INSTRUMENTS
House chord progressions, visualized
Minor does not simply mean sad and major does not simply mean happy. This tool shows chord shapes, inversions and genre progressions on a keyboard so you can hear the difference a single note makes.
This is a free chord progression visualizer for house and electronic music. It draws every chord on a keyboard, shows its inversions, and plays the progressions that keep coming back in house, organic house and afro house, so you can see the shape and hear it in the same second. Nothing to install, and no theory background needed to start.
Try it
- Load a house progression in C major. Let it loop.
- Switch to the relative minor, A minor, using the same progression shape.
- Go back to major and try the first chord in first inversion.
What to listen for
Switching to minor changes the mood, as expected. The inversion is the interesting one: same chord, same notes, only the lowest note changed, and the progression suddenly moves more smoothly.
Questions
What is an inversion, and why does it matter in electronic music?
An inversion is the same chord with its notes stacked in a different order. It matters because the top note changes, and the top note is the one your ear follows. Inversions are how a progression moves without the harmony changing at all.
Why do minor chords not always sound sad here?
Because context does most of the work. The same minor chord reads as melancholy in one progression and as warm in another, depending on what came before it and where the bass sits underneath.
Which progressions should I start with for house?
Start with the ones built on the second and sixth degrees, which is where most house lives. Play one, then change a single note at a time and listen to what breaks.
How do I get a progression into my DAW?
Rebuild it in the melodic sequencer, which exports to Ableton Live. Playing it back in by hand is not wasted effort: it is how the shape ends up in your fingers.
This tool is one part of the picture. Electronic Music Production for Beginners covers the rest.