Chord Progression Generator Free Online Progressions Maker With Guitar Fretboard

If you are looking for a free chord progression maker, you've come to the right place. We have built this tool, along with many other apps, to help musicians test their ideas by creating chords sequences quickly, on the fly, without the hassle of installation, buying licenses and so on.

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The progressions generator has also a guitar fretboard view on which the tones composing the chords are shown. This is a very powerful learning feature, as we'll see later in this tutorial.

You can use the tool online in the browser, no installation required, and it works on Windows, Apple and Linux systems. It works even on mobile devices. Click the green button below to launch the progression generator or continue reading below to learn more about the tool.

How this chord sequences maker works

In the design of this tool, we've kept things simple as much as possible. The progression maker allows you create 4 or 8 bars chord progressions in 4/4 3/4 or 5/4. Quick and easy. We know that out there you can find many professional software packages for creating complete songs in every genre, styles and time signatures, but we wanted to provide the musicians community with a simple and quick tool that required no installation, particular system requirements, license or other complex things.

Preset Chords Progressions

Even if the you can set freely any chord root and types you'd like, the chord sequences creator comes with a predefined a list of common and less common chord progressions. They are a good start from which we can modify chords in order to create your own progressions. Here's the list of the standard chord sequences (they are all in the key of C):

I vi IV V | C Am F G | 50s progressions

I V VIIb IV | C G Bb F | Rock progression 1

I I IIIb IV | C C Eb F | Rock progression 2

I V vi IV | C G Am F | Pop progression 1

V vi IV I | G Am F C | Pop progression 2

vi IV I V | Am F C G | Pop progression 3

IV I V vi | F C G Am | Pop progression 4

I V vi iii IV I IV V | C G Am Em F C F G | Pachelbel's Canon

I7 I7 IV7 IV7 I7 V7 I7 I7 | C7 C7 F7 F7 C7 G7 C7 C7 | 8 bars blues

I IV viio iii vi ii V I | C F Bo Em Am Dm G C | Circle Progression 1

I VII7 III7 VI7 II7 V7 I VIb7| C B7 E7 A7 D7 G7 C Ab7 | Circle Progression 2

IIm7 V7 Imaj7 | Dm7 G7 GMaj7 | Jazz progression

vi V IV III | Am G F E | Andalusian cadenc

What Chords Types Are Inside

The online chord progressions generator has plenty of different chord types to choose from, from the most common major and minor chord to dominant, diminished, suspended, seventh, and many more (by the way, if you want to learn more about music theory check our best online guitar lessons guide and you'll find plenty of great resources). Here below you find the complete chord types list:

maj 5 6 6/9 7 #9 #11 b5 b9 b5(#9) 7sus4 9 9b5 9#11 9sus4 11 13 13b9 13sus4 add9 dim dim7 m m6 mb6 m6/9 m7 m7b5 m9 m9b5 m9(maj7) m11 m13 m(add9) m(maj7) maj7 maj7b5 maj7#11 maj9 maj13 sus2 sus4 aug aug7 aug7#9 aug7b9 aug9

Alternate tunings and left-handed visualization

The tool also allows to select different alternate tunings: Drop D, Drop C, C Standard, Open C, D Standard, Open D, Modal D, Open D Minor, Open G. It will be appreciated also by bass players, as you can activate 4, 4 and 6 bas strings layout. It's also possible to switch the visualization of the guitar fretboard to a lefty layout.

How to use this tool for improving your guitar improvisation skills

This site is mostly dedicated to guitar players, so we developed the progression maker with the guitar fretboard in mind. In fact, the tool shows you the single tones that compose each chord of your progressions directly on the fretboard. This is a great help for developing solo improvisation skills.

Use the tones composing the chords as main notes melody

One guitar soloing strategy is to use the tones of the chord you're playing over as main notes of your melody and add passage notes that do not belong to the backing chords.

As a first exercise, set up a simple and common chord progression such as C G Am F, take your guitar and improvise small melodies, trying to play only the tones of the backing chords. Then start to add some other notes, and feel the differences in sound and feelings. Sometimes you'll feel a sense of tension, other times you'll feel a sense of resolution and completeness. Pay attention on which notes are dissonant or consonant, or neutral. Creating tension (with dissonant chords) and resolving it (with more consonant chords), this is, in a nutshell, the core of music composing. Try this exercise as much as possible, with different progressions and time signatures, it's a great way to developed awareness on the instrument.

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Bonus: visualize the CAGED shapes on the fretboard

The fact of showing the tones that compose the chords on the fretboard, allows you to also see the CAGED shapes on the fretboard, that change for each chord of the progression. If you like to navigate the fretboard using the CAGED method, you'll find this tool even more useful.

Further resource to help you with chord progressions

Here are other useful tutorials and reference pdfs that will help you improve your chord progression knowledge and music composition in general. Be sure to check them out:

The Nashville Number System: a popular system for denoting chord symbols by using Roman Numbers, and it's really useful for transposing songs and communication with other musicians

Guitar Keys Chords | Free Pdf: download this free cheat sheet that shows you the chords of each major and minor keys; it's an invaluable tool for studying music theory

How To Transpose Songs: being able to transpose songs is an important skill for every accomplished guitar players, this guide tells you everything you need to know about the process

Hope found this online tool and the resources listed above useful for your music adventures. If you have questions or comments please write some line in the comment section below, and don't forget to share this page with your friends. Happy chord progressions!