The types of house music all share one backbone — a steady four-on-the-floor kick at roughly 118 to 130 BPM — but branch into distinct styles built around different chords, basslines and moods. This guide walks through the main subgenres, where they came from, how fast they run, and which artists defined them, so you can tell deep house from tech house by ear instead of guessing.
House started in Chicago in the early 1980s, grew out of disco, and has since spread into dozens of flavours. Below, we keep the history honest and the theory correct, then show you how the grooves and chords actually differ.
Where house music came from
House is named after The Warehouse, a Chicago club where Frankie Knuckles — often called the “Godfather of House” — held a residency from the late 1970s into the early 1980s. As disco fell out of commercial favour, Knuckles and his peers kept the four-on-the-floor pulse alive, re-editing disco and soul records, stretching the danceable parts, and layering in the punchy drum machines of the day, especially the Roland TR-909 and TR-808.
The genre’s first purpose-built records arrived mid-decade. Jesse Saunders’ “On and On” (1984) is frequently cited as one of the earliest house tracks pressed to vinyl, and Marshall Jefferson’s “Move Your Body” (1986), subtitled “The House Music Anthem,” gave the style a piano-driven blueprint that producers still copy today. From that Chicago core, house spread to New York, Detroit, London and beyond, splitting into the styles below.
What actually makes a track “house”
Before the subgenres, it helps to know the shared DNA. Three things define the sound:
- The beat. A kick drum lands on every quarter note — the “four-on-the-floor” — usually with an open hi-hat on the offbeats (the “and” between kicks). That pushing hi-hat is what gives house its forward swing.
- The tempo. Most house sits between 118 and 130 BPM. Slower styles like tropical house dip toward 100 to 115; harder, clubbier styles push to 128 to 130.
- The harmony. House leans on lush, jazzy extended chords — sevenths and ninths rather than plain triads. A classic move is the jazz cadence ii–V–I, which in C major spells Dm7–G7–Cmaj7. Deep house especially loves rich minor-ninth vamps, such as a two-chord loop of Cm9 to Fm9 (i–iv in C minor).
If you want to hear how those chords are built, try our free virtual piano and scale and chord finder — play a Dm7 and a Cmaj7 back to back and the “house” feeling is instantly recognisable.
The main types of house music explained
Here are the styles you are most likely to run into, roughly in the order they emerged. Each keeps the four-on-the-floor foundation but treats tempo, bass and chords differently.
Chicago / classic house
The original template: raw drum machines, simple piano stabs, soulful vocal snippets and a warm, hands-in-the-air feel. Think Marshall Jefferson and Frankie Knuckles. Tempo usually 118 to 125 BPM. If a track feels like a stripped-back disco record with a machine backbone, it is probably classic house.
Acid house
Acid house is defined by one instrument: the Roland TB-303 bass synth, whose squelchy, sliding, filter-swept lines are unmistakable. Phuture’s “Acid Tracks” (1987) is the founding record. The style crossed to the UK and powered the “Second Summer of Love” in 1988. Tempo around 120 to 130 BPM. Listen for that rubbery, twisting bass rather than lush chords.
Deep house
Deep house is the soulful, jazzy end of the spectrum — smooth extended chords, mellow basslines and a laid-back groove. Larry Heard, recording as Mr. Fingers, is a foundational figure; his “Can You Feel It” is a genre touchstone, and Kerri Chandler carried the sound forward. Tempo tends to be 120 to 125 BPM. This is where those Cm9-style vamps live.
French house (French touch)
Emerging in the late 1990s, French house loops filtered snippets of disco and funk records, sweeping a low-pass or high-pass filter across them for a rising, euphoric build. Daft Punk are the flagbearers, alongside Stardust — whose “Music Sounds Better with You” (1998) is the definitive example — and Cassius. Tempo around 120 to 128 BPM.
