#  @8bitmusictheory 8-bit Music Theory 8-bit Music Theory posts on YouTube about theory, how to, video game, ost the most. They currently have [-------] followers and [---] posts still getting attention that total [-----] engagements in the last [--] hours. ### Engagements: [-----] [#](/creator/youtube::UCeZLO2VgbZHeDcongKzzfOw/interactions)  - [--] Week [------] +14% - [--] Month [-------] +1.50% - [--] Months [---------] -8.80% - [--] Year [---------] +5.50% ### Mentions: [--] [#](/creator/youtube::UCeZLO2VgbZHeDcongKzzfOw/posts_active)  - [--] Week [--] no change - [--] Month [--] +20% - [--] Months [--] +25% - [--] Year [--] +203% ### Followers: [-------] [#](/creator/youtube::UCeZLO2VgbZHeDcongKzzfOw/followers)  - [--] Week [-------] +0.17% - [--] Month [-------] +0.51% - [--] Months [-------] +3% - [--] Year [-------] +6.20% ### CreatorRank: [-------] [#](/creator/youtube::UCeZLO2VgbZHeDcongKzzfOw/influencer_rank)  ### Social Influence **Social category influence** [gaming](/list/gaming) [technology brands](/list/technology-brands) [social networks](/list/social-networks) [countries](/list/countries) [finance](/list/finance) [cryptocurrencies](/list/cryptocurrencies) [travel destinations](/list/travel-destinations) [stocks](/list/stocks) [musicians](/list/musicians) [celebrities](/list/celebrities) **Social topic influence** [theory](/topic/theory) #1200, [how to](/topic/how-to), [video game](/topic/video-game), [ost](/topic/ost), [nintendo](/topic/nintendo) #2476, [$7974t](/topic/$7974t) #3439, [let s](/topic/let-s) #1554, [main](/topic/main), [games](/topic/games), [pokemon](/topic/pokemon) #2727 **Top accounts mentioned or mentioned by** [@shymanmusic](/creator/undefined) **Top assets mentioned** [Chainlink (LINK)](/topic/chainlink) ### Top Social Posts Top posts by engagements in the last [--] hours "How Cynthia's Theme Terrorized a Generation In this video I take a look at Cynthias battle theme as well as her approach theme and try to spell out how the music sets the stage for the battle and delivers an appropriately threatening experience 0:00 - Intro 1:15 - Approaching Cynthia 8:34 - Battle Against Cynthia 13:42 - Connection to Pokemon's Musical Legacy 14:41 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory #pokemon #champion" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=ERWkjuX86YM) 2024-04-30T15:04Z 587K followers, 1.4M engagements "Musical Symbolism in Clair Obscur: Expedition [--] The Clair Obscur: Expedition [--] soundtrack is one of the most elegantly composed game scores I've heard in a long time with different themes and motifs woven throughout the soundtrack in a way that's not at all in your face but offers layers and layers of extra depth and meaning when you start to dig into it. In this video I take a look at a theme called "Continuer t'aimer" pick out a few places where it's used and see what it can tell us about the game's story and characters. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory MERCH STORE:" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=HPodsRr0MEQ) 2025-12-11T16:00Z 587K followers, 107K engagements "Cogwork Dancers' Brutal Ballet The Cogwork Dancers boss fight is one of my favourite moments of Hollow Knight: Silksong a perfect way to break up the game with a new kind of fight and one that uses music to its fullest effect in making an impactful moment. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory MERCH STORE: https://8bit-shop.fourthwall.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory 0:00 - Cogwork Dancers 1:29 - Phase [--] 9:11 - Phase [--] 11:28 - Phase [--] 14:21 - Phase [--] :( 16:12 - Christopher Larkin rules #silksong #hollowknight #gamemusic" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=_5Vw2E_TgOI) 2025-11-30T14:16Z 587K followers, 83.5K engagements "Death Silksong and Music Theory Let's take a brief tour through the Silksong soundtrack and then take a deep dive into the Grand Silkmother boss fight theme. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory MERCH STORE: https://8bit-shop.fourthwall.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory 0:00 - The Dies Irae 3:14 - Appearances in Silksong's Soundtrack 8:00 - Grand Silkmother Boss Theme #silksong #indiegame #vgm #8bitMusicTheory silksong hollow knight ost hornet boss theme christopher larkin indie game game music music theory composition ballet how to" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=0wsKNV7mwB8) 2026-01-31T16:09Z 587K followers, 49.1K engagements "How to Write Gorgeous Chords like Masashi Hamauzu Masashi Hamauzu's music is so rich and stylish and colourful. In analyzing some of it I came across a sound that he seems to gravitate toward that I call the 'Sus Chord Slash Chord'. Let's break down what it is and how to use it PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory MERCH STORE: https://8bit-shop.fourthwall.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory 0:00 - Who's Hamauzu 1:30 - Sus Chord Slash Chords 2:40 - Minor [--] Sound 5:38 - Maj13 sound 7:48 - Maj7#11 sound 9:31 - First inversion Maj2 sound" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=14lZ2g_oCxI) 2025-10-17T16:48Z 587K followers, 117.2K engagements "When Bioshock Infinite Covered The Beach Boys As a huge fan of the Beach Boys' album Pet Sounds as well as a huge fan of video games hearing 'God Only Knows' sneak its way into Bioshock Infinite was one of the most pleasant surprises of my video game playing history. Transcribing and analyzing the Barbershop-ified arrangement of this Brian Wilson classic I realized just how different the Barbershop style is from what Wilson was trying to achieve in his original recording - which makes the fact that this arrangement works all the more impressive. Join me as I break down exactly how the" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=9p-GFTfGdLE) 2020-03-22T19:49Z 587K followers, 314.8K engagements "Gusty Garden Galaxy's Perfect Melody For this video I chose to analyze just one piece of music to keep it short and simple. Well the piece of music I chose was Gusty Garden Galaxy's theme from Super Mario Galaxy and so after analyzing just the first half of the tune the video is pushing [--] minutes. Short and simple it is not but the subject of the video is so graceful in the way that it approaches its melody that I just couldn't help myself. Enjoy Notebook: https://www.themusiciansnotebook.com/collaborations/8-bit-music-theory PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory TWITTER:" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=CYE2DOybFV0) 2020-04-16T18:18Z 587K followers, 663.2K engagements "How to Write Drum Parts (for non drummers) Drums are a weird instrument to try and write for if you don't know how to play them. As a drummer myself I know first hand how difficult most arrangers find writing drum parts because I've had to play some truly brutal drum charts in my day. Just some real stinkers. Thankfully this video is here to give a little overview about what a good drum part should have and some of the basic notation principles that you'll need to know. Huge thanks to my friend Lauren T and my wife Em for recording the sax and trumpet parts in the final arrangement You can" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=FoMmVlAvjmM) 2021-08-29T20:50Z 587K followers, 1.2M engagements "How to use Secondary Dominants I wanted this video to be almost like a glossary of the different kinds of secondary dominants that you can use in a major key. Each chord in a major key gives a slightly different feeling when you approach it with its secondary dominant chord and I found tons of video game examples for each of these types of harmonic movements. Enjoy 0:00 - What are Secondary Dominant Chords (skip this bit if you already know) 3:14 - SD to the ii chord 7:52 - SD to the iii chord 9:37 - SD to the IV chord 13:24 - SD to the V chord 16:03 - SD to the vi chord 19:04 - Outro" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=GtEpaJzlLyg) 2025-01-17T16:15Z 587K followers, 191.8K engagements "How Koji Kondo Writes Creepy Music I take a look at some old Zelda Dungeon music to find out how series composer Koji Kondo kept us unsettled. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory legend of zelda loz ocarina of tim oot music music theory zelda music nintendo nintendo music analysis analyze link ganon ganondorf theme priest of the dark order aghanim prince of darkness shadow temple dungeon dungeon music scary spooky creepy unsettling spirit temple water temple forest temple jabu jabu inside jabu jabu's belly deku tree scary music horror" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=HlNFaaW3sB0) 2018-03-31T16:37Z 587K followers, 786.1K engagements "Wario Land 3's Soundtrack Secret Wario Land [--] has one of the coolest 'musical moments' that almost nobody would notice on a normal playthrough of the game: the [--] music boxes you collect throughout your adventure each have their own separate jingle and these little jingles combine together to create the game's credits music. It's a great melody from a great game and finding out how these jingles fit into it made me appreciate it even more 0:00 - Wario Land [--] 1:09 - Music Box Jingles 4:03 - Music Boxes Unite 6:36 - Credits Theme 7:58 - Credits Theme B Section 10:53 - Credits Theme Outro 12:43 -" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=JzcgsTZjN3g) 2025-01-27T19:15Z 587K followers, 54.2K engagements "4 Tips for Writing Ambient Chord Progressions In this video I take a brief look at harmonic conventions in David Wise's ambient music from the Donkey Kong Country series. TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory David Wise Interview footage from: https://www.youtube.com/watchv=ain8sBEjx_4 8bit music theory theory analysis 8-bit [--] bit video game music vgm donkey kong country dkc diddy's kong quest diddy kong aquatic ambience ambient music stickerbush symphony stickerbrush symphony forest interlude songs composition 8bit music theory theory" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=MycI9ZOSPRk) 2018-02-28T16:46Z 587K followers, 515.3K engagements "TOP [--] Koji Kondo One-Offs Koji Kondo is rightfully acclaimed as the biggest name in video game music thanks to his legendary soundtracks for the early Mario and Zelda games. I don't think he gets enough credit for the music that he's written since taking a supervisor role on Nintendo's soundtracks. Kondo contributes at least one piece of music to each new Mario and Zelda instalment and in this video I go through my top [--] favourite Koji Kondo One-Offs PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory MERCH STORE: https://8bit-shop.fourthwall.