes | Key and mode menus | 12 keys, 8 scales |
| Length | 4 to 16 chords | Not stated | 4, 6 or 8 chords |
| Styles | 11 styles plus Random | Style menu | No |
| Lock chords and regenerate | Yes | No | No |
| Roman numerals | Roman or Nashville | No | Yes |
| Playback | Loop with rhythm and bass | Play with an instrument | No |
| Piano and guitar diagrams | Yes | No | No |
| MIDI | Free .mid download | Export MIDI | No |
| Account | None | Free tier, sign-up offered | None for the tool |
Who Uses a Chord Progression Maker
A chord progression maker helps anyone who needs chords before the rest of the song arrives.
Producers and beatmakers
Use it as a chord generator for MIDI: pick the Lo-fi or EDM style, download the .mid and drop it on a synth in your DAW.
Guitarists
A guitar chord progression maker and a chord maker for guitar, with a diagram per chord. Practise changes in any key, then check a shape in the chord finder.
Pianists and keyboard players
A chord progression generator for piano that shows smooth voicings, so you learn to move between chords without jumping.
Students and teachers
Hear what I, IV, V and vi do, try a borrowed chord or a secondary dominant, and read the chord progression numbers as you go.
Composers for games and video
Sketch a Sad or Cinematic mood in seconds, then build the cue from the MIDI. Need it as audio? Render it with MIDI to MP3.
Chord Progression Generator FAQ
Straight answers to what people ask before they generate a progression.
What is a chord progression generator?
It is a tool that writes a series of chords for you in a chosen key, so you can start a song without working out the harmony by hand. This online chord progression generator also plays the chords, shows them on piano and guitar and gives you a MIDI file.
What is a chord progression? What are chord progressions made of?
A chord progression is the order of chords a song moves through, such as C, G, Am and F. What are chord progressions made of? Chords from one key, named by their place in it with Roman numerals, so I, V, vi and IV mean the same pattern in any key.
How does it choose chords? Is it an AI chord generator?
It is not an AI chord generator, and no model runs anywhere. Each mode has a table of likely moves written by hand: home to predominant to dominant and back, with the deceptive V to vi and the moves each style favours. Generate samples a few dozen candidates, scores them on likely moves, variety and a clean loop back to the start, and keeps the best. Some styles start from one of their documented progressions instead.
Is this chord progression generator free?
Yes. Use the chord progression generator online as often as you like: it needs no account, has no limit on generations and puts no watermark on the MIDI. It runs in your browser, so nothing is uploaded.
Can I use it as a random chord generator?
Yes. Choose the Random style and press Generate for a random chord progression in your key, as often as you like. It works as a random chord chooser that still makes musical sense, and locked chords stay put on the next roll.
What do the Roman numerals and Nashville numbers mean?
They are chord progression numbers: each chord is named by the scale step it is built on. In C major, I is C, IV is F, V is G and vi is Am; capitals are major, lowercase is minor. The Nashville number system writes the same chords as 1, 4, 5 and 6m, counted from the major scale of the key note, and switching to that view turns the page into a quick Nashville number system app.
What is a borrowed chord or a secondary dominant?
A borrowed chord comes from a parallel mode, like F minor (iv) borrowed from C minor in a C major song. A secondary dominant is the V of a chord other than the tonic, like E (V/vi) leading into Am. Both add colour while still sounding planned, and the picker lists both with their numerals.
What are good chord progressions for beginners?
Start with I, V, vi, IV (C, G, Am, F), the Axis pop loop; I, IV, V, IV for rock; ii, V, I for jazz; and i, VI, III, VII (Am, F, C, G) for a minor mood. All of them are among the documented progressions, and the circle of fifths shows why they work.
Which key or mode should I pick for a mood?
Major sounds bright and settled, natural minor darker and harmonic minor more dramatic. Dorian is minor with a warmer lift, Mixolydian is major with a bluesy flat seventh, Lydian floats and Phrygian sounds tense. The key itself matters less than the singer's range, so pick the mode for the mood and transpose for the voice.
Can I use it as a chord progression generator for guitar?
Yes. Every chord gets a guitar diagram, chosen to stay near the others on the neck, and the Guitar sound plays those exact shapes, so it works as a guitar chord progression generator and a chord creator for guitar at once. A few rare chords have no easy shape. Transpose to a guitar-friendly key such as G, D or E if the shapes feel hard.
Can I use it as a random piano chord generator?
Yes. The chord you select or hear is drawn on a four-octave keyboard in the voicing that plays it, so it doubles as a random piano chord generator and a chord progression generator for piano practice.
Can I use it as a chord generator for MIDI in FL Studio, Ableton or Logic?
Yes. Press Download MIDI and drag the .mid file onto an instrument track. The chords arrive with the voicings and rhythm you heard, on a chords track, with the bass line on its own track when it is switched on. You can also copy the chord names as text.
Can I save or share a progression?
Yes. Share link copies a web address that opens the same key, chords, colours, inversions and sound, so you can bookmark it or send it to a bandmate. Locks are not saved in the link.
How do I write a song from a chord progression?
Loop the chords and hum over them until a melody sticks, then record it into voice to MIDI. Use one progression for the verse and a variation for the chorus, for example by locking the first chord and generating the rest.
Can it find the chords of a song I am listening to?
Not this page: it writes new progressions. To estimate the chords of a recording, use the chord finder in recording mode, or get the notes first with our audio to MIDI converter.
Does the chord progression generator work on a phone?
Yes. On a phone the chords sit four to a row, the piano scrolls inside its own frame and the guitar diagrams sit in a strip you can swipe. On a computer, Space plays, R generates, L locks and the [ and ] keys transpose.
More Music Theory Tools Beside the Chord Progression Generator
Take Your Chord Progression Maker Ideas Further
Edit the MIDI, hear it rendered, write it out or add a melody.
- Online MIDI EditorFix notes in a piano roll and export.
- Online MIDI PlayerPlay MIDI files with a piano roll view.
- MIDI to MP3 ConverterRender MIDI to MP3 with real instruments.
- MIDI to Sheet MusicTurn a MIDI file into printable notation.
- Voice to MIDIHum, sing or whistle a melody into notes.
- Song to Piano NotesGet piano notes and sheet music for a song.
Ready to Build Your Next Progression?
Pick a key and a style and let the chord progression generator above write the first draft. Lock what you like, change what you do not, and take the MIDI to your DAW. Free, right in your browser.