How to write trance chord progressions

Think in numerals

Every key has seven chords, one built on each note of its scale. Numbering them lets you think about progressions in any key at once.

Upper-case numerals are major chords, lower-case are minor, and ° marks a diminished chord. In A minor, i is A minor (home), III is C, VI is F and VII is G. Move to D minor and the numbers stay the same; only the letter names change.

Why trance lives in minor keys

Most trance is in a minor key. The home chord is minor, which gives the music its yearning, bittersweet feel, but the key also contains three major chords: III, VI and VII. Moving from the minor home chord to those bright majors is what creates the lift in uplifting trance.

The classic progression is i–VI–III–VII (Am–F–C–G in A minor): home, the warm VI, the bright III, then the VII, which leads straight back to the start. Swap their order and you get a family of related progressions, each with its own mood.

The raised V

In a natural minor key, the fifth chord is minor: v (E minor in A minor). Raise its middle note by a semitone and it becomes major: V (E major). That raised note, G♯, sits one semitone below A, so it pulls hard back to the home chord. It's the sound of tension before a release, which is why it so often comes in the last bar before a drop.

How long to hold each chord

The speed the chords change at is the harmonic rhythm. In trance, chords usually change on the first beat of a bar and last one or two bars each, so a four-chord progression repeats every four or eight bars, in step with the 8-bar phrases.

Voice leading

How you stack the notes matters as much as which chords you pick. Play every chord in root position and the notes jump around between chords. Choose the inversion of each chord that's closest to the last, and each note moves only a step or stays put. The progression sounds smoother and more connected, and the top notes start to form a melody of their own.

Colour: sus, add9 and 7ths

Plain three-note chords (triads) are the backbone, but trance producers often colour them. Sus2 and sus4 chords replace the third with the second or fourth: open, ambiguous and very "trance". Add9 chords add a bright upper note. 7ths add warmth, and suit progressive and Balearic styles. Try a colour on one or two chords rather than all four.

Where to go next

With a progression you like, write a hook over it in the melody guide, add a bass from the basslines guide, or drop it into the Studio to hear it as a full loop.