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER:" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=P6Z8zQ5PWDg) 2025-09-16T14:23Z 587K followers, 74.2K engagements "How The Legend of Zelda Theme Works Let's do a Deep Dive into the one that started it all. 0:00 - The Zelda Theme is Legendary 1:27 - The Intro 2:53 - The Melody 8:04 - The Harmony 10:29 - The B section 15:34 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory #videogamemusic #zelda #8bitMusicTheory the legend of zelda zelda music loz theme ost nintendo music main theme how to write music composition koji kondo nes link game music video game vgm" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=Rm8bH4zthGo) 2025-04-29T15:15Z 587K followers, 150.2K engagements "What Makes a GOOD Leitmotif Pokmon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky Leitmotifs are great. Drawing associations between different melodic figures and characters places or elements within a story are a great way to enrich the storytelling of a game while simultaneously giving players an easy way to connect with the music. All great leitmotifs are great musical ideas but not all great musical ideas make great leitmotifs. Join me as I take a look at the leitmotif-heavy soundtrack of the Pokmon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky games to try and figure out what kind of" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=SoyxorZd6vc) 2020-03-31T17:59Z 587K followers, 446.9K engagements "The Phoenix Wright Musical Formula **SPOILER ALERT**: the background footage in this video kinda spoils the second case in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All. The Phoenix Wright series' courtroom drama is still just as compelling [--] years after the original game's release in spite of its formulaic nature. This is in no small part due to the series' fantastic musical history with tunes written to perfectly accompany and elevate our journey from nervously waiting for each trial to begin to tearing apart the witnesses' testimony and cracking each case wide open. Join me as I break" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZKPXV4sg1uc) 2021-12-30T18:39Z 587K followers, 429.1K engagements "How Simple Chord Progressions Work It's fun to talk about s p i c y voicings and perplexing harmonies but most music out there stays pretty simple in the chord department. Even simple chord progressions need to follow some underlying logic for what works and what doesn't and in this video I present a way of analyzing harmony that's simple but that I find helpful. Each example was taken from a game requested by one of my highest tier Patrons whom I can't thank enough for their generosity and support 0:00 - Intro 1:18 - [--] Types of Chord Movement 3:06 - Rain World Main Theme 5:56 - Kentucky" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=a8XoR0KY3e0) 2022-04-30T19:31Z 587K followers, 511.3K engagements "An exhaustingly detailed analysis of To Zanarkand's music theory One of the most evocative pieces in the Final Fantasy repertoire To Zanarkand from Final Fantasy X showcases Nobuo Uematsu's sophisticated writing. The piece manages to be emotionally potent without being musically complex so let's dive in with a detailed analysis to try and figure out how it does that. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory MERCH STORE: https://8bit-shop.fourthwall.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory 0:00 - Advanced =/= Sophisticated 1:19 - Introduction" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=jESFyYvrY-M) 2025-12-31T16:32Z 587K followers, 52.1K engagements "How They Made The Great Sea Feel C U R S E D 'The Great Sea is Cursed' from the Wind Waker soundtrack takes the inviting adventurous great sea theme we all know and love and creepifies it. Tritones clashing harmonies and references to past themes come in to transform the heroic into the horrifying. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory MERCH STORE: https://8bit-shop.fourthwall.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory 0:00 - The Great Sea is Cursed 0:58 - Iconic Cello Ostinato 5:10 - Tritone-ifying the Melody 7:22 - Creepy 4ths 8:20 -" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=f-py7xF77zU) 2026-02-13T19:59Z 587K followers, 20.9K engagements "Analyzing why people like funk Marvel vs Capcom [--] This one turned into more of an exploration of why people like funk and jazz rather than a deep dive on the Marvel vs Capcom [--] soundtrack but hopefully it's interesting enough PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory MERCH STORE: https://8bit-shop.fourthwall.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory 0:00 - Funk/Jazz vs Rock 2:01 - Syncopated Rhythm 9:07 - B A S S 13:02 - Solos 18:41 - Outro #marvelvscapcom #funk #jazz #gamemusic #8bitMusicTheory marvel vs capcom [--] marvel capcom spiderman captain" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=m2QO6VdxUWQ) 2025-10-31T15:52Z 587K followers, 64K engagements "How Clair Obscur's Music Works #8bitmusictheory #videogamemusic #clairobscurexpedition33 A few simple but intentional choices made with perfect execution. clair obscur expedition [--] rpg game music ost how to write music composition music theory 8-bit music theory clair obscur expedition [--] rpg game music ost how to write music composition music theory 8-bit music theory" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=1lWLUE2AAJk) 2025-05-15T22:04Z 587K followers, 42.2K engagements "How Can Music Be Scary What makes music scary I pinpoint [--] approaches composers use to write horror music and use them to break down Dead Space 2's "Lacrimosa". Huge thanks to Jason Graves for sharing the score to the piece with me for this analysis Jason Graves' 'Music of Dead Space' series: https://youtube.com/playlistlist=PLA-S_iErwwwRSF3QaJezrg4tLTvCXv0QV&si=sZeGBa8riBuu1RTu 0:00 - Music can be scary 1:35 - "Dementia Motif" intro 3:55 - "Isaac Clarke's Theme" 5:04 - Tense Intervals 7:22 - Unsettling Timbres 9:34 - Aleatoric Techniques 14:49 - Atonal Writing 17:34 - Lacrimosa's 3rd" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=2EdYbvC24tY) 2024-10-31T15:11Z 587K followers, 74.6K engagements "Odd Time Signatures in Video Game Music Everyone loves odd meters right Whether it's to add a little wrinkle in an otherwise straightforward tune or an attempt to completely discombobulate the listener odd time signatures are one of my favourite ways to add interest to a piece of music. In this video I take a look at some of my favourite examples of odd meters in video game music and the effects that they have on each piece. SHIRTS: https://8bitmerch.bandcamp.com/merch/keyboard-intro-t-shirts PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=5JRojRIA1ng) 2019-01-14T18:46Z 579K followers, 2M engagements "Nonfunctional Harmony in Chrono Trigger Today I take a look at the way the Chrono Trigger soundtrack uses "nonfunctional chord progressions". Thanks to my lovely wife for making the intro art PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=5zGqN1ZOEJQ) 2017-02-21T13:40Z 580K followers, 637.4K engagements "How to Write a NieR Song The NieR games have some of the most distinctive soundtracks to come out in the modern era and I take the opportunity to break down some of the elements that are so core to the music's identity. Enjoy PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory NOTEBOOK: https://www.themusiciansnotebook.com/collaborations/8-bit-music-theory DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory #NieRMusic #NieRAutomata #MusicTheory" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=6R8EdPvX0ZY) 2021-10-30T18:21Z 578K followers, 227.1K engagements "Why Rainbow Road Sounds VICTORIOUS in Mario Kart World Mario Kart World's soundtrack somehow exceeded even my unforgivingly high expectations and I just had to make a video going over the game's take on Rainbow Road. An adaptive multi-movement musical work that manages to bring the giant sprawling open world game to a satisfying conclusion this truly might be the best Rainbow Road yet. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory 0:00 - Rainbow Road" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=ATnmV1UR7OQ) 2025-07-30T15:35Z 587K followers, 79.6K engagements "How Celeste Takes a Little and Gets a Lot Listening to the tune 'Resurrections' from Celeste I was struck by the economy of ideas at play. Each part added to the music over the [--] minute runtime was somehow related to a previous idea connected to a following idea as well like the music was a giant puzzle made of perfectly interlocking pieces. After analyzing the piece I boiled it down to [--] broad compositional ideas that informed each individual part throughout the tune and that's what I'm gonna discuss in this video. Hope you like it 8-bit Big Band Show Trailer/info:" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=AeMv8Z0TIos) 2019-10-02T17:04Z 584K followers, 321.9K engagements "Music Theory Minute #1.4 - Upper Structure Triads Welcome to Music Theory Minute a new weekly series meant to give easily digestible music theory tidbits on a regular release schedule. The idea behind this series is that each week the topic of the month will be explored in increasing depth. This video explores the concept of upper structure triads. The PDF I mentioned at the end: https://drive.google.com/file/d/12HX-u2Fzx96kOoUuwdZ_HEW2Uqs5X_0t/viewfbclid=IwAR3gtevrMMVNa2iF6dJh0ClH0748M1l7p29VV62-haztmZACrucoByyW3aI SHIRTS: https://8bitmerch.bandcamp.com/merch/. PATREON:" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=Aj9mtLX5VBo) 2019-03-27T23:24Z 579K followers, 86K engagements "Music Theory Minute #1.2 - Voicing Extended Chords Welcome to Music Theory Minute a new weekly series meant to give easily digestible music theory tidbits on a regular release schedule. The idea behind this series is that each week the topic of the month will be explored in increasing depth. This video is meant to introduce the how the voicing of a chord can affect the sound of that chord. SHIRTS: https://8bitmerch.bandcamp.com/merch/. