![]() It still retains the minor tonality but it’s a lot less melancholic and dramatic. I like to think of the Dorian mode as a minor scale with a natural 6th as opposed to the typical flattened 6th. The next track is a master class in writing fantasy medieval or just RPG music in general.Ī big part of that sound is in the Dorian mode. So there you go! Three new progressions to try for the price of one. Then he tops it off with this really fun little I – V – ♭VI – V – I. That’s sort of a play on the typical Plagal Cadence, and I’m obsessed with it. It doesn’t end there! We go I – I+ – IV – iv. Now if you’re a fan of folk music you may remember this from the Bright Eyes song This is the First Day of my Life. The III in the key of C is actually supposed to be iii (E minor), but Grant plays an E major to set up that nice strong resolution to the Am. First off, we have the I to major III to minor vi. This progression is just chock full of awesome little moves. For some reason, I was terrified they would reject my entry because of my terrible handwriting.Ģ0 years later I interviewed the composer of this game (Grant Kirkhope) on my podcast. ![]() As a child, I entered a contest on Cartoon Network to win this game and an N64. Our next progression comes from an iconic ‘90s classic. There’s a big difference between a vanilla Cm to Ab, and a Cm9 and Abmaj7#11. I mean, it’s in the name: Aquatic Ambiance. My biggest takeaway from this progression is the power of interesting extensions to create atmosphere. Speaking of jazz, this next progression is composed by the first guy to put Neo-Soul chords into a video game and make a water level halfway bearable. This enables the bass to move chromatically down from the II to the ♭II7 to the I.īuilt with ConvertKit Progression 5: Aquatic Extensions Instead of playing the V chord, you play a chord one tritone away from the V chord. It’s a great way to resolve back to the I chord, as you can hear in this underrated little track from Super Mario World.Ī tritone substitution is so named because it’s substituting the V chord, which would normally come before the I chord in a standard dominant to tonic resolution. If you want to be like me and fake your way into some jazz music, there’s no better way to do that than through a tritone substitution. That IV – V – ♭VI – ♭VII in all major chords really dials up the “triumph” feeling to 11. Meaning, if you’re playing in C major, you’d borrow these chords from C minor. The real MVPs of this progression are the ♭VI and ♭VII chords, which are borrowed chords from the parallel minor key. If you’re looking to evoke an emotion of triumph or victory or success, look no further. Our next chord progression is often called the “victory” progression because of its use in the most iconic game of all time, as well as many other games after that. Listen for it in the Special Stage music as well as the B section of Spring Yard Zone. It’s used at least two other times in the Sonic the Hedgehog soundtrack. The addition of the 7th chord degrees adds a jazzy flavor and makes it a really fun progression to play and write over. It’s featured prominently in the very first video game I ever played as a kid. This next progression will certainly do the trick. Now maybe you want to get back to the I chord, but you don’t want to do it so strongly as in the case of the ii – V – I. I have a free lesson in my course on the fundamentals of game composition all about the ii – V – I. It can help you modulate to different keys, it hits every pitch in a given scale so it’s really good at establishing a tonal center, and it can take a really vanilla chord progression and make it interesting. The ii – V – I progression is really the swiss army knife of chord progressions. I sat there with the controller in my hand, jaw on the floor, and just listened. Imagine experiencing a game like Portal and then hearing this song at the end while the credits rolled. I stayed up all night in college and beat this game in one sitting on the original Orange Box and it was probably the most memorable gaming moment for me. We see it in the Portal End Credits theme, Still Alive (composed by Jonathan Coulton). It’s all over video game music, and you’ll hear it several times throughout this list. The first progression is one of the most common in the whole of Western harmony, especially jazz harmony.
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