Progression Lab
Open Progression Lab →
What it’s for
Progression Lab turns chords into music. Build a progression from a template or chord by chord, and it voices every chord on the guitar so each one moves smoothly to the next. Hear it played, watch it travel round the cycle of fifths, change any chord’s voicing or colour, choose how the voices move, and send the result on to practise.
Who it’s for
Anyone learning how chords connect: players starting on their first ii–V–I, songwriters trying out a change, teachers building examples, and experienced players exploring voice leading and reharmonisation.
Free and Pro
Pro Progression Lab is a Pro app. Free members and visitors see what it does, can follow the pathway strip, and can upgrade from the page.
On the free plan, Chord Lab’s Progression Builder lets you put chords in order and hear them played. Read about the Progression Builder
Getting around
The page has five areas:
- The pathway strip at the top: five guided walkthroughs.
- The top bar: playback and the settings for the whole progression.
- The left panel: Templates, My Saved and Add chord.
- The middle: the cycle of fifths wheel, with the Compose bar and the chord lane underneath.
- The right panel: your Progression list, the Metronome, Voice Leading, Fret Range and String Set.
On smaller screens the side panels fold away: ☰ Library opens the left panel and ⚙ Controls the right. Close either with its ✕.
A quick way in: pick a template, press ▶ Play, then choose a different Voice Leading style and play it again.
The top bar
From left to right:
- ▶ Play starts and stops the progression.
- Tempo: drag the slider, or use − and +. The number shows the beats per minute, from 40 to 200.
- Key: any of the twelve keys. Change it and the whole progression moves to the new key. The ? beside it explains the chord lane.
- Mode: Major or Minor. The Roman numerals, and the chords they stand for, follow the mode.
- Voicing: the voicing type for every chord: Drop 2, Drop 3, Shell, Close 7ths or Drop 2+4. The ? beside it explains each one.
- Time: the time signature: 4/4, 3/4, 2/4, 5/4, 6/8, 7/4 or 12/8.
- Repeat: play the progression Once, × 2, × 4, × 8 or ∞ (until you press stop).
- 🔔 Metro: a click on its own at the current tempo, without the chords. Press it again to stop. The lights beside it, one for each beat of the bar, flash in time whenever a click or the progression is running.
On the right:
- 💾 Save: keep the progression (see Saving, exporting and sending on).
- 📷 Capture: download a picture of the wheel and the chord lane.
- PDF: download the progression as a chord sheet.
- Clear: start again with an empty progression.
- A small dot after these shows whether your work has been kept.
Related: drop 2, drop 3, drop 2 and 4, shell voicing, close position, time signature, BPM
Templates and My Saved
Templates are ready-made progressions, grouped by style. Click one and it loads in the key and mode you’ve chosen, fully voiced and ready to play. Among them:
- Jazz: ii–V–I, I–vi–ii–V, iii–VI–ii–V, a turnaround, a tritone substitution, the backdoor progression, and a cycle of fourths in dominant 7ths
- Chromatic: chromatic descents and ascents in major 7, minor 7 and dominant 7, a ii–V–I across two keys, and a chromatic approach to ii–V–I
- Blues: the 12-bar blues, the minor blues and the jazz blues
- Rock and modal: I–IV–V–I, the Mixolydian I–♭VII–IV–I, and the minor i–iv–♭VII–♭III
- Pop: I–V–vi–IV and vi–IV–I–V
- Latin: a bossa nova progression
Each template’s name shows its chords in Roman numerals, so you can see the shape of the progression before you load it.
My Saved lists the progressions you’ve saved, with Load and Delete under each. Delete asks before it removes anything.
Related: ii–V–I, turnaround, tritone substitution, backdoor progression, bossa nova
Adding chords
Under Add chord in the left panel:
- Choose a Root from the twelve buttons.
- Choose how long it lasts: 1 bar, 2 bars or 4 bars. (You can set shorter lengths on the chord’s card afterwards.)
- Choose the chord type. The list covers:
- Major family: major 7th, 6th, 9th, 7th ♯11, add 9, 9th ♯11, 13th and 13th ♯11
- Minor family: minor 7th, 6th, 9th, 11th, add 9, 13th, and minor/major 7th and 9th
- Dominant family: 7th, 9th, 11th, 13th and 7sus4
- Altered dominant: 7♭5, 7♯5, 7♭9, 7♯9, 7♭5♭9, 7♭5♯9, 7♯5♭9, 7♯5♯9, 9♭5, 9♯5, 11♭9, 13♭5, 13♯5, 13♭9 and 13♯9
- Diminished / Altered: half-diminished (ø7), diminished 7th, augmented and sus4
- Press + Add. The chord joins the end of the progression, voiced to lead smoothly from the chord before it.