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory #MusicTheoryMinute #chordextensions #musictheory" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=BJiE-pr3vcM) 2019-03-13T18:20Z 577K followers, 113K engagements "The Music Theory of Silksong's Bone Bottom Theme My bottom actually is not very bony and I don't appreciate the implicati- oh that's the name of the town Right on right on. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory MERCH STORE: https://8bit-shop.fourthwall.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory 0:00 - Bone Bottom vs Dirtmouth 1:16 - The sad sad b6 2:00 - Consistent Chord Structure 3:54 - The B Section 6:16 - Sacrificing the Key for the Chord Structure 8:50 - Dirtmouth's emotional approach 9:45 - Bone Bottom's emotional approach #silksong" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=FJwU2eNhjTw) 2025-09-30T19:27Z 587K followers, 78.9K engagements "it's not Debussy it's Dragon Quest 'Sea Breeze' from Dragon Quest IV known on the game soundtrack as 'Expanding the Map' is an absolutely gorgeous orchestral piece that was crammed on to the NES soundchip. Hearing the full orchestral realization of legendary composer Koichi Sugiyama's vision it's clear how much inspiration he drew from the style of Claude Debussy in its composition. Let's dive into what makes Sea Breeze sound so magical and pick out what elements specifically were taken from the french impressionist style. All examples of Debussy pieces were created using SNES sound fonts to" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=G2578GeWxu0) 2025-08-27T13:04Z 587K followers, 48K engagements "How To Write A Song From The Mega Man [--] Soundtrack I'm back with a look at what makes Mega Man 2's soundtrack sound like Mega Man 2's soundtrack. PATREON: patreon.com/8bitmusictheory TWITTER: twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=JknOdnEtwxs) 2017-07-08T17:25Z 576K followers, 327.4K engagements "Ya got TRICKED: That Full Band was really just [--] Channels The Gameboy much like the NES had very limited sound capabilities and yet the Pokemon Trading Card Game video game managed to squeeze a whole soundtrack of full-sounding arrangements out of that hardware. In this video I go over some techniques the soundtrack uses to trick you into thinking there are more voices present in the music than there actually are. 0:00 - Intro 0:41 - Gameboy's Sound Limitations 1:44 - Making a full band out of [--] channels 4:10 - Articulation Tricks 5:54 - Duty Cycle 8:54 - Using Repeating Figures 10:24 -" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=OPv6ohjF1-s) 2024-02-03T20:10Z 580K followers, 183.1K engagements "The DORIAN Mode Feels MYSTERIOUS (among other things) The Dorian Mode is the most versatile of the [--] major modes but 'versatile' doesn't seem like a very click-bait-y word to put in the title. From mysterious to heroic to funky the Dorian mode sees a lot of play in a wide variety of musical contexts and in this video I explore how the different ways of handling the characteristic raised 6th note contribute to each of these various effects. 0:00 - What's the Dorian Mode 0:39 - Midna's Lament - The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess 2:00 - Dirtmouth Theme - Hollow Knight 2:58 - Cyan's Theme -" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=SbRD3tPipNw) 2023-02-22T21:42Z 581K followers, 261K engagements "Baka Mitai Actually Slaps Though If Baka Mitai didn't get permanently stuck in your head after hearing it I don't know what to tell you. I don't think we can be friends. English translated lyrics from: https://yakuza.fandom.com/wiki/Bakamitai PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory NOTEBOOK: https://www.themusiciansnotebook.com/collaborations/8-bit-music-theory DISCORD: https://discord.gg/R8XUEdT #BakaMitai #Yakuza #musictheory" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=SdDeufxfJeE) 2020-10-19T20:43Z 579K followers, 550K engagements "The AEOLIAN Mode Feels Devastating You might've thought I wasn't gonna touch on the more vanilla modes but I am Come check out what makes the Aeolian mode or Natural Minor Scale sound so depressing. 0:00 - What's the Aeolian Mode 2:57 - NOT AEOLIAN: Desert Ruins - Wario Land [--] 3:38 - Auriel's Ascension - Elder Scrolls IV 4:30 - Aquatic Ambience - Donkey Kong Country 6:16 - Our Children Taken - The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess 8:02 - Guile's Theme - Street Fighter [--] 9:33 - Billy & Jimmy Lee's Theme - Double Dragon 10:22 - Metal Man - Mega Man [--] 10:52 - Objection - Phoenix Wright: Ace" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=UFqfSTdg5Xg) 2023-04-30T13:30Z 577K followers, 205.9K engagements "How Shadow of the Colossus' Music Works Let's see how the music of Shadow of the Colossus enhances the gameplay loop 0:00 - Long Winded Intro 1:27 - Basic Gameplay Loop 2:26 - Searching for the Colossus 3:08 - Approaching the Colossus 5:37 - Battle Begins 8:09 - Turning the Tide of Battle 10:29 - Colossus Defeated 13:21 - Categorical Composition 17:23 - Long Winded Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory #shadowofthecolossus #gamemusic" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=XImCutZuIaI) 2024-08-19T16:29Z 587K followers, 60.3K engagements "How Creative Limitations Shaped Ocarina of Time's Best Music The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time must have the most beloved soundtrack in video game music history. This time around I break down some of the limitations composer Koji Kondo faced writing melodies for the game's titular instrument and how those limitations spawned some of the greatest themes of the medium. Interview: https://www.glitterberri.com/ocarina-of-time/1101-interviews/playing-the-ocarina/ PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory NOTEBOOK: https://www.themusiciansnotebook.com/collaborations/8-bit-music-theory" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=_SeY_Gss2CY) 2021-09-29T21:11Z 581K followers, 1.1M engagements "Melody Technique: Enclosures #melody #composition #music #8bitmusictheory So what is an enclosure anyway" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=aagBdSrzNrg) 2024-12-26T20:24Z 587K followers, 46.2K engagements "How Dark Souls Turns Motifs Into Music A deep dive into how Gwyn Lord of Cinder is built out of a couple of motifs. Hold onto your hats for this one Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Twitter: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=bUdyc8j8eLc) 2017-02-01T20:13Z 578K followers, 522.6K engagements "Rosalina is a Disney Princess (musically) Rosalina's Observatory is a beautiful piece of music with a whimsical dreamy quality that sounds like it was pulled right out of an old Disney movie. In this video I explore how the piece borrows from old Disney Princess music as well as the broader Romantic musical tradition to create this effect. 0:00 - Intro 1:05 - Disney Princess Music 2:17 - Chromatic Approach Notes 4:54 - Tonic Diminished Chord Resolutions 6:14 - Appoggiaturas 7:52 - Combining Two Techniques 11:42 - I Advocate for Musical Theft 13:58 - Outro Check out my video editor's own" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=gzK1CTxxRH0) 2022-03-18T18:21Z 584K followers, 155K engagements "'GET GOOD' ALBUM LISTENING PARTY Let's listen through the new 8-bit & The Single Players Album 'GET GOOD' available NOW My music channel: @shymanmusic BANDCAMP: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/get-good Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/032xWVMpwJBa5EJyOfrxh8si=YNOfeemPR2SY-NhM9B0qUQ Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/ca/album/get-good/1861144444" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=iaWNZvVXrv0) 2026-01-17T01:55Z 587K followers, [----] engagements "Pepsiman's Theme Song SHREDS Pepsiman is about as '90s as '90s ad campaigns get and the first couple minutes of the Pepsiman theme song are hilariously repetitive and over-the-top. But just when you think the tune has nothing else to offer besides people yelling "PEPSIMAAAAN" over a surf beat at the top of their lungs you get hit in the face with some absolutely killing sax and trumpet solos. Let's take a moment to appreciate these hidden gems of improvisation and outline some ways that these masters structure their improvised lines. Big thanks to my wife for recording the trumpet solo from" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=ikMwQxaSRjU) 2021-02-14T21:52Z 577K followers, 371.5K engagements "What Makes A Good Melody - Earthbound's Snowman Theme Since winter is upon us I thought it'd be fun to analyze one of my favourite tunes from the Earthbound soundtrack: the Snowman theme. Shout out to Ellie McEla (https://www.youtube.com/user/TheBigMinorsOfficial) for providing a truly impressive transcription of this tune as well as the rest of the earthbound soundtrack which you can find here: http://kobbelobbe.tumblr.com/mother Follow me on twitter: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=kU4gIJgmbfk) 2016-12-15T17:09Z 580K followers, 240.7K engagements "How does Video Game Beach Music Work What is it about beach level music that puts us right there on the shore our backs on the sand and our feet in the air How does a piece of music fill our nostrils with the scent of salty seas The answer turns out to be rhythm harmony attitude and a guitar. 0:00 - Beach Music 1:18 - I-IV progression 2:30 - Bossa Nova guitar 3:44 - Partido Alto rhythm 6:18 - iii-VI-ii-V progression 9:01 - Adding a tropical 'tinge' 10:22 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD:" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=k_s-R_xKsYU) 2025-02-16T17:46Z 587K followers, 92.4K engagements "The Music Theory Behind Astral Observatory One of the best pieces of music in the video game canon and it's only [--] bars long. Let's break down what makes the Astral Observatory theme from Majora's Mask so great. 