Paul Van Dyk ft. Michelle Leonard – Love Ammunition, 2012

Trance emerged as a form of electronic dance music around 1990, with the advent of music that was essentially techno or house, but had simplified percussion, extreme repetition, and other hypnotic effects such as sustained chords and long echoes. In trance's early years (1990-1992), it wasn't always clear whether a track was just "trancey" techno (or even beat-laden "ambient" or "deep" house), or was actually an example of what would later be called simply "trance". Consequently, such music might be tagged as (for example) both Trance and Techno. Example artists in this category and time period include The Shamen, Psychick Warriors Ov Gaia, The Irresistible Force, and Speedy J. From the New Beat scene, Age of Love's 1990 self-titled hit single is sometimes pointed to as the earliest "pure" trance track.

Similarly, some tracks from the Acid House era,

Progressive trance often very close to the musically progressive house is a style of Trance appeared well after acid trance, goa, and hard trance. Progressive trance is melodious but without synth arpeggios & less vocals. With a beat and a bassline faster to the house (134-142 BPM), the songs are long and have an interesting construction where different elements are brought gradual and gentle way (hence the name of this style). First down compared to the Uplifting, this style has become the style of Trance most likely at the end of the decade 2000-2010

(Matthias Paul, born 1971 in Eisenhüttenstadt, East Germany) is a German Trance DJ & producer.

Progressive House's roots are primarily in the U.K. in the beginning of the '90s, typified by producers like William Orbit, with his Guerilla label, and Leftfield, with their Hard Hands label. Two British DJs, Sasha & John Digweed helped popularize the sound in the club "Renaissance". The label Limbo Records launched from legendary Glasgow record store 23rd Precinct was also a major actor of the style. One of the biggest hits of the genre was "Passion" by Gat Decor.

Typical elements of the style are house rhythms around 125 BPM; a dubby, galloping/chugging bassline; and a dreamy, spacey atmosphere. In a sense, it is a combination of house and trance, with the soulful, booty-shaking elements toned down and replaced by long chords and dubby ear candy. It evolved into a more minimalistic aesthetic with the emergence of a new scene