This guide explains how to use the Chord Progression Generator and shape the results for songwriting, beat making and music production. The controls let you adjust the key, scale, style, mood, chord colour, movement, playback and MIDI export without needing advanced music theory knowledge.


Basic Controls


Key

Selects the musical key for your progression. Changing the key transposes the chords while keeping the same overall harmonic shape.


Scale / Mode

Choose the scale or mode used to create the progression.

  • Major: Bright, clean and uplifting.
  • Natural Minor: Darker, more emotional and dramatic.
  • Dorian: Minor with a slightly brighter, soulful feel.
  • Mixolydian: Major-sounding with a blues or rock flavour.


Bars

Choose between a 4-bar or 8-bar progression. Shorter progressions are useful for loops, while 8-bar progressions allow more variation and movement.


Section

Shapes the progression for a specific part of a track.

  • Loop: Designed to repeat smoothly.
  • Verse: Usually more relaxed and less resolved.
  • Chorus: Stronger, more direct and often more resolved.
  • Bridge: Adds contrast before returning to another section.


Style

Changes the harmonic language of the progression. Different styles encourage different chord movements and musical flavours.

  • Pop
  • House / EDM
  • Lofi
  • Jazz
  • Soul / Neo Soul
  • Dark / Trap
  • Rock
  • Blues


Mood

Adjusts the emotional direction of the progression.

  • Balanced: A neutral starting point.
  • Uplifting: Brighter and more positive.
  • Dark: More dramatic and tense.
  • Emotional: Expressive and reflective.
  • Jazzy: More colourful and harmonically rich.
  • Unresolved: Leaves more tension in the loop.


Creative Controls


Harmonic Story

Controls the overall direction of the progression. This affects how the chords feel across the full 4 or 8 bars, rather than only changing one chord at a time.

  • Auto: Lets the generator choose a suitable direction.
  • Songwriter: Familiar, musical and song-friendly.
  • Delayed Resolution: Holds back the final sense of arrival.
  • Circle Movement: Useful for jazzier or more flowing harmony.
  • Bittersweet: Emotional with a slightly unexpected feel.
  • Neo Soul Colour: Smooth, rich and modern.
  • Cinematic: Wider and more dramatic.
  • Unresolved Loop: Designed to keep the progression moving.


Chord Colour

Controls how simple or rich the chords are.

  • Simple: Mostly clean, straightforward chords.
  • Colour: Adds tasteful extra harmonic detail.
  • Rich: More expressive and harmonically detailed.
  • Jazz / Extended: Best for jazz, soul, neo soul and more complex harmony.


Movement

Controls how active the harmony feels.

  • Relaxed: Less movement and a smoother feel.
  • Balanced: A natural middle ground.
  • Active: More forward motion and energy.


Borrowed Chords

Allows occasional chords from outside the selected scale for extra colour.

  • Off: Keeps the progression cleaner and more diatonic.
  • Subtle: Adds a small amount of outside colour.
  • More: Allows greater harmonic variation.


Progression Feel

Controls the balance between familiar and more creative results.

  • Safe: Stable and predictable.
  • Creative: More adventurous while staying musical.
  • Producer: Designed for usable modern music production ideas.


Advanced Settings


Duration

  • Fixed: One chord per bar.
  • Song-like: Some chords may last longer for a more natural arrangement feel.


Voicing

Changes how the notes inside each chord are arranged. This can make the same progression sound smoother, wider, warmer or more modern without changing the actual chord names.


Rhythm

Changes how the chords are played back. You can use held chords, rhythmic stabs or broken chord patterns to hear the progression in different ways.


Suspensions

Adds occasional suspended chords that resolve naturally. This can create extra tension and release.


Bass

Changes how the bass note moves underneath the chords. Bass movement can strongly affect the feel of the progression.


BPM

Sets the playback speed and MIDI export tempo.


Playback and Utility Buttons


Generate

Creates a new chord progression using the current settings.


Play Progression

Plays the full chord progression from start to finish.


Stop

Stops playback.


Play Individual Chord

Each chord card has its own play button, allowing you to hear a single chord on its own.


Lock

Locks an individual chord. When you generate again, locked chords stay in place while the unlocked chords change. This is useful for refining a progression one chord at a time.


Copy

Copies the chord progression so you can paste it into your notes, DAW project or songwriting session.


Download MIDI

Exports the chord progression as a MIDI file for use in your DAW.


Quick Tweak Buttons

The quick tweak buttons adjust several settings at once to move the progression in a new direction.

  • Make Darker: Moves the progression towards a darker mood.
  • More Uplifting: Pushes the progression towards a brighter feel.
  • More Jazzy: Adds a richer harmonic character.
  • Simplify: Cleans up the progression for a more direct sound.


Tips for Better Results

  • Start with Producer feel for modern, usable results.
  • Use Simple chord colour if you want a clean progression for writing melodies.
  • Try Rich or Jazz / Extended when you want more colour.
  • Lock any chords you like before generating again.
  • Use Borrowed Chords carefully if you want cleaner pop-style harmony.
  • Try changing the Harmonic Story before changing every individual setting.
  • Use the MIDI export to continue editing the progression inside your DAW.


Final Note

The generator is designed to create useful starting points, not replace your own taste. Try different settings, lock the chords you like, export the MIDI and then shape the progression inside your own track.