0:00 - Astral Observatory 1:09 - Instrumentation 1:47 - Melody 3:29 - The Intro Run 5:36 - Wandering Out of Key 8:03 - Phrasing 9:14 - Colourful Note Choices 10:44 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory #composition" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=rgo_L4k4190) 2024-12-16T15:31Z 587K followers, 69.7K engagements "The MIXOLYDIAN Mode is Really Kind of Goofy Of all the major modes Mixolydian carries a uniquely lighthearted spirit. In this video I go through some examples of this in games talk a little bit about what the mode isn't and then take a look at one of the less lighthearted aspects of the scale. Enjoy 0:00 - Introduction 0:35 - What's the Mixolydian Mode 1:48 - The I-bVII vamp 5:48 - What the Mixolydian Mode isn't 8:47 - Not Always Goofy: The minor v 10:45 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD:" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=strpCnUKs_g) 2022-10-17T16:45Z 580K followers, 251.3K engagements "You Can Think About Melodies Harmonically Too In this video I take a look at different ways a melody can evoke the sound of a chord or progression and how that might be used to great effect using the soundtrack of Kirby's Block Ball for the Gameboy as an example. 0:00 - Intro 1:17 - How Can a Melody Spell Out a Chord 2:24 - Triad+1 3:49 - [--] chord tones + passing tone 6:00 - Melody implying alternate harmony 10:20 - Melody implying extended harmony 11:27 - Melody implying chord progression 14:24 - Melodic Pivot Notes 15:54 - FINAL CHALLENGE 18:39 - Outro PATREON:" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=t_DRXroYaj4) 2022-02-28T16:39Z 580K followers, 199.3K engagements "Chromatic Notes Are Goofy In Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door In this video I took a look at a few of the ways you can make chromaticism sound goofy using the soundtrack from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door as an example. There's a lot of different types of sounds or effects you can get out of chromatic notes and this game's music was the perfect showcase for some of the more silly ones. DISCORD: https://discord.gg/ZJwwEwJ PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory #papermario #videogamemusic #musictheory chromaticism in music making" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=1Pbe9oRXdyM) 2018-08-28T21:35Z 586K followers, 273.4K engagements "How to Learn How to Write for Orchestra In this video I don't talk about any tips for orchestrating an arrangement but rather I share my approach for how I tackle learning how to orchestrate. It's a strategy for acquiring vocabulary that you can use in your own writing. I've found it helpful hopefully you will too Download the score for the 25th Anniversary Kirby's Adventure Medley: https://www.kirby.jp/music/score/eng/term.php Get the Guild Wars [--] Score Book: https://materia.store/collections/guild-wars-2-living-world-season-2-score-bookref=8bitmt PATREON:" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=5Jmr8u-RZmU) 2025-05-30T15:48Z 587K followers, 71K engagements "Analyzing The Sax Solo From Dolphin Shoals In this episode I take apart the sax solo from Mario Kart 8's Dolphin Shoals track. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory 8bit music theory music theory music 8-bit [--] bit vgm video game music mario kart [--] dolphin shoals jazz improvisation improv sax sax solo saxophone alto jazz solo analysis analyze musical analysis mario kart mario music 8bit music theory music theory music 8-bit [--] bit vgm video game music mario kart [--] dolphin shoals jazz improvisation improv sax sax solo saxophone alto jazz" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=7EveJYDloAc) 2017-10-04T16:56Z 586K followers, 1.2M engagements "Write Music with IMPACT It's easy to get lost in the weeds with musical analysis and forget the most important part job of a piece of music: to emotionally impact the listener. With my newest album of video game jazz I put a lot of thought into creating specific moments in each piece that would do just that and in this video I go through a few of them to show the strategies I used to do so. My new music channel: @shymanmusic BANDCAMP: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/get-good Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/032xWVMpwJBa5EJyOfrxh8si=YNOfeemPR2SY-NhM9B0qUQ Apple Music:" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=HRPhCRRFM9w) 2026-01-24T16:06Z 587K followers, 25.3K engagements "SURGE OF POWER - The Hype-est track from Mega Man Battle Network The Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection comes out today and in this video I'm taking a look at the boss theme "Surge of Power" from Mega Man Battle Network [--]. The tune starts hype and gets progressively hyper as it goes on - how does it do this Watch the video to find out Check out the Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection here: https://gsght.com/c/fkhhwh PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER:" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=H_a-78XJGl4) 2023-04-14T21:25Z 586K followers, 134.1K engagements "The Beautiful Musical Textures of Okami Okami's music is as beautiful and unique as its visual style and in this video I take a look at how the approach to harmony instrumentation and texture are to thank for this Interview with Masami Ueda I referenced in the video: https://parkerchapin.wordpress.com/2015/07/27/interview-with-masami-ueda/ 0:00 - Introduction 1:32 - Japanese Aesthetic 2:59 - Cursed Shinshu Field 6:42 - Lake Harami 11:22 - Enter Waka 14:56 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD:" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=ML_dfWGYWmY) 2022-11-28T16:53Z 586K followers, 72.2K engagements "Day themes vs Night themes #8bitmusictheory #composition #vgm Do you prefer Day or Night wario land [--] writing a level theme main theme composition music theory how to write music 8-bit Music Theory wario land [--] writing a level theme main theme composition music theory how to write music 8-bit Music Theory" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=Mb4BKea125w) 2025-02-26T18:28Z 587K followers, [----] engagements "The Ionian Mode Feels RELAXING Is there a point to the "Ionian mode" It's just another name for the major scale and surely the major scale couldn't have any unique colours or qualities that set it apart Well in the process of making this video I discovered that if you treat the major scale like I've been treating every other major mode it does have a uniquely relaxing quality. Check out the examples in the video and you'll see what I mean 0:00 - Ionian Mode vs Major Scale 1:06 - Animal Crossing: New Horizons - Museum Theme 2:51 - Final Fantasy VI - Relm's Theme 5:11 - Earthbound - Sunrise &" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=RXxU324nCEY) 2023-07-21T19:54Z 586K followers, 157.5K engagements "Katamari Damacy's Lonely Rolling Star Rocks Lonely Rolling Star is one of those tunes that I think is just impossible to hate. Join me as I break down how the approach the melody the harmony and the way these two elements interact create something great. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory NOTEBOOK: https://www.themusiciansnotebook.com/collaborations/8-bit-music-theory TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory DISCORD: https://discord.gg/R8XUEdT #Katamari #videogamemusic #musictheory katamari katamari Damacy video game music composition music theory lonely rolling star how to" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=TBSTHr6dFkI) 2020-12-10T17:30Z 586K followers, 130.4K engagements "What IS Metric Modulation The Lake Theme from Pokemon Diamond and Pearl Today I break down what a Metric Modulation is and why you should care using one of the best examples I can find the Lake Theme from Pokemon Diamond and Pearl. Enjoy PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory NOTEBOOK: https://www.themusiciansnotebook.com/collaborations/8-bit-music-theory DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory #PokemonBrilliantDiamond #PokemonShiningPearl #MusicTheory" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=TuJ9Cn_HBeQ) 2021-11-30T20:51Z 585K followers, 195K engagements "Why is Dragon Roost Island such a Bop Why indeed PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory NOTEBOOK: https://www.themusiciansnotebook.com/collaborations/8-bit-music-theory DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play Check out my video editor's own channel here: https://www.youtube.com/gamescorefanfare #Zelda #WindWaker #8bitMusicTheory the legend of Zelda the wind waker Zelda music dragon roost island island theme hajime waker Koji kondo how to write music composition lesson dragon roost" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=UvrMzGiyGjU) 2022-06-12T16:47Z 586K followers, 291.1K engagements "Chibi-Robo's Wild and Wacky Soundtrack Chibi-Robo is a gem of a game. I played it a lot growing up and always had fond memories of it but it wasn't until fairly recently that I remembered just how weird and great the soundtrack is. There's a bunch of tunes that are worth talking about more than I could get into in this one video but I wanted to highlight some of the tracks that I thought exemplified the 'style' of the game's soundtrack. The long-winded rambly goofy and at times intensely dissonant score is really hard to pin down to one style and yet it all feels cohesive as the vision of" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=VzdxfZr0YIU) 2020-05-31T18:14Z 586K followers, 80.5K engagements "How to Use the LYDIAN Mode This video uses entirely examples of the Lydian mode used in video game music but it's really about general principles of using modes when writing music that could apply to any scale. This one was a lot of fun to make hope you enjoy 0:00 - Intro 0:28 - What is the Lydian Mode 1:01 - Mode Method 1: The Crust 2:14 - Mode Method 2: The Cheese 3:29 - Mode Method 3: The Pepperoni 4:06 - Fake Lydian sounds 6:00 - The Crust: Yoshi's Story 7:57 - The Crust: Zelda's Lullaby 10:24 - The Cheese: Rogueport 12:00 - The Cheese: Garden of Hope 13:35 - The Pepperoni: Space Junk" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=XElvBrpaUP8) 2022-08-28T20:02Z 587K followers, 457.1K engagements "Kirby Air Riders' Music is FUN FUN FUN I take a look at the main theme for Kirby Air Riders "Starlit Journey" and break down why it feels so full of joy. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory MERCH STORE: https://8bit-shop.fourthwall.