House Chord Progressions

House chord progressions loop one to four rich chords and let the rhythm do the rest: i9–bVIImaj9 and i9–bVImaj7–v7–iv9 for deep house, Imaj9–ii9 for disco house, vi9–ii9–V13–Imaj9 for soulful house and vi–V–IV–V for piano house. Free in the browser, CoProducer, the personal music producer built into Veena's AI DAW, puts them on the grid as real tracks.

House is also one of the most-asked genres in first requests to CoProducer, and in Veena's own data 81.7% of new users whose first request asks for house get a first result on day one.

Five house chord progressions, by style

Deep house: the Dorian slide

Fm9 – Ebmaj9 (i9 – bVIImaj9 in F minor), two bars each at 122 BPM.

Rootless on Electric Piano: Ab3–C4–Eb4–G4 over F2, then G3–Bb3–D4–F4 over Eb2. Every voice steps down into the second chord. The D natural in Ebmaj9 doesn't belong to F natural minor; it's the raised sixth of F Dorian, and it's why the loop feels warm instead of gloomy.

Deep house: the long fall

Am9 – Fmaj7 – Em7 – Dm9 (i9 – bVImaj7 – v7 – iv9 in A minor), one chord per bar at 120 BPM.

Over A2, F2, E2, D2, play G3–B3–C4–E4, A3–C4–E4, G3–B3–D4–E4, F3–A3–C4–E4. The bass falls while E sits on top of all four chords, changing roles under your ear: the fifth, the seventh, the root, the ninth. Hold it on a Warm Pad or String Pad and the loop can run for three minutes without tiring.

Disco house: the two-chord lift

Dmaj9 – Em9 (Imaj9 – ii9 in D major), a bar each at 124 BPM.

F#3–A3–C#4–E4 over D2, then G3–B3–D4–F#4 over E2: every voice climbs a step, then falls back. It's the feel-good engine of disco and French-style house. Play it as Stab Lead hits with a Disco Octave Bass jumping octaves underneath.

Soulful house: the 6-2-5-1

Gm9 – Cm9 – F13 – Bbmaj9 (vi9 – ii9 – V13 – Imaj9 in Bb major), a bar each at 126 BPM.

Bb3–D4–F4–A4 over G2, Bb3–D4–Eb4–G4 over C2, A3–D4–Eb4–G4 over F2, A3–C4–D4–F4 over Bb1. Between Cm9 and F13 a single note changes, the Bb stepping down to A. This is gospel and jazz harmony on a dance floor, and it wants a real piano sound: Acoustic Grand Piano or Electric Piano, with a Round Bass under it (draw the bass notes an octave up on Round Bass, which sounds an octave below the note you draw).

Piano house: the rocking four

Em – D – C – D (vi – V – IV – V in G major), 124 BPM.

Bright triads high on Acoustic Grand Piano, G4–B4–E5, F#4–A4–D5, E4–G4–C5, F#4–A4–D5, over bass notes E2, D2, C2, D2. The loop rocks down and back up without ever landing on G, so the energy never settles. Pair it with the TR909 kit.

Where the stabs land

House chords are percussion. These two grids show one bar of 16th notes, with the kick for reference. X is a stab.

Offbeat stab (deep and disco house)
Step   1 . . . 2 . . . 3 . . . 4 . . .
Kick   X . . . X . . . X . . . X . . .
Chord  . . X . . . X . . . X . . . X .

Push stab (soulful and piano house)
Step   1 . . . 2 . . . 3 . . . 4 . . .
Kick   X . . . X . . . X . . . X . . .
Chord  X . . X . . X . . . X . . X . .

The offbeat stab answers the kick. The push stab hits steps 1, 4, 7, 11 and 14, a 3-3-4-3-3 rhythm that leans across the beat, so each bar tumbles into the next. Keep stabs short, about a 16th long, so the kick and bass have room.

Put them on the grid with CoProducer

Load up daw.veena.studio, sign in with Google and drop this into the CoProducer panel:

Make a deep house track at 122 BPM in F minor, 32 bars: an Electric Piano playing Fm9 and Ebmaj9, two bars each, rootless voicings (Ab–C–Eb–G, then G–Bb–D–F) as short stabs on the offbeats; a Deep House Bass locked to the kick; the TR909 kit with a four-on-the-floor kick, open hats on the offbeats and a clap or snare on 2 and 4; a Warm Pad underneath from bar 9; then an 8-bar breakdown where a Filter Sweep holds Fm9 alone. Intro 8, groove 16, breakdown 8.

CoProducer offers three takes of the chord part. Keep the one whose stabs sit best against the kick; the bass is then written to lock with the chords and kick you've placed. For the low end in detail, see the house bassline, and for the kit, the house drum pattern.

In the piano roll (double-click the clip), set the snap to 1/4 Beat and redraw any stab onto the grid above. Drag the ends of the notes in for tighter stabs. For the final 8 bars, highlight them and ask CoProducer to "re-voice these a step higher for the drop"; one undo takes it back.

House chords that lose the dance floor

• Roots in the chords. The bass already has F. A chord that doubles it muddies the kick.
• Held chords with no rhythm. Pads can hold; the keys should stab.
• Too many changes. Most house grooves live on one or two chords for 16 bars at a time. Change the texture, not the harmony.
• Chords that never breathe. Drop them out for a bar before the drop and their return hits twice as hard.

For the full production, from arrangement to mix, go to make house music. The soulful loop's harmony comes straight from neo soul chord progressions, the same four-on-the-floor pulse drives K-pop chord progressions, and the chord progression generator writes new loops in any key.