Free Chord Progression Generator: Build, Reharmonize & Export to MIDI
No music theory? No problem. Try this tool and build even the gorgeous substitute chords the pros use — the surprising chord that bridges one chord into the next. Download the MIDI file, then shape it with tempo changes and your own edits into a track you're proud of.
Money Chord Lab
Play famous chord progressions and export them as MIDI files
Playback uses browser-synthesized sound for reference only. For real instrument tone, load the downloaded MIDI file into your DAW (e.g. Cubase) with any VST. The program change number is set automatically to match your instrument choice. On iPhone, make sure the physical silent switch is off — Safari mutes in-browser audio when it's on.
I spend most of my studio time in Cubase, but the part I still do by ear, every single time, is picking the chord progression before anything else gets written. Over the years I kept coming back to the same handful of progressions — the ones producers half-jokingly call "money chords," because they show up in hit after hit for a reason. So I built a free browser tool that plays those progressions out loud and lets you download them straight to a MIDI file, no plugins, no sign-up, no music theory degree required.
A Free Chord Progression Generator That Exports Real MIDI Files
The tool is called Money Chord Lab, and it does three things: it shows you well-known chord progressions grouped by genre, it plays them back so you can hear how they actually sound in any key, and it lets you export the whole thing as a standard MIDI file you can drag straight into your DAW.
If you've ever searched for "chord progression generator," "free chord to MIDI converter," or "songwriting chord ideas," this was built for exactly that problem. You don't need to know what a "ii-V-I" is to use it — you just need ears.
Three Genres, Nine Progressions — Plus a Custom Mode
The progressions are grouped into three categories, each picked for a different songwriting mood:
- Ballad — including The Money Chord itself, the IV-V-iii-vi-ii-V-I progression that quietly powers an enormous number of ballad choruses, plus a Canon-style progression and a slower breakup-song loop.
- Pop — punchy four-bar loops built for hooks, chill downtempo verses, and pre-drop tension builders.
- Jazz — the classic ii-V-I, a turnaround, and a longer reharmonized progression for when you want something less predictable.
And then there's a fourth tab, Custom, which is really the whole point of the tool once you've played around with the presets for a bit. Instead of picking from a fixed card, you get four empty slots. Tap any slot and choose a root note and a chord quality — major, minor, dominant 7, maj7, m7, dim, half-diminished, sus4, whatever you need — and that becomes chord 1, 2, 3, or 4 of your own progression, in whatever order you put them in.
This is where it's worth just messing around. Take the four chords from The Hook Progression (I-V-vi-IV) and rebuild them in Custom in a different order — vi-IV-I-V, or IV-I-V-vi — and you'll hear how much a familiar set of chords changes personality just by resequencing them. Or grab two chords you like from a Ballad progression and two from a Jazz one and see what happens when they sit next to each other. None of that is possible with a fixed preset list; Custom is built specifically so you can treat the whole progression library as raw material instead of a menu.
Custom mode also carries over every other feature in the tool — seventh chords, Auto Reharmonize, tritone substitution, all of it — and it works no matter which chord you start on, since it's not tied to a scale degree the way the presets are. Whatever four chords you land on, you can still flip on the reharmonization engine described below and get an automatic jazz bridge between them.
How to Use It in Three Steps
- Pick a progression — or build your own. Tap a card for an instant preview, or switch to the Custom tab and fill in your own four chords in any order.
- Dial it in. Change the key, tempo, loop count, and instrument sound (piano, synth pad, or guitar) until it fits your song idea.
- Download the MIDI. One click exports a real MIDI file with the exact progression, tempo, and loop length you set — ready to drop into Cubase, Ableton, FL Studio, or any DAW.
Why this matters if you don't read sheet music: every chord pad shows you both the plain chord name (like "G" or "Am7") and where it sits in the progression, so you start recognizing the patterns just from playing around — even before you know the theory behind them.
The Feature I'm Most Proud Of: Automatic Reharmonization
This is the part that turns a simple progression into something a jazz arranger would actually write. Flip on Auto Reharmonize and every chord automatically gets a "secondary ii-V" inserted on beats 3 and 4 — a smooth two-chord bridge that leads into whatever chord comes next. It's a real jazz arranging technique, sometimes called back-cycling, and normally it takes years of ear training to do it well. Here, it's one toggle.
Turn on tritone substitution as well, and that bridge chord swaps for its tritone-away twin, which creates a bassline that walks down chromatically into the next chord — the kind of movement you hear constantly in jazz standards. Both settings are reflected exactly in the exported MIDI file, so what you hear in the browser is what lands in your DAW.
Getting the MIDI Into Your DAW
The exported file is a standard Type 0 MIDI file, so it opens cleanly in every major DAW. Drag it onto a track, load your favorite piano, pad, or guitar VST, and you've got a full chord sketch ready to build a melody on top of — without ever opening a piano roll from scratch.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it really free?
Yes. It runs entirely in your browser — no account, no watermark, no limit on downloads.
Do I need a specific browser or plugin?
No. It uses standard Web Audio for playback, so any modern browser works.
Will the MIDI file sound exactly like the preview?
The notes, timing, and chord voicings will match exactly. The instrument tone will differ, since the preview uses a simple browser synth and your DAW will use whatever VST you load — that's expected and normal for any MIDI workflow.
Can I make up my own chord progression instead of using the presets?
Yes — that's what the Custom tab is for. Pick any root and chord quality for each of the four slots, in any order, and it plays, reharmonizes, and exports exactly like a preset would.
Can I use these progressions commercially?
Chord progressions themselves aren't copyrightable, so yes — write and release whatever you build with them.
If you run into any questions, check the FAQ below, and let me know in the comments if there's a progression style you'd like added next.
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