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory 0:00 - Starlit Journey 0:59 - Intro 2:47 - Verse 5:56 - Chorus 9:51 - Bridge 10:47 - Final Choruses 14:00 - I love music #kirby #nintendo #gamemusic #8bitMusicTheory kirby air ride air riders switch [--] game racing game music starlit journey ost nintendo nintendo music jpop" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=ebO4KBwJDu0) 2025-11-19T14:13Z 587K followers, 30.6K engagements "Turn one bar of melody into a whole soundtrack. WAAH YOU THOUGHT I WAS DONE WITH WARIO LAND [--] YOU WERE WRONG 0:00 - Wario Land [--] 1:27 - The Main Theme 2:36 - Level Themes 5:57 - I-v7 Chords 7:25 - Minor Key Variations 9:12 - 'Day' and 'Night' Variations 12:32 - Brighter Variations 14:21 - Gross Variation 15:24 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory #Wario #videogamemusic #8bitMusicTheory wario land [--] nintendo music gameboy music melody" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=oUtT6HCfxgE) 2025-02-27T15:50Z 587K followers, 89.3K engagements "Articulation makes a BIG difference #nintendo #composer #8bitmusictheory It does wario land [--] writing a level theme main theme composition music theory how to write music 8-bit Music Theory wario land [--] writing a level theme main theme composition music theory how to write music 8-bit Music Theory" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=oZl5zlFeR8E) 2025-02-27T15:49Z 587K followers, 35K engagements "Music Theory Minute #2.1 - Intro to Melodic Structure Welcome to Music Theory Minute a new weekly series meant to give easily digestible music theory tidbits on a regular release schedule. The idea behind this series is that each week the topic of the month will be explored in increasing depth. This video introduces the idea that certain notes in a scale or key have a tendency to resolve to other notes in that scale or key. In future episodes I'll be exploring how composers use this to their advantage to write well structured melodies. SHIRTS: https://8bitmerch.bandcamp.com/merch/. PATREON:" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=v0J6DrvIx0A) 2019-04-03T16:51Z 586K followers, 151.6K engagements "Tutorial Level 2: Modes In this video I talk about what I believe to be the correct way to think about modes. TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=yS83fcFhG0E) 2017-09-19T02:44Z 586K followers, 129.7K engagements "How to Write Hero Music with Heart FINALLY an actual 8-bit soundtrack on 8-bit Music Theory Kid Icarus has a great score and I think the music would be as well remembered today as Metroid's music is if the game itself had more of a legacy. Let's dive into how the soundtrack straddles the line between head-strong and heartfelt 0:00 - Kid Icarus 1:23 - Heroic vs Emotional 1:58 - Underworld Theme 5:42 - Descending Bassline 7:27 - Sky Palace Theme 8:41 - Title Screen Theme 10:29 - Credits Theme 12:32 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album:" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=05FCRiwdrUU) 2024-09-20T14:41Z 587K followers, 34.6K engagements "5 Sus Chords to Get Yourself a Girlfriend We all know what's holding back our love lives: not enough music theory. Join me as I walk through [--] different versions of the 'sus chord' and showcase how you can use them to win over the girl of your dreams. 0:00 - We've all been there 0:57 - What's a Sus Chord 1:42 - The 4-3 Suspension 7:18 - The Suspension Stretch 11:01 - The Fakeout Major Resolution 16:21 - The "Soul" V Chord 19:10 - Unresolved Sus Chords Just Floating Around PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD:" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=0xDBa2LDELI) 2024-11-29T16:19Z 587K followers, 83.5K engagements "Explaining Super Mario's Underwater Music In this video I tackle Super Mario Bros.' iconic underwater theme breaking down how the music fits the rhythm of the game's underwater levels and how it develops just a couple musical ideas in to a full satisfying piece. 0:23 - Matching the Rhythm of the Gameplay 2:59 - Chromatic Neighbour Embellishment 5:20 - Developing the Piece Out of These [--] Ideas 8:20 - Ending Section 10:29 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER:" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=4vGL036UzzA) 2024-02-29T14:12Z 518K followers, 58.9K engagements "Leitmotif in Hollow Knight's Soundtrack In the final installment of this series looking at the Hollow Knight soundtrack I follow the development of the game's main theme throughout several boss battle themes analyze what makes each variation on the theme fit the emotional tone at hand and explore some of the music's implications on the game's lore. SHIRTS: https://8bitmerch.bandcamp.com/merch/keyboard-intro-t-shirts PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory #HollowKnight #videogamemusic #musictheory" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=5IZ6ObjdkPA) 2019-06-16T18:37Z 575K followers, 634.8K engagements "How I Turned Rainbow Road into a Jazz Fusion Jam I'm very excited to have released my debut video game cover album last week a tribute to the music of the GameCube called "Let's Play" by 8-bit & The Single Players. In this video I breakdown the process of creating one of my favourite arrangements from the album a high energy take on Rainbow Road from Mario Kart: Double Dash with spicy chord changes wailing solos and gratuitous drum fills. Hope you enjoy Full Album on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlistlist=PL-ZQIvQFPv4LU8jcoLiR2531AIu7mUWJx Album available for purchase on bandcamp:" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=5P_2aOzei_g) 2022-05-26T16:48Z 560K followers, 107.8K engagements "Can Odd Meters Feel Good Odd Time Signatures in Video Game Music Part [--] Who can get enough odd time signatures I certainly can't This time we're diving in to try and figure out how to make odd time signatures feel good with at least one example that feels specifically very bad. Enjoy 0:00 - Odd time signatures can groove too 1:03 - Wild Woods - Mario Kart [--] 5:53 - Balatro Theme 7:53 - Winning Result - Mario Kart [--] 11:01 - Sagat's Theme - Street Fighter II 14:24 - Fairy Flying Theme - Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 15:55 - Mad Luca - Suikoden II 19:33 - Outro PATREON:" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=87razGQtrUM) 2024-07-22T16:12Z 587K followers, 90.4K engagements "The Music Theory of Revali's Theme Let's dive into Revali's gorgeous theme from Breath of the Wild and break down what it says about Revali's character how it relates to the other Rito music in the game and most of all what makes it sound like it belongs in a Ghibli movie. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory 0:00 - Revali's Theme 0:58 - Gentle Opening Melody 6:03 - Lush Colourful Bridge 8:32 - Referencing Rito Village 11:11 - Climactic" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=9uRxW09N0xM) 2025-06-28T19:06Z 587K followers, 41.7K engagements "Transcribing Live I start off trying to fix a transcription of Twilight Princess's Hyrule Field theme but I get distracted by questions and launch into a demonstration of transcribing Route [---] from Pokemon Brilliant Diamond PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory NOTEBOOK: https://www.themusiciansnotebook.com/collaborations/8-bit-music-theory DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory live transcription music music theory composition analysis ear training video game music 8-bit Music Theory live transcription music music theory composition analysis" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=A3Xa57Btyb4) 2025-01-17T18:02Z 587K followers, 10.3K engagements "How Video Game Jingles Work HUGE THANKS TO PATRON ISABEL MARTINEZ FOR THE SUGGESTION Jingles are an essential part of video game audio and some of the most memorable and widely known pieces of video game music are these tiny musical fragments. A great jingle needs to get an idea across quickly and unambiguously which usually translates to some very dramatic musical ideas. Let's take a look at some of the best video game jingles and see if we can derive some principles of what makes a great jingle work. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album:" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=DT_4ulN0NEc) 2025-07-18T19:25Z 587K followers, 56.6K engagements "The Musical Evolution of Rainbow Road In this video I take a look at the musical evolution of one of the Mario Kart series' most iconic tracks. TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Background footage sources: https://www.youtube.com/watchv=QSiuPQ7WMzQ& https://www.youtube.com/watchv=dV6Loo6048w& https://www.youtube.com/watchv=WN0V3ZFYJPY https://www.youtube.com/watchv=ZOSVzI4AImE& https://www.youtube.com/watchv=53oskQhrwQY&" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=E0Ux3ULOuAU) 2018-03-20T17:46Z 571K followers, 555.2K engagements "What are the Melodic Minor Modes After finishing my series on the major modes I thought I'd put together a video walking through the [--] modes of the melodic minor scale as a sort of epilogue. There were a few scales that I couldn't find video game examples of so I had to make my own. Hope you enjoy it 0:00 - What is a Mode 2:00 - What is the Melodic Minor Scale 3:33 - Melodic Minor Scale in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night 4:33 - The Dorian b2 Scale 5:23 - The Lydian Augmented Scale 6:15 - The Lydian Dominant Scale 8:19 - The Mixolydian b6 Scale 9:58 - The Locrian #2 Scale 10:58 - The" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=E_mto_Dkpo0) 2023-09-22T16:27Z 543K followers, 107.7K engagements "Gohdan's Theme is a Baroque Banger I love all of the Wind Waker boss themes but Gohdan's theme has so much going on that I thought it deserved its own full video. Let's take a look at how Gohdan's theme combines stylistic elements of the Baroque period of music with a more aggressive modern approach to create such a unique and compelling atmosphere for the fight 0:00 - Intro 1:33 - Gohdan's Canon 5:40 - Gohdan's Dynamic Music 9:40 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER:" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=F-32n4SOHn8) 2024-04-24T16:36Z 543K followers, 65.2K engagements "Breath of the Wild Soundtrack Analysis PART [--] of 4: Main Theme In this video I take a look at the structure of Breath of the Wild's Main Theme. