How to Use Hook Theory and MIDI Chord Progressions to Never Run Out of Songwriting Ideas

Most songwriters hit a wall when they sit down to write. The chords feel stale, the melodies go nowhere, and "inspiration" becomes a thing you wait for instead of a thing you manufacture. ViB3 MACHiNE walks through a specific, repeatable workflow that solves this problem: pull chord progressions from songs you love using Hook Theory, strip out the copyrighted melody, export as MIDI, and build your own melodic ideas on top of a harmonic foundation that already works.

Start With Chords That Already Sound Good

The core idea is simple. Instead of staring at a blank DAW session, you begin with a chord progression borrowed from an existing hit. The video uses Daft Punk's "Get Lucky" as the example. The creator references a Pharrell quote: "chords are coordinates." They point you to a destination, but they are not the destination itself.

This reframing matters. Chord progressions are not copyrightable. The melody is. So when you take the chords from "Get Lucky" and strip the melody, you are left with a legal, musically-proven harmonic map that you can build on freely.

Hook Theory's database (hooktheory.com) contains analyzed chord progressions for thousands of popular songs. Each one is broken down into Roman numeral notation so you can see the harmonic structure in any key. The site also includes a tool called Hookpad, which lets you view and edit these progressions as MIDI.

The Workflow: Hook Theory to Hookpad to Ableton

Here is the step-by-step process shown in the video:

1. Find a song on Hook Theory that has a chord progression you like. In this case, "Get Lucky."
2. Open it in Hookpad, Hook Theory's built-in MIDI editor. You will see both the chord progression and the original melody.
3. Delete the melody. The melody is copyrightable, so you remove it and keep only the chords.
4. Export the chords as MIDI. Hookpad gives you a clean MIDI file of just the chord voicings.
5. Import the MIDI into your DAW. The video uses Ableton Live, but any DAW that accepts MIDI files will work.
6. Load a synth. The creator uses the Arturia Juno emulation, but any polyphonic soft synth with a good pad or chord sound will do the job.

At this point, you have a session with proven chords playing through a synth you like. The next step is where it gets interesting.

Transposing and Finding Your Key

One detail the video emphasizes: find a key that works for your voice (or your singer's voice). You can transpose in Hookpad before exporting, or you can do it inside your DAW by selecting all the MIDI notes and shifting them up or down with the arrow keys.

This is a small step that many producers skip. A song that feels flat in C major might come alive in E-flat or B. The creator spends time auditioning different keys, listening for the one that feels right before committing to any melodic work.

Turn Chords Into Melody With MIDI Manipulation

This is the central technique. Instead of playing the chords as block voicings, you rearrange the individual MIDI notes within each chord to create internal movement and melody. The video demonstrates this in Ableton's piano roll:

• Shift notes to different octaves
• Stagger the timing so notes hit at different points
• Change the rhythm from whole notes to eighth notes
• Add bass movement underneath

The creator switches the progression to B Dorian and uses Ableton's highlight mode (scale mode), which grays out notes outside your chosen scale. This makes it easy to move notes around without accidentally leaving the key.

The result is a chord progression that no longer sounds like block chords. It sounds like a standalone melodic part. The creator plays back the result, and the difference is clear: what started as a basic four-chord loop now has contour, rhythm, and direction.

The "Standalone" Test

The video's key insight is what you might call the standalone test: if your instrumental part sounds interesting enough to listen to on its own, without vocals or drums, then writing a song on top of it becomes easy. Any melody you sing will have something to play off of. Any drum pattern will fit because the harmonic and rhythmic foundation is already solid.

This is the opposite of how most bedroom producers work. They start with a drum loop, add a simple chord pad, and then try to force a melody on top. By flipping that order and starting with a melodically rich harmonic part, you give yourself a much stronger starting point.

The creator also notes that this approach is instrument-agnostic. Once you have a melodic chord part in MIDI, you can assign it to any instrument: guitar, piano, synth, strings. The musical idea transfers.

Why This Works (The Music Theory Behind It)

The reason borrowed chord progressions make good starting points is that popular songs have already been tested on millions of listeners. Their harmonic movement creates tension and release patterns that human ears find satisfying. By keeping the chords and replacing everything else, you get the emotional architecture of a proven song without any of its copyrightable elements.

Adding internal melody to chords is a technique that producers like Avicii (referenced in the video's opening frame) used extensively. Avicii's tracks are full of arpeggiated and melodically arranged chord parts that carry the song even without vocals. It is a hallmark of Scandinavian pop and EDM production, and it works across genres.

Key Takeaways

• Chord progressions are not copyrightable. Melodies are. You can legally borrow the harmonic structure of any song and build your own music on top of it.
• Hook Theory's database gives you analyzed chord progressions for thousands of songs, exportable as MIDI through Hookpad.
• Delete the melody, keep the chords. Export as MIDI and import into your DAW for a proven harmonic foundation.
• Transpose to find the right key for your voice or your singer before writing anything else.
• Rearrange MIDI notes within chords to create internal melody, rhythm, and movement. Use your DAW's scale highlight mode to stay in key.
• Apply the standalone test. If the instrumental part sounds good on its own without drums or vocals, you have a strong foundation for a full song.
• Start with harmony, not drums. Building melodic chord parts first gives you a richer starting point than a drum loop with a pad underneath.

Resources

• Hook Theory - Chord progression database and Hookpad MIDI editor
• Arturia Juno-106 Emulation (Jun-6 V) - The Juno-style synth used in the video
• Ableton Live Scale/Highlight Mode - Documentation on Ableton's scale-aware MIDI editing