What is Hooktheory?
Hooktheory offers interactive music theory books, Hookpad songwriting tool with chord/melody guides and MIDI export, a crowdsourced TheoryTab song database, and Trends stats on chord progressions.
Hooktheory: Music Theory With Training Wheels
What it does
Hooktheory turns music theory into clickable Lego. You get interactive lessons, a massive song database that spells out chord progressions, and Hookpad—a drag‑and‑drop sketchpad that spits out MIDI and lead sheets. It’s less “mystical inspiration,” more “here’s what thousands of songs actually do.”
Why it’s useful
If you write pop, indie, or EDM and your chord vocabulary tops out at “I–V–vi–IV,” this is a cheat code. The TheoryTab library shows what chords typically come next, so you’re not guessing in the dark. Hookpad’s palettes and melody tools make quick work of demos and help you hear ideas before you forget them.
Where it falls short
It nudges you toward safe, diatonic choices—great for radio, less for weird. Analyses can vary in depth, and the vibe is mainstream. If you live for odd meters, microtones, or sprawling jazz harmony, you’ll outgrow the guardrails fast. Also: most of the good stuff sits behind a subscription.
What features and use cases does Hooktheory offer?
- Browser-based songwriting tool (Hookpad) for composing chord progressions and melodies using scale-aware/Roman numeral notation
- Smart chord and melody suggestions with voice-leading guides and theory-driven prompts
- One-click key/mode transposition, chord inversions, harmonization, and rhythm/accompaniment patterns
- Export to MIDI, audio, and lead sheets for seamless DAW and notation workflows
- Interactive music theory learning integrated with hands-on composing
- Chord progression and melody trend explorer to see common next-chord probabilities
- Built-in instruments and simple arrangement/mixing to quickly demo ideas, with cloud saving and shareable project links
Prices
| Product/Plan | Price | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Hookpad (Basic) | free | Browser-based songwriting tool with limited features. |
| TheoryTab Database | free | Interactive library of songs with chords and melodies for analysis. |
Prices may vary by region. We do not guarantee the accuracy of prices. For current information see: https://www.hooktheory.com
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