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=F6YaK8bOvWY) 2017-04-03T20:34Z 559K followers, 223.2K engagements "Hope vs Despair in Nine Sols best boss theme Nine Sols was probably my favourite game of [----] and while most of the soundtrack is pretty ambient and hard to talk about from a nerdy music theory perspective Ji's theme features some very cool chords that I just had to delve into on the channel. 0:00 - Nine Sols Rocks 1:25 - That First Chord 4:10 - What The Hell Is That 5:23 - The Connection Between Timbre and Dissonance 6:40 - Here Come the Strings 7:27 - Hopeful B section 10:47 - Ambiguous Ending PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album:" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=GU-ej-QUjTc) 2025-03-18T13:37Z 587K followers, 71.2K engagements "Explaining Super Mario Bros.' Underground Theme DEHNEH DEHNEH DEHNEH 0:00 - Intro 0:38 - The Underground Theme 2:28 - "Let's Not Talk About It" 4:12 - Time Signature Evolution 5:17 - Real Music Theory Analysis 7:03 - How Did Koji Kondo Write That Ending Line 9:31 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory #nintendo #mario #8bitMusicTheory" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=ItIqoBR0cP8) 2023-10-30T17:26Z 543K followers, 133.2K engagements "The VIBES of Final Fantasy IX Part 1: Melodies of Life Some aspects of music are easier to categorize theoretically than others but the ease with which a concept is turned into a theory is not related to the importance of that concept to the effectiveness of a piece of music. There's something about Uematsu's work that's tough to put your finger on but after thinking about it for a long time I've realized that Uematsu's writing has consistently great Vibes. In Part [--] of this [--] part series on the music of Final Fantasy IX I take a look at how texture in music can effect a piece's Vibe and take" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=JIQ7aj0sTCU) 2021-05-31T14:08Z 565K followers, 79.1K engagements "Live Transcribe Stean Gardens from Super Mario Odyssey From the comments on my last video it's clear that Steam Gardens was snubbed in my top [--] Kondo One-offs video. Let's fix that. MERCH: https://8bit-shop.fourthwall.com/ live transcription music music theory composition analysis ear training video game music live analysis how to write music Super Mario Odyssey Mario Music steam gardens koji kondo 8-bit Music Theory live transcription music music theory composition analysis ear training video game music live analysis how to write music Super Mario Odyssey Mario Music steam gardens koji kondo" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=L6wdsDxdAHU) 2025-09-19T17:39Z 587K followers, [----] engagements "How to Dissect a Melody Oh we're getting REAL nitty-gritty today. Treasure of the Rudras features a lot of great themes with melodies that are very easy to break down into 'structural notes' and 'embellishing notes' which make it a perfect vehicle to showcase that concept how it works and how it can help you analyze melodies. 0:00 - Melodies are hard to analyze 1:08 - Melodic Embellishments 1:52 - Creating a Melodic Reduction 7:32 - Different Melodies with the Same Skeleton 10:25 - Complicated Melodic Embellishments 15:24 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=PZ5POrP-NMw) 2024-12-29T19:44Z 587K followers, 96K engagements "Live Transcribing and Analyzing the Music from When You Go To Bed In Donkey Kong Bananza Join me in this quest live transcription music music theory composition analysis ear training video game music donkey kong bananza live analysis how to write music 8-bit Music Theory live transcription music music theory composition analysis ear training video game music donkey kong bananza live analysis how to write music 8-bit Music Theory" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=SoIakcbFZ4k) 2025-07-25T19:08Z 587K followers, [----] engagements "How Super Smash Bros. Music Sets a Tone for the Series In this video I take a look at the overall tone that gets set throughout (most of) the Super Smash Bros. series' music. There are a LOT of similarities between the music of Melee SSB4 and the new Super Smash Bros. Ultimate theme and some interesting differences between these games and the music of the original Super Smash Bros. and Super Smash Bros. Brawl. So I thought I'd explore that a little bit. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory DISCORD: https://discord.gg/ZJwwEwJ" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=WGj1Gr4KfC8) 2018-07-19T19:30Z 567K followers, 419.3K engagements "Wind Waker's Boss Themes are the Best in the Series Fite me 0:00 - Intro 1:12 - Ocarina of Time Boss Theme 2:08 - Gohma's Theme 5:50 - aLttP Boss Theme 6:44 - Kalle Demos' Theme 9:38 - The Helmaroc King's Theme 13:09 - Jalhalla's Theme 17:16 - Molgera's Theme 21:43 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory #Zelda #windwaker #8bitMusicTheory" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=WTj9cL48a2A) 2024-03-19T18:42Z 558K followers, 130.6K engagements "Dragon Quest 4's Carefully Crafted Chromatic Basslines I LOVE DRAGON QUEST [--] MUSIC. There I said it. By the time you're done watching this video you will too. 0:00 - Descending Chromatic Basslines in Dragon Quest IV 0:47 - Overture 4:19 - Royal Minuet 6:52 - Town Theme 11:39 - Tomboy Princess's March 16:26 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory #videogamemusic #dragonquest #8bitMusicTheory dragon quest music dragon warrior music dq4" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=Wu3MaSrVqhQ) 2025-04-17T16:49Z 587K followers, 34.6K engagements "Will Mario Kart World's Music Hold Up In dissecting Mario Kart World's main theme we see an interesting combo approach: the upbeat jazz fusion live band music of Mario Kart [--] returns but with a new gritty American blues-rock influence. Join me in breaking down how the theme works and what it says about the game PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory 0:00 - How could Mario Kart World live up to [--] 2:48 - Blues Influence 4:53 - Classic Rock" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=a_8yq6hwXPc) 2025-06-04T16:55Z 587K followers, 129.4K engagements "All of Wario Land 3's level themes. Once you hear it you can't unhear it wario land [--] writing a level theme main theme composition music theory how to write music 8-bit Music Theory wario land [--] writing a level theme main theme composition music theory how to write music 8-bit Music Theory" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=c9HNzs8_km4) 2025-02-25T18:00Z 587K followers, 13K engagements "How Nintendo Makes Music Sound Japanese I always love in Mario games when there's a level themed around feudal Japan and in this video I wanted to take a look and see what techniques these games use to make their music feel Japanese. 0:00 - Japanese Mario Levels 1:14 - Percussion Propulsion 3:24 - 4th Based Harmony 5:07 - SM3DW - Hands-On Hall 7:16 - Princess Peach: Showtime - Ninja Village 8:55 - Pentatonic Scales 9:36 - Hirajoshi Scale 10:57 - Paper Mario: The Origami King - Shogun Studios Entrance 11:44 - Super Mario Odyssey - Bowser's Castle Courtyard 12:26 - Pentatonic Melodies in Paper" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=d2ddFe96_78) 2024-08-30T21:20Z 587K followers, 98.6K engagements "Storytelling through Music in Hollow Knight I love the way the tiny clues littering Hollow Knight's world add up to a full story when you piece them all together and leaving things open ended allows fans of the game to explore and discuss what these clues mean long after the game is over. These clues show up in characters' dialogue details in the environments and yes even the game's soundtrack. I wanted to take a look at one small example of the soundtrack contributing to the game's lore as well as discuss generally how composer Christopher Larkin develops themes throughout this soundtrack." [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=f2NEvQb2OeA) 2019-06-03T16:08Z 560K followers, 382.4K engagements "The Wii Shop Theme can teach you Jazz Songwriting The Wii Shop Theme is surprisingly a perfect example of the fundamentals of jazz harmony. It's also just a total banger. 0:00 - "Elevator Music" / the Bossa Nova style 3:28 - Wii Shop Theme 4:01 - Beautiful Upper Extensions / the 7-6 move 5:19 - ii V I voice leading 8:20 - 3+7 voice leading in the Wii Shop Theme 12:38 - How Jazz Melodies Work 14:44 - The Rootless ii V I 16:18 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER:" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=fc_Sk26qOHk) 2023-09-30T14:32Z 543K followers, 139.4K engagements "The Secret to Writing a Professor Layton Theme Professor Layton is one of those series where the music seems especially important. Each games' soundtrack brings you into their game's world and crafts the mysterious goodhearted gentlemanly vibe that sits at the heart of the series. After transcribing and studying the title themes from each of the mainline games in the series I put together a road map for how to craft your own music in the style of a Professor Layton theme. You can listen to the entire piece I wrote here: https://youtu.be/jMFW43d-PKI 0:00 - What's the Professor Layton Sound" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=k17yQXuv_JE) 2024-07-31T13:39Z 587K followers, 73.2K engagements "How to Write Atmospheric Music on a Super Nintendo Secret of Evermore has a great moody soundtrack that I'm sure would be a way bigger deal in video game music history if it hadn't been released shoulder to shoulder with the best video game soundtracks of all time. Let's take a look at the soundtrack and see how it creates such a poignant atmosphere. 0:00 - How does SoE craft its musical atmosphere 1:24 - Simulated Reverb 3:13 - Sitting on Am for forever 7:16 - A Clever Homage 9:25 - Changing Keys on a Dime 18:06 - Voice Leading through Weird Key Shifts 20:41 - Outro PATREON:" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=knpNYMHd_5g) 2024-05-26T18:49Z 529K followers, 30.4K engagements "Why Does This Music Sound Untrustworthy The Case of the Golden Idol is a great puzzle game with some very puzzling music. It sounds suspicious hiding a creeping darkness behind a bright mask. It's a perfect atmosphere for a game about uncovering conspiracy theories hidden cult rituals and magic artifacts. 