Chords can also arrive from other GMI apps. See Chords arriving from other apps.
Related: extension, altered dominant, half-diminished, diminished 7th
The progression list
At the top of the right panel, Progression lists every chord in order, with its chord symbol and its Roman numeral in the key. Beside each:
- a menu to change how long it lasts
- ✕ to remove it
The wheel
The wheel is the cycle of fifths, with each key’s signature under its name: sharps one way round, flats the other. Your key is outlined.
The roots of your progression’s chords are lit on the wheel and joined by a dashed line in the order they’re played, so you can see at a glance how far the harmony travels and in which direction. A ii–V–I, for example, steps round the wheel one place at a time.
When nothing is playing, the centre shows the key and how many chords the progression has. Press ▶ Play and the wheel follows the music: each chord lights as it sounds, and its name appears in the centre under NOW PLAYING.
The wheel is a display. To change the progression, use the chord lane and the panels.
Related: circle of fifths, key signature
The chord lane
Below the wheel, every chord has a card, in order, with its name, its Roman numeral, its diagram and fingering, and the chord in notation and TAB. The number of chords shows at the right, beside Clear all.
On each card:
- Length (the menu at the top): from 1 beat up to 1 bar under Within the bar, then 2 bars and 4 bars under Longer. The beat choices follow the time signature, so in 3/4 you’ll see 1 or 2 beats.
- Inversion (the menu at the bottom): Auto lets Progression Lab choose the inversion that leads best from the chord before. Or choose root position or an inversion yourself. The chords after it re-voice to follow.
- ⋮⋮: drag the card to a new place in the progression.
- 🔍: enlarge the chord (see below).
- ✕: remove the chord.
- → Chord Lab: open this exact voicing in Chord Lab. It appears on major 7, minor 7 and dominant 7 chords, which are the ones Chord Lab shows.
Clear all empties the lane.
The enlarged view. 🔍 opens the chord large, with its diagram, notation and TAB, and its controls at full size: PNG and PDF to download that chord, ✏ Sketch, ⬡ Build Key, the inversion menu, and → Chord Lab. ← Previous and Next →, or the arrow keys, step through the progression chord by chord; ▶ Play sounds the chord. Close it with ✕, the Esc key, or a click outside.
Related: inversion, root position, tablature
Changing one chord
Click a chord’s card (anywhere but its buttons) to open its panel. It has two tabs.
VOICING shows the ways Progression Lab can voice that chord in the current voicing type: root position and each inversion, each with its diagram. Click one to use it. Your choice is kept, and the rest of the progression re-voices around it.
⚡ ENRICH offers other versions of that one chord, in groups:
- Extensions: richer chords of the same family. A minor 7th can become a minor 9th, 11th or 13th; a major 7th a major 9th, 13th or 7th ♯11; a dominant a 9th, 11th or 13th.
- Alterations (dominant chords): ♭9, ♯9, ♭5, ♯5 and their combinations.
- Colour: other chord types on the same root, such as sus, half-diminished, diminished or augmented.
- Tritone Sub: dominant chords on the root a tritone away. The group’s name shows that root.
- Upper Structures (minor chords): a major 7th chord built on the minor chord’s ♭3, which gives a minor 9th sound. Over D minor 7, that’s F major 7.
What’s on offer depends on the voicing type: some chords have shapes in Drop 2 but not in Shell, for example. Pick one and it replaces the chord in the progression, voiced to fit. Chords you change here are marked VC on their card.
Related: extension, altered dominant, tritone substitution, upper structure, substitution
Compose
The Compose bar, between the wheel and the lane, changes the whole progression in one step:
- Add ext. adds extensions throughout: minor 7ths become minor 9ths, major 7ths major 9ths, and dominant 7ths dominant 13ths.
- Original puts every chord back as it was.
Chords changed by Add ext. are marked VLC on their card. The ▶ Play at the left of the bar plays the progression, just like the one in the top bar, so you can hear each version and compare.
Related: extension, reharmonisation
Voice leading
Progression Lab voices each chord so it connects to the one before. Voice Leading, in the right panel, sets how the voices move:
- Minimum Movement: each note moves the shortest possible distance. The smoothest choice, and the default.
- Contrary — Melody ↓ Bass ↑: the top voice falls while the bass rises.
- Contrary — Melody ↑ Bass ↓: the top voice rises while the bass falls.
- Parallel Motion: all the voices move the same way by the same interval.
- Similar Motion: the voices move the same way by different intervals.
- Pedal Bass: the bass note stays put while the voices above it move.
- Pedal Melody: the top note stays put while the voices below it move.
