The Tools
Chord Progression Generator
Pick a key and a vibe, and get a progression you can actually play — with roman numerals, per-chord playback, and a link to every chord. 30 documented progressions across 30keys, plus a generative mode that writes new ones from the key's own degrees.
Four chords, a thousand songs. Tonic-heavy, always resolving.
Made with chords.lol
How the generator decides
A key is not just a starting note — it is a set of seven notes, and stacking thirds on each of those notes gives you seven chords. Those seven are the key's diatonic chords, and almost every progression in popular music is built from them. In C major they are C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am and B°. In A minor they are the same seven chords starting from a different place: Am, B°, C, Dm, Em, F and G.
Numbering those chords I through vii — the roman numerals on each chip above — is what makes a progression portable. I–V–vi–IV is C–G–Am–F in C major and G–D–Em–C in G major: same shape, same emotional arc, different pitch. That is the whole reason this tool can generate the same progression in 30 keys without storing 30 separate songs.
Within a key, the seven chords are not interchangeable. Harmony has a strong sense of gravity, usually described in three functions: the tonic (I, iii, vi) is home; the subdominant (ii, IV) is the departure; the dominant (V, vii°) is the tension that wants to fall back home. Most progressions are some version of the same journey — home, away, tension, home.
That is exactly what Surprise me mode encodes. Rather than shuffling the seven chords at random — which produces harmonically incoherent nonsense — it walks from one degree to the next using weighted transitions: from V, the tonic is the likeliest next chord by a wide margin; from ii, the dominant is; the diminished vii° is rare and nearly always resolves upward. The result sounds like music because the weights encode how music actually moves.
What the vibes actually change
Each vibe is a curated set of progressions rather than an algorithm. Pop leans on the four-chord loops that dominate the charts. Sad favours progressions that start on the vi or sit in a minor key — and if you have a major key selected, it will offer to move you to its relative minor, which uses the identical seven notes but starts on the melancholy one. Jazz is built around ii–V–I and circle-of-fifths motion. Blues gives you the 12-bar and 8-bar forms plus the ♭VII moves that came out of them. Folk stays in open-chord territory. Rock adds mixolydian ♭VII and loops that refuse to cadence.
Learn the theory behind it
- Chord progressions explained — why certain chord orders feel finished and others feel suspended
- Functional harmony— tonic, subdominant and dominant, the three forces the generator's weights encode
- Cadences — how progressions end, and why a V–I lands so much harder than a IV–I
- The circle of fifths — the map that explains which keys and chords are neighbours
- Borrowed chords — where the ♭VI and ♭VII in the rock and blues vibes come from
Where to take a progression next
- All chord progressions — the full library, each with example songs
- Keys— every key's seven diatonic chords, spelled correctly
- Transposer — move a progression to a key that fits your voice, with capo positions
- Metronome — lock the changes in at a steady tempo
- Scale identifier — work out which scale to solo with over what you just generated
FAQ
Common questions.
How does the chord progression generator work?
Every progression is built from the seven chords that belong to the key you picked. The generator either realizes one of 30 documented progressions (I–V–vi–IV, ii–V–I, 12-bar blues and so on) in that key, or — in Surprise me mode — walks the key's own degrees using transition weights drawn from functional harmony, so the dominant tends to resolve to the tonic and the subdominant tends to move to the dominant.
What do the roman numerals mean?
They number the chord's root against the scale. In C major, I is C, IV is F, V is G and vi is A minor. Uppercase means a major chord, lowercase means minor, ° means diminished, and a flat sign (♭VII) means the chord is borrowed from outside the key. Roman numerals are how the same progression stays recognisable in all 12 keys.
Are these progressions actually used in real songs?
The template progressions are — they are the documented patterns behind thousands of released records, and each one links to a page with example songs and history. Surprise me mode is generative: it produces plausible, in-key progressions that follow normal harmonic motion, not quotations of existing songs.
Can I use progressions from this generator in my own music?
Yes. Chord progressions are not copyrightable — I–V–vi–IV appears in hundreds of hit songs by different writers. What's protected is the melody, lyrics and recording built on top. Take any progression here and write your own song over it.
Which key should I pick?
For guitar, keys with open chords are easiest: G, C, D, A and E major, plus E, A and D minor. For singing, pick the key that puts the melody in a comfortable part of your range — then use the transposer if you need to shift it later.
Why does the same vibe give different progressions each time?
Each vibe maps to a curated set of progressions rather than a single one — Pop draws from nine, Jazz from nine, Blues from six. Regenerate re-rolls within that set (and within the weighted degree walk in Surprise me mode), so you can audition several options before committing.
Can I embed this generator on my own site?
The widget is self-contained and keeps its "Made with chords.lol" attribution wherever it renders. A dedicated embed URL is on the roadmap; in the meantime, link to this page or use the Copy as text button to paste a progression into your own post.