0:00 - Intro 1:34 - The Watching Eye 6:28 - Gentleman Robber 12:27 - Crowning Celebration 10:29 - The B section 18:43 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER:" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=lQ7xYaDXsac) 2025-05-16T18:02Z 587K followers, 32K engagements "How Link's Awakening Rearranges a Soundtrack After being blown away by the Link's Awakening remake and its approach to rearranging the original Gameboy soundtrack I decided to see if I could analyze the new soundtrack to glean some insight into arranging for a group that you don't often hear in video game soundtracks: wind sextet. After analyzing the game's wind sextet arrangement of its title theme I tried to 'steal' the ideas present in the arrangement in order to create a wind sextet arrangement of the original Pokemon Red Blue and Yellow title screen of my own. After much trial and error" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=owkk5s4w1eQ) 2019-11-28T21:20Z 563K followers, 217.9K engagements "How Colgera's Boss Theme Works Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Colgera's theme is one of the best from Tears of the Kingdom's soundtrack and it does everything a boss theme should. It sets you up with a feeling of heroic determination it plummets into chaotic intimidating dissonance and then brings you back up with a feeling of triumph. With different phases of the music triggered as you progress through the boss fight the music is designed to match the flow of the battle which makes it all the more impactful on the listener. Let's dig in and see just how it makes this happen 0:00 -" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=sEipYlDptIM) 2025-03-31T15:14Z 587K followers, 121.3K engagements "How Music Matches Gameplay in Ori's "Shadows of Mouldwood" The Shadows of Mouldwood level from Ori and the Will of the Wisps shows how developing a theme across multiple musical tracks within a level can enhance the emotional effect the game is trying to create. Enjoy Composer Code podcast episode I referenced: https://composercode.com/gareth-coker/ PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory Check out my video editor's own channel here:" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=sx4-ge30dLA) 2023-01-30T19:21Z 568K followers, 47.6K engagements "Why does Dark Souls sound like Dark Souls The music of the souls games has a very specific sound that doesn't change much throughout the series so in this video I take a look at some of the common elements that define the sound of these games. 0:00 - Intro 0:41 - No Music 1:27 - Orchestration 2:37 - Iudex Gundyr - Dark Souls [--] 4:00 - Gehrman's Theme - Bloodborne 5:33 - Dominant V chords 6:31 - Firelink Shrine - Dark Souls 7:45 - Diminished vii chord 8:18 - Tower Knight - Demon's Souls 9:29 - Godskin Apostle - Elden Ring 11:19 - Great Grey Wolf Sif - Dark Souls 13:02 - Sinh the Slumbering" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=wLpXMIIZSB0) 2023-11-29T18:06Z 557K followers, 252.8K engagements "Atmosphere and Motivic Development in Hollow Knight's Soundtrack The world of Hollow Knight feels unlike any other game world I've ever played with a thick atmosphere that makes each area an utter joy to explore. This is in no small part due to the wonderful soundtrack to the game composed by Christopher Larkin and in this video I attempt to explain part of how the music aids in creating the game's atmosphere by dissecting the City of Tears Soul Sanctum and Soul Master themes. SHIRTS: https://8bitmerch.bandcamp.com/merch/keyboard-intro-t-shirts PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=wzOY3mxTBag) 2019-05-21T17:40Z 559K followers, 315.4K engagements "The Music of Zelda's Best Ending ThERE I SAID IT. Tears of the Kingdom's ending sequence is unforgettable and the music plays a huge role in making it the enormous emotional climax that it is. Let's dive into why: 0:00 - Overall Shape of a Musical Work 2:08 - Ganondorf's Transformation 7:57 - Duelling Ganondorf 12:10 - Dragon Battle 18:06 - Final Catch 20:02 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory #tearsofthekingdom #zeldamusic" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=x4SuzjuTpVA) 2023-10-23T18:10Z 543K followers, 160.9K engagements "Transcribing some Wario Land [--] Come watch me transcribe the soundtrack to Wario Land [--] for the Gameboy Color PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory live transcription music music theory composition analysis ear training video game music 8-bit Music Theory live transcription music music theory composition analysis ear training video game music 8-bit Music Theory" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=x6VJxKGESsI) 2024-11-15T17:43Z 587K followers, 13.5K engagements "Music Theory Minute #1.1 - What's a Chord Extension Welcome to Music Theory Minute a new weekly series meant to give easily digestible music theory tidbits on a regular release schedule. The idea behind this series is that each week the topic of the month will be explored in increasing depth. This video is meant to introduce the idea of a chord extension to those who who may be unfamiliar with the concept with each subsequent week's video exploring gradually more advanced aspects of chord extensions in music. Then after a month we'll move onto a new topic and start at an easy level again. Let" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=yc7udUxD7eU) 2019-03-06T20:46Z 575K followers, 161.8K engagements "You Can't Write Music as Pretty as Pikmin 4's Credits Theme What makes the Pikmin [--] credits music so beautiful I take an even deeper dive than usual to try and figure it out. 0:00 - Pikmin 4's Credits Theme is Beautiful 1:26 - Micro-level Analysis 4:13 - The Bb/Eb Chord 6:39 - The Minor iv Chord 9:41 - Mid-level Analysis 11:39 - Climactic Melodic Moments 13:36 - Macro-level Analysis 21:09 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory #pikmin4" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=yzVOGKGjDZs) 2024-10-23T20:39Z 587K followers, 47.2K engagements "How They Made The Great Sea Feel C U R S E D 'The Great Sea is Cursed' from the Wind Waker soundtrack takes the inviting adventurous great sea theme we all know and love and creepifies it. Tritones clashing harmonies and references to past themes come in to transform the heroic into the horrifying. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory MERCH STORE: https://8bit-shop.fourthwall.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory 0:00 - The Great Sea is Cursed 0:58 - Iconic Cello Ostinato 5:10 - Tritone-ifying the Melody 7:22 - Creepy 4ths 8:20 -" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=f-py7xF77zU) 2026-02-13T19:59Z 587K followers, 20.9K engagements "Death Silksong and Music Theory Let's take a brief tour through the Silksong soundtrack and then take a deep dive into the Grand Silkmother boss fight theme. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory MERCH STORE: https://8bit-shop.fourthwall.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory 0:00 - The Dies Irae 3:14 - Appearances in Silksong's Soundtrack 8:00 - Grand Silkmother Boss Theme #silksong #indiegame #vgm #8bitMusicTheory silksong hollow knight ost hornet boss theme christopher larkin indie game game music music theory composition ballet how to" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=0wsKNV7mwB8) 2026-01-31T16:09Z 587K followers, 49.1K engagements "Write Music with IMPACT It's easy to get lost in the weeds with musical analysis and forget the most important part job of a piece of music: to emotionally impact the listener. With my newest album of video game jazz I put a lot of thought into creating specific moments in each piece that would do just that and in this video I go through a few of them to show the strategies I used to do so. My new music channel: @shymanmusic BANDCAMP: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/get-good Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/032xWVMpwJBa5EJyOfrxh8si=YNOfeemPR2SY-NhM9B0qUQ Apple Music:" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=HRPhCRRFM9w) 2026-01-24T16:06Z 587K followers, 25.3K engagements "'GET GOOD' ALBUM LISTENING PARTY Let's listen through the new 8-bit & The Single Players Album 'GET GOOD' available NOW My music channel: @shymanmusic BANDCAMP: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/get-good Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/032xWVMpwJBa5EJyOfrxh8si=YNOfeemPR2SY-NhM9B0qUQ Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/ca/album/get-good/1861144444" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=iaWNZvVXrv0) 2026-01-17T01:55Z 587K followers, [----] engagements "Live Transcribe Stean Gardens from Super Mario Odyssey Let's listen through the new 8-bit & The Single Players Album 'GET GOOD' available on Jan [--] live transcription music music theory composition analysis ear training video game music live analysis how to write music Super Mario Odyssey Mario Music steam gardens koji kondo 8-bit Music Theory live transcription music music theory composition analysis ear training video game music live analysis how to write music Super Mario Odyssey Mario Music steam gardens koji kondo 8-bit Music Theory" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=d3Sz_gb5swY) 2026-01-15T18:33Z 587K followers, [--] engagements "An exhaustingly detailed analysis of To Zanarkand's music theory One of the most evocative pieces in the Final Fantasy repertoire To Zanarkand from Final Fantasy X showcases Nobuo Uematsu's sophisticated writing. The piece manages to be emotionally potent without being musically complex so let's dive in with a detailed analysis to try and figure out how it does that. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory MERCH STORE: https://8bit-shop.fourthwall.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory 0:00 - Advanced =/= Sophisticated 1:19 - Introduction" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=jESFyYvrY-M) 2025-12-31T16:32Z 587K followers, 52.1K engagements "Announcement New 8-bit & The Single Players album coming soon. 8-bit single players jazz fusion jazz music instrumental shred pokemon battle vgm nintendo music covers arrangement album 8-bit single players jazz fusion jazz music instrumental shred pokemon battle vgm nintendo music covers arrangement album" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=GeYQH5X1d44) 2025-12-24T15:28Z 587K followers, 17K engagements "Musical Symbolism in Clair Obscur: Expedition [--] The Clair Obscur: Expedition [--] soundtrack is one of the most elegantly composed game scores I've heard in a long time with different themes and motifs woven throughout the soundtrack in a way that's not at all in your face but offers layers and layers of extra depth and meaning when you start to dig into it. In this video I take a look at a theme called "Continuer t'aimer" pick out a few places where it's used and see what it can tell us about the game's story and characters. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory MERCH STORE:" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=HPodsRr0MEQ) 2025-12-11T16:00Z 587K followers, 107K engagements "Cogwork Dancers' Brutal Ballet The Cogwork Dancers boss fight is one of my favourite moments of Hollow Knight: Silksong a perfect way to break up the game with a new kind of fight and one that uses music to its fullest effect in making an impactful moment. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory MERCH STORE: https://8bit-shop.fourthwall.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory 0:00 - Cogwork Dancers 1:29 - Phase [--] 9:11 - Phase [--] 11:28 - Phase [--] 14:21 - Phase [--] :( 16:12 - Christopher Larkin rules #silksong #hollowknight #gamemusic" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=_5Vw2E_TgOI) 2025-11-30T14:16Z 587K followers, 83.5K engagements "Kirby Air Riders' Music is FUN FUN FUN I take a look at the main theme for Kirby Air Riders "Starlit Journey" and break down why it feels so full of joy. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory MERCH STORE: https://8bit-shop.fourthwall.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory 0:00 - Starlit Journey 0:59 - Intro 2:47 - Verse 5:56 - Chorus 9:51 - Bridge 10:47 - Final Choruses 14:00 - I love music #kirby #nintendo #gamemusic #8bitMusicTheory kirby air ride air riders switch [--] game racing game music starlit journey ost nintendo nintendo music jpop" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=ebO4KBwJDu0) 2025-11-19T14:13Z 587K followers, 30.6K engagements "Analyzing why people like funk Marvel vs Capcom [--] This one turned into more of an exploration of why people like funk and jazz rather than a deep dive on the Marvel vs Capcom [--] soundtrack but hopefully it's interesting enough PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory MERCH STORE: https://8bit-shop.fourthwall.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory 0:00 - Funk/Jazz vs Rock 2:01 - Syncopated Rhythm 9:07 - B A S S 13:02 - Solos 18:41 - Outro #marvelvscapcom #funk #jazz #gamemusic #8bitMusicTheory marvel vs capcom [--] marvel capcom spiderman captain" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=m2QO6VdxUWQ) 2025-10-31T15:52Z 587K followers, 64K engagements "How to Write Gorgeous Chords like Masashi Hamauzu Masashi Hamauzu's music is so rich and stylish and colourful. In analyzing some of it I came across a sound that he seems to gravitate toward that I call the 'Sus Chord Slash Chord'. Let's break down what it is and how to use it PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory MERCH STORE: https://8bit-shop.fourthwall.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory 0:00 - Who's Hamauzu 1:30 - Sus Chord Slash Chords 2:40 - Minor [--] Sound 5:38 - Maj13 sound 7:48 - Maj7#11 sound 9:31 - First inversion Maj2 sound" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=14lZ2g_oCxI) 2025-10-17T16:48Z 587K followers, 117.2K engagements "The Music Theory of Silksong's Bone Bottom Theme My bottom actually is not very bony and I don't appreciate the implicati- oh that's the name of the town Right on right on. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory MERCH STORE: https://8bit-shop.fourthwall.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory 0:00 - Bone Bottom vs Dirtmouth 1:16 - The sad sad b6 2:00 - Consistent Chord Structure 3:54 - The B Section 6:16 - Sacrificing the Key for the Chord Structure 8:50 - Dirtmouth's emotional approach 9:45 - Bone Bottom's emotional approach #silksong" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=FJwU2eNhjTw) 2025-09-30T19:27Z 587K followers, 78.9K engagements "Live Transcribe Stean Gardens from Super Mario Odyssey From the comments on my last video it's clear that Steam Gardens was snubbed in my top [--] Kondo One-offs video. Let's fix that. MERCH: https://8bit-shop.fourthwall.com/ live transcription music music theory composition analysis ear training video game music live analysis how to write music Super Mario Odyssey Mario Music steam gardens koji kondo 8-bit Music Theory live transcription music music theory composition analysis ear training video game music live analysis how to write music Super Mario Odyssey Mario Music steam gardens koji kondo" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=L6wdsDxdAHU) 2025-09-19T17:39Z 587K followers, [----] engagements "TOP [--] Koji Kondo One-Offs Koji Kondo is rightfully acclaimed as the biggest name in video game music thanks to his legendary soundtracks for the early Mario and Zelda games. I don't think he gets enough credit for the music that he's written since taking a supervisor role on Nintendo's soundtracks. Kondo contributes at least one piece of music to each new Mario and Zelda instalment and in this video I go through my top [--] favourite Koji Kondo One-Offs PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory MERCH STORE: https://8bit-shop.fourthwall.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER:" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=P6Z8zQ5PWDg) 2025-09-16T14:23Z 587K followers, 74.2K engagements "it's not Debussy it's Dragon Quest 'Sea Breeze' from Dragon Quest IV known on the game soundtrack as 'Expanding the Map' is an absolutely gorgeous orchestral piece that was crammed on to the NES soundchip. Hearing the full orchestral realization of legendary composer Koichi Sugiyama's vision it's clear how much inspiration he drew from the style of Claude Debussy in its composition. Let's dive into what makes Sea Breeze sound so magical and pick out what elements specifically were taken from the french impressionist style. All examples of Debussy pieces were created using SNES sound fonts to" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=G2578GeWxu0) 2025-08-27T13:04Z 587K followers, 48K engagements "Why Rainbow Road Sounds VICTORIOUS in Mario Kart World Mario Kart World's soundtrack somehow exceeded even my unforgivingly high expectations and I just had to make a video going over the game's take on Rainbow Road. An adaptive multi-movement musical work that manages to bring the giant sprawling open world game to a satisfying conclusion this truly might be the best Rainbow Road yet. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory 0:00 - Rainbow Road" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=ATnmV1UR7OQ) 2025-07-30T15:35Z 587K followers, 79.6K engagements "Live Transcribing and Analyzing the Music from When You Go To Bed In Donkey Kong Bananza Join me in this quest live transcription music music theory composition analysis ear training video game music donkey kong bananza live analysis how to write music 8-bit Music Theory live transcription music music theory composition analysis ear training video game music donkey kong bananza live analysis how to write music 8-bit Music Theory" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=SoIakcbFZ4k) 2025-07-25T19:08Z 587K followers, [----] engagements "How Video Game Jingles Work HUGE THANKS TO PATRON ISABEL MARTINEZ FOR THE SUGGESTION Jingles are an essential part of video game audio and some of the most memorable and widely known pieces of video game music are these tiny musical fragments. A great jingle needs to get an idea across quickly and unambiguously which usually translates to some very dramatic musical ideas. Let's take a look at some of the best video game jingles and see if we can derive some principles of what makes a great jingle work. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album:" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=DT_4ulN0NEc) 2025-07-18T19:25Z 587K followers, 56.6K engagements "The Music Theory of Revali's Theme Let's dive into Revali's gorgeous theme from Breath of the Wild and break down what it says about Revali's character how it relates to the other Rito music in the game and most of all what makes it sound like it belongs in a Ghibli movie. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory 0:00 - Revali's Theme 0:58 - Gentle Opening Melody 6:03 - Lush Colourful Bridge 8:32 - Referencing Rito Village 11:11 - Climactic" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=9uRxW09N0xM) 2025-06-28T19:06Z 587K followers, 41.7K engagements "Will Mario Kart World's Music Hold Up In dissecting Mario Kart World's main theme we see an interesting combo approach: the upbeat jazz fusion live band music of Mario Kart [--] returns but with a new gritty American blues-rock influence. Join me in breaking down how the theme works and what it says about the game PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory 0:00 - How could Mario Kart World live up to [--] 2:48 - Blues Influence 4:53 - Classic Rock" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=a_8yq6hwXPc) 2025-06-04T16:55Z 587K followers, 129.4K engagements "How to Learn How to Write for Orchestra In this video I don't talk about any tips for orchestrating an arrangement but rather I share my approach for how I tackle learning how to orchestrate. It's a strategy for acquiring vocabulary that you can use in your own writing. I've found it helpful hopefully you will too Download the score for the 25th Anniversary Kirby's Adventure Medley: https://www.kirby.jp/music/score/eng/term.php Get the Guild Wars [--] Score Book: https://materia.store/collections/guild-wars-2-living-world-season-2-score-bookref=8bitmt PATREON:" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=5Jmr8u-RZmU) 2025-05-30T15:48Z 587K followers, 71K engagements "Why Does This Music Sound Untrustworthy The Case of the Golden Idol is a great puzzle game with some very puzzling music. It sounds suspicious hiding a creeping darkness behind a bright mask. It's a perfect atmosphere for a game about uncovering conspiracy theories hidden cult rituals and magic artifacts. 0:00 - Intro 1:34 - The Watching Eye 6:28 - Gentleman Robber 12:27