SHLD Free MIDI Chord Packs

Now over than 13000 MIDI files and 195 chord progressions per key! This is a collaborative project to create a collection of all chords and useful chord progressions in all keys, as MIDI files, usable with your favorite DAW. Each progression comes with mood-based tags, yes you can finally find that “nostalgic but hopeful” progression without scrolling for hours. New progressions are now tagged with ‘New’.

This collection is FREE and you can contribute to it using the issue tracker above. Please use the bug tracker if you find incorrect chords!

All the MIDI files are licensed under the MIT license, and you can them use in any musical project freely.

• More details in my blog
• How to use a MIDI Chord Pack

Installation

Just download and unzip one of the release file to your DAWs User Library or Content Library. Then drag and drop the MIDI files from your DAW to your tracks.

Contents

In the file free-midi-chords-YYYYMMDD, the chords collection is organized using 4 levels of directories:

• 1st level: All 12 Major and Minor keys
  • 2nd level:
    • 1 Triads
      • 3rd level: Major and Minor scales
    • 2 7ths and 9ths chords
      • 3rd level: Major and Minor scales
    • 3 All other chords
      • 3rd level: Major and Minor scales
    • 4 Chord progressions
      • 3rd level: Major, Minor and Modal progressions
        • 4th level: Rhythmic variations: pop pop2 hiphop2 soul

At the first level, you have the 12 major scales, along with the relative minor scales. To avoid confusing the relative and parallel scales, read this article for more information.

The chord progressions are organized into three categories: Major, Minor, and Modal.

• The Major and Minor directories contain chord progressions strictly within their respective major or minor keys, using traditional notation commonly found in classical music.
• The Modal directory, however, includes chord progressions that incorporate notes from other scales and modern modes. This creates varied tonal landscapes and emotional expressions. The Modal directory uses a modern Roman numeral analysis where numerals are always relative to the Ionian mode. This method contrasts with the traditional notation used in the Major and Minor folders.

For more detailed information on modal notation in Roman numeral analysis, you can visit the Wikipedia page on Roman numeral analysis – Modes.