Indie chord progressions for guitar

Modal, jangly, a little off-centre. These progressions sound jangly and slightly wistful, usually sit in C major, G major, E minor, A minor and D major and suit a tempo of around 110 BPM. Every chord has a guitar diagram for standard EADGBE tuning.

Generate a new Indie progression

4 Indie chord progressions to play now

A strum pattern for Indie songs

One bar of eighth notes. Down arrows are downstrokes, up arrows upstrokes, dots are misses: keep your hand moving through them.

↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ·
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &

How to use these progressions

Play each chord for the length shown, repeat the loop, and hum or sing over it until a melody turns up. The Roman numerals under each progression name the chords by their place in the key, so the same pattern works in any key: open it in the generator and change the key to suit your voice. Chord progressions are not covered by copyright, so anything you write over them is yours.

Same mood on ukulele

Indie chord progressions for ukulele

More genres for guitar

• PopFour-chord loops, big hooks
• R&BSmooth, slow-moving, lots of colour
• Lo-fiJazzy seventh loops, slow and warm
• ReggaetónMinor four-chord loop over a dembow pulse
• Latin popBright loops with a montuno lilt
• K-popMaximal pop, key lifts and borrowed colour
• Alt rockRiff-led and minor-leaning, ♭VII and ♭VI bite
• Bedroom popHazy maj7 loops, soft and close
• Singer-songwriterFingerpicked, lyric-first, room to breathe
• CountryBoom-chick, I IV V, walking bass
• Música mexicanaCorrido and banda, a vals lilt in three
• BluesDominant sevenths, 12-bar turnarounds
• FolkFingerpicked, modal, story-telling
• ReggaeOff-beat skank, nothing on the one
• Pop punkSingalong four-chord choruses, all downstrokes
• GospelPassing dominants, plagal amens