Click a style and the whole progression re-voices straight away. Play it again to hear the difference. An inversion or voicing chosen on a chord’s own card overrides the style for that chord.
Related: voice leading, minimum movement, contrary motion, parallel motion, similar motion, pedal tone, inverted pedal
Fret range and string set
Fret Range keeps every voicing within one part of the neck:
- Low (frets 1–5), Mid (frets 5–9), High (frets 9–13) or Full neck
- Custom lets you set the lowest and highest fret yourself
String Set keeps the voicings on particular strings: All, 1–4, 2–5, 3–6, 1–5 or 2–6. Useful for practising a progression on one group of strings, or keeping it clear of the bass.
Together they let you play the same progression in different places on the neck, which is one of the best ways to learn the fingerboard.
Related: string set, positional playing, position shifting
Example: a ii–V–I where nothing jumps
Progression Lab voices for smooth movement on its own, but sometimes you want one particular voicing and need to put it there yourself. Here’s how to set up the ii–V–I in C on the middle four strings, so that every note moves by a step or stays where it is:
- Set Voicing to Drop 2 and String Set to 2–5.
- Under Add chord, add D minor 7th, G 7th and C major 7th, 1 bar each.
- On the G7 card, set the Inversion menu to 2nd Inv.
- Check the frets on the cards: x5756x, x5546x, x3545x.
Play it and follow the voices. From Dm7 to G7, D and F stay put while A falls to G and C falls to B. From G7 to Cmaj7, F, the 7th of G7, falls a semitone to E, the 3rd of Cmaj7: the strongest move in the progression. Change Key to F and the same shapes move with it, so you can take it round every key.
Player Projects Unit 6, II–V–I with nothing jumping, works through this as a project, with a check and a quiz. See the Player Projects Guide.
Metronome and count-in
In the Metronome section of the right panel:
- Count-in before playing: on to begin with, with a count-in of 1 bar. Choose 2 bars for longer, or switch it off.
- Click while playing: on to begin with. It keeps a click going under the chords, one per beat, with the first beat of each bar accented, and stops when the progression stops.
🔔 Metro in the top bar is separate: a click on its own at the current tempo, with no chords.
Chords arriving from other apps
When you send a chord or a progression here from another GMI app and you already have a progression, the lane shows what’s arriving and asks what to do with it:
- Replace lane: start again with what you’ve sent
- Add to end: add it after the chords you already have
Saving, exporting and sending on
- 💾 Save opens the save box: give the progression a name, add tags if you like, and save. It goes to your account, so it appears under My Saved here and in My Library. Opening a save brings back its chords, key, mode and voicing, and leaves your tempo and time signature as they are.
- Your work in progress is kept as you go, so you can leave for another app and come back to it. If you come back on another device, Progression Lab offers to restore what you left.
- 📷 Capture downloads a picture of the wheel and the chord lane.
- PDF downloads a chord sheet: a white A4 page for printing with every chord in order, its Roman numeral, name and length, and its diagram.
- → Practice Studio, on the Compose bar, takes the progression to Practice Studio to play along with.
- → Sketchpad, beside it, sends the chords to your Sketchpad.
Pathways
Five guided walkthroughs, each taking you through one part of Progression Lab step by step:
- Getting started: the layout, the wheel and the chord lane
- Round the cycle: playback, tempo, metre, repeats and count-in
- Voice leading: the styles, fret range and string set
- Colour and dissonance: the VOICING and ⚡ ENRICH tabs
- Save and send on: saving, PDF, Capture, and sending to and from other apps
Works with
Progression Lab receives from:
- Chord Lab: Send to Progression Lab → in the Progression Builder, and + Progression in a chord’s detail panel. Chords arrive as you built them.
- Diatonic Key Builder: → Send to Progression Lab. The chords arrive with the names on Key Builder’s cards.
- Chord Architect: + Progression
- Structure Lab: → Progression Lab
- Cycle Wheel: → Send to Progression Lab in the Turnarounds panel
- Harmonic Universe: Send to Progression Lab in the Selection tray. Tap + Add on chords from any key to build the selection first.
Progression Lab sends to:
- Chord Lab: → Chord Lab on a chord card, landing on that exact voicing
- Diatonic Key Builder: ⬡ Build Key in the enlarged view
- Practice Studio: → Practice Studio
- Sketchpad: → Sketchpad, and ✏ Sketch in the enlarged view
Related concepts
Voice leading · ii–V–I · Circle of fifths · Chord function · Secondary dominant · Tritone substitution · Turnaround · Reharmonisation · Cadence
Try it
Load ii – V – I from Templates, press ▶ Play, then press Add ext. and play it again. Switch Voice Leading to Pedal Melody and listen to the top note hold still while the harmony moves underneath.
Open Progression Lab →