Progressive house
Progressive house trades quick payoffs for long, gradually evolving builds and hypnotic layering. Sasha and John Digweed shaped the early 1990s sound; a later, bigger-room strain runs through Eric Prydz and deadmau5. Tempo commonly 126 to 130 BPM. If a track slowly adds one element at a time over several minutes, it is leaning progressive.
Tech house
Tech house splits the difference between house’s warmth and techno’s stripped, mechanical drive — tight percussion, minimal chords, and a rolling, groove-first bassline. It is a dominant club sound today, typically 122 to 128 BPM. Less melody, more relentless pocket.
Electro house
A mid-2000s style built on big, distorted, sawtooth-heavy basslines and hard synth stabs, with a bigger, more aggressive feel than deep or French house. deadmau5 and Justice sit near its centre. Tempo usually 125 to 130 BPM.
Tropical house
The most recent mainstream branch, tropical house slows things down to around 100 to 118 BPM and swaps aggression for airy, melodic warmth — pan flutes, marimba-like synths and gentle plucks. Kygo and Thomas Jack popularised it in the mid-2010s. It is the softest, most radio-friendly member of the family.
Other branches worth knowing
House keeps splitting. Future house (Oliver Heldens, Tchami) fuses metallic future-bass textures with a house groove at roughly 125 to 128 BPM. Afro house, pushed globally by Black Coffee, folds African percussion and polyrhythms into deep, hypnotic house. Big-room house chases festival main stages with huge drops. And soulful, gospel, disco and jackin’ house all keep the classic sound alive with their own twists.
How the grooves and chords differ
The quickest way to place a track is to listen to three layers in order:
- The bass. Squelchy and sliding means acid. Filtered disco loops mean French house. A dry, rolling, repetitive bass points to tech house. A big distorted saw points to electro.
- The chords. Lush minor sevenths and ninths signal deep or soulful house. Sparse, almost chord-free arrangements lean tech house or acid.
- The tempo. Below 118 BPM and airy? Likely tropical. Around 126 to 130 with long builds? Progressive.
For chord-spelling and key relationships across these styles, our circle of fifths tool is handy: house producers often move between relative minor and major keys, and the circle shows those neighbours at a glance. If you want to reverse-engineer a chord from a track you love, the chord detector will name it for you.
Making your own house track
Starting out is simpler than it sounds. Program a four-on-the-floor kick, add an open hi-hat on the offbeats, and drop a clap or snare on beats two and four. Then choose your lane: a rubbery 303-style bass for acid, a filtered vocal loop for French house, or a warm Fm9 vamp for deep house. Set the tempo to 124 BPM as a safe middle ground and build from there.
If you want to sketch ideas quickly or hear a full arrangement before you commit, Solmi can generate a starting track you can then rework in your DAW — a fast way to test which of these house styles fits the mood you are chasing. From there, the real craft is in the groove and the chord voicings.
Want more theory to back this up? Browse the rest of our music theory and songwriting guides for chord progressions, scales and genre breakdowns that pair well with everything above.
Frequently asked questions
What is the tempo range for house music?
Most house sits between 118 and 130 BPM, with 124 BPM a common sweet spot. Tropical house is the outlier, slowing to roughly 100 to 118 BPM, while progressive, tech and electro house often run at the faster 126 to 130 end for club and festival energy.
What is the difference between house and techno?
Both use a four-on-the-floor kick, but house is warmer, more soulful and disco-rooted, with sung vocals and jazzy chords. Techno is colder, more mechanical and repetitive, built around synthetic textures rather than song structure. Tech house deliberately blends the two, borrowing techno’s drive and house’s groove.
Which type of house music is best for beginners to produce?
Deep house and classic house are the most forgiving starting points. Both rely on a simple four-on-the-floor beat and a short, repeating chord vamp — for example a two-chord loop of Cm9 to Fm9 — so you can get a convincing groove going with only a handful of elements before layering in bass, hats and vocal chops.
