Written by Emily Sanders | Last updated: June 2026
What This Site Is
ChordProgressionMaker.com is a free, browser-based music theory tool that generates chord progressions from a root note, key, and progression style — and explains the functional harmony logic behind every chord it suggests.
The site is built and maintained by Emily Sanders, music theory educator and harmony researcher. Every tool, every explanation, and every piece of educational content on this site is Emily’s direct work. There are no advertisers, no sponsored recommendations, and no third-party contributors shaping what appears here.
Unlike voice measurement or audio analysis tools, ChordProgressionMaker.com involves no audio of any kind. It is a pure music theory calculation tool — the kind of resource a harmony student or working musician uses to explore, generate, and understand chord relationships. No microphone access is required. No files are uploaded. All calculations run entirely in your browser with no data transmitted to any server.
Why This Site Exists
Most musicians who want to build or understand chord progressions have access to one of two things: a music theory textbook that explains functional harmony in detail but requires sustained study to apply, or an online chord tool that generates progressions without any explanation of why the suggested chords belong together.
The specific gap ChordProgressionMaker.com fills is between these two extremes. The tool generates progressions using documented diatonic harmony rules — the same rules a harmony textbook teaches — and labels each chord with its Roman numeral, its quality, and its functional role (tonic, subdominant, or dominant). A musician using this tool does not just get a list of chords. They get a progression grounded in music theory, with enough explanation to understand what each chord is doing and why it works in its position.
The chord generation algorithm applies a documented pipeline: the user’s selected key determines the diatonic scale; the diatonic scale determines the quality of each scale-degree chord; the functional group of each chord (tonic/subdominant/dominant) determines which positions in a progression it can logically occupy; and the selected progression style determines the sequence pattern applied. The output is a chord sequence with a theoretical basis, not a pattern-matched guess. For the complete technical documentation, see the How It Works page.
What This Site Provides
The Chord Progression Maker A browser-based chord progression generator. Select a root note, a key (major or minor), and a progression style. The tool applies diatonic chord lookup and functional harmony rules to return a chord sequence with Roman numeral labels, chord qualities, and functional role annotations. All calculation is local — no server request, no data transmission, no account required.
Educational Content Articles and explainers covering functional harmony, the Roman numeral system, diatonic chord theory, chord substitution, secondary dominants, modal interchange, voice leading principles, and genre-specific harmony conventions. All content is written to be theoretically accurate and practically useful for musicians who want to understand what they are playing — not just what to play.
Accuracy and Limitations Documentation Every generated progression and every harmony claim on this site includes an honest account of what the calculation produces and what it does not. A chord progression that is theoretically correct according to diatonic harmony rules may or may not work in a specific musical context — genre, voicing, tempo, and harmonic rhythm all shape the result. The FAQ covers the most common questions about how to interpret and apply chord progression results.
Who This Site Is For
Songwriters and composers looking for harmonic starting points Whether you are writing a verse, a chorus, or an entire arrangement, a generated progression grounded in functional harmony gives you a theoretically sound starting point to develop, modify, or depart from. Understanding the function of each chord in the sequence gives you the tools to make deliberate changes rather than random ones.
Music students learning harmony and chord theory ChordProgressionMaker.com is designed to be used alongside music theory study — not as a substitute for it. Seeing Roman numeral labels and functional annotations on generated progressions reinforces the concepts taught in a harmony course in a practical, applied context.
Guitarists, pianists, and keyboardists exploring new progressions Working musicians who know their instrument but want to explore beyond their familiar chord vocabulary use this tool to discover progressions in less familiar keys or with less familiar functional patterns.
Music educators teaching applied harmony A browser-based generation tool with transparent theory documentation is a useful classroom and studio resource for demonstrating how diatonic chord function produces progressions in any key.
Developers and researchers working with music theory algorithms ChordProgressionMaker.com provides documented technical reference material on diatonic chord generation, Roman numeral assignment, and functional harmony classification as implemented in a browser-based tool.
Accuracy and Transparency
Emily Sanders does not publish chord formulas, Roman numeral assignments, or harmony theory claims without traceable sources. All theoretical content is cross-referenced against published music theory literature. The tool’s generation algorithm is documented in full — not described vaguely. Limitations are stated on every relevant page — including the Data Security page, which explains why this tool involves no audio, no personal data, and no data transmission of any kind.
If you find an error on this site, use the Contact page to report it. Content corrections are treated as a priority.
Get in Touch
contact@chordprogressionmaker.com All questions, corrections, and data requests are handled personally by Emily Sanders.
ChordProgressionMaker.com is an independent site with no advertising, no sponsors, and no third-party contributors. All content is written by Emily Sanders. Last updated: June 2026.