Chord progression generator

Every pattern here moves between three functions: tonic (home, the I or i chord), subdominant (IV or iv, the chord that leans away from home), and dominant (V, the chord that pulls back toward home). A progression is really just a path between those three gravitational points — the order and the detours are what give a progression its personality.

Pop patterns like I–V–vi–IV cycle through all three functions without ever landing on an unresolved chord, which is why they loop so cleanly. Sad progressions borrow the minor iv from the parallel minor key — a chord that isn't in the major scale at all — to darken the subdominant on its way back to tonic. Bluesy patterns do the reverse: they keep the dominant as a 7th chord (adding a dissonant note that wants to resolve) and borrow the bVII from mixolydian for that open, unresolved color. Jazzy progressions replace single chords with ii–V motion, a two-step run at the dominant that makes the eventual arrival at I feel earned rather than sudden.

None of this is arbitrary — it's the same tonic/subdominant/dominant logic that shows up in the circle of fifths and in almost every chord chart you'll ever read. Once you can hear which function a chord is serving, you can borrow moves between genres: drop a minor iv into a pop progression, or a bVII into a folk one, and it'll still make sense.