At Hooktheory, we’re passionate about providing songwriters and musicians the tools they need to create great music. The Hooktheory TheoryTab Trends tool is a powerful, free resource. It has over 40,000 songs enjoyed by music producers, educators, and songwriters.
The Hooktheory Trends tool allows you to:
- Build chord progressions
- Examine chord probabilities
- Visualize what chord is most likely to come next in a progression
- Browse songs with the same chord progressions
Over the years, we’ve loved learning how musicians utilize the Trends tool in their creative processes. Today, we’ll highlight some unique ways to use the Trends tool. We’ll also show you how to tap into its full potential for inspiration and learning.
Research Music Trends
With so many great songs out there, it can be overwhelming to gauge the chord progressions that popular songs utilize. You can use the Trends tool to trace chord progressions that are the most common in our database of 40,000 songs. Then, you can narrow in on the ones that work for you.
When you begin using the Hooktheory Trends tool, you can either:
- Search for chord progressions in a specific key
- Use relative notation to search the entire database
You will first be presented with a list of chord probabilities. You will see the percentage of songs that start a chord progression with each of the available chords. To see all the options, click the gray “Other” bubble.
As you start building your progression, the chords that are more likely to follow will be bigger, with a higher percentage.
This is a fun, intuitive exercise to help you visualize how popular songs utilize different chord progressions.
Plus, you can preview how they sound in the context of these songs.
Get Creative Inspiration
The Trends tool is especially helpful for songwriters or producers working on a song. If you need help with how to get started or where to go next, try building your progression with Trends.
The resulting chord probabilities and the real songs that contain your progression can show you different directions you may take. Once you start, you’ll be surprised where your progression may take you.
Many producers find it valuable to preview chord progressions in familiar or new songs. This helps you imagine how they might sound in a final production.
Analyze Songs
The Hooktheory Trends tool lets you listen to the same chord progression in songs by different artists, genres, and time periods. This highlights how songs with the same chords can have different impacts.
Listening to songs with the Trends tool helps disprove the myth that certain chord progressions always “sound” the same.
There are no strict rules for your chord progression. Once you start exploring, you’ll discover limitless options.
Dive Into Music Theory
While it’s helpful to see chord progressions across different songs, you may want to dive deeper into a specific piece to understand how it achieves its particular sound or feel.
The song results for a chord progression link to in-depth chord and melody analyses where you can dive into the music theory behind your favorite songs.
Each TheoryTab analysis shows you a song’s:
- Key and tempo
- Chords and melodies, and how to play them on a keyboard
- Guides that highlight the scale degrees in a chord. This helps you can see which parts of the melody are more stable or dissonant.
- Chord and melody metrics (like chord complexity, melodic complexity, and chord progression novelty)
You can learn a lot about how music works by analyzing your favorite songs’ chord progressions and melodies.
Start Exploring With the Hooktheory Trends Tool
At Hooktheory, we’re proud to provide songwriters, musicians, and producers with valuable tools to develop their craft.
The Hooktheory Trends tool is a comprehensive resource that offers endless opportunities for inspiration, creativity, and education. If you give it a try, let us know!
