Chord Progressions by Genre

The progressions you now know show up in every style, but each genre has its habits: some chords rather than others, a way of playing them, a loop length. Take what follows as tendencies, not rules. In every genre, there are tracks that do exactly the opposite of what's described here, and that's often what makes them interesting. All the examples in this lesson were written for this course.

House and deep house: minor sevenths as stabs

House often uses enriched minor chords, minor seventh or minor ninth. These chords have a color that's both dark and warm, less tense than a plain minor chord. In deep house, it's common to have only two or three of them, cycling for minutes on end. Listen to this two-bar loop in A minor, played over a kick on every beat.

The chords fall between the kick hits, on the offbeats. These are stabs: very short chords, struck like a percussion instrument. Notice also that the two chords keep the notes A and C, and only the other two move down a whole step, E to D and G to F. That minimal movement gives the feeling of a loop that breathes without ever closing.

Techno: few chords, sometimes just one

Techno is often wary of chord progressions. Many tracks rest on a single chord, or even none at all: a bass line, a short motif, a sound that evolves. When there are two chords, they're often very close. A common color is to alternate the minor tonic chord with the major chord built a half step above it, written ♭II. That alternation gives a dark, menacing feeling, which is associated with the Phrygian mode.

We'll come back in detail to one-chord loops and drones in the last lesson of this part. For now, remember that in techno, tension comes less from the chords than from the rhythm, the filter and the way the sound evolves.

Trap and drill: minor, harmonic minor and short loops

Trap and drill are overwhelmingly in minor. Loops often have two to four chords, played on a piano, bells, strings or a choir, and they repeat unchanged for a whole verse. A common signature is borrowing from harmonic minor: the dominant chord becomes major, and the melody happily uses the augmented second between the sixth and seventh degrees.

Listen to the last chord. The B natural in G major is the leading tone of C minor, and it sounds almost foreign after the flats of the first three chords. That contrast is what gives the loop its dramatic edge. Between the A♭ of the second chord and that B, you find exactly the augmented second of harmonic minor: three half steps that sound like a big leap.

Lo-fi and R&B: sevenths, ninths and ii V

Lo-fi, R&B and neo-soul inherited their taste for extended chords from jazz. You find sevenths and ninths almost everywhere, and the ii V I movement comes back very often. The chords usually change slowly, one per bar, with a slightly muted electric piano or guitar sound.

The loop moves through ii, V and I, then adds vi, which plays the role of a darker tonic and sets up the return to ii. From vi to ii, from ii to V, then from V to I, each root drops a fifth or rises a fourth, so the loop seems to turn on its own. For the full lo-fi sound, add swing and shift the notes of each chord very slightly so they don't all land at exactly the same time.

Electronic pop: the four chords, with some color

Electronic pop stays very attached to I V vi IV and its rotations, which you know from the previous lesson. The difference is often in the dressing: an added ninth, a major seventh chord, a suspended chord before the chorus. The structure stays simple to keep the vocal up front, but each chord gets a small touch of color.

Liquid drum and bass: major sevenths and ninths

So-called liquid drum and bass, softer and more melodic than the other branches of the genre, often uses very rich chords: major sevenths, ninths, long pad washes. The tempo is fast, usually around 170 to 175 BPM, but the chords often last one or two bars, so the harmony feels slow and floating above very fast drums.

Listen to how these four chords share almost all their notes: F♯, A and C♯ come back in the first three, and B, D and F♯ link the last two. From one chord to the next, the color changes, but nothing clashes. That's exactly what you want under drums that busy.

Afro: major keys and loops

In afrobeats and related genres, you often hear loops in major, two to four chords, repeating unhurriedly while the rhythm does the work. The harmony is generally bright and simple, sometimes enriched with sevenths. In amapiano, the chords are often closer to jazz, with sevenths and ninths played on piano.

This loop ends on the dominant, F, which launches the next pass. Since the chords stay simple, it's the way you play them that counts: short, syncopated chords, a bouncing bass, percussion filling the gaps. Here's a summary of these tendencies, with the examples from the lesson.

The best way to feel these differences is to play the same progression in different outfits, then change the progression while keeping the same outfit.

The next lesson shows you how to color a progression with chords that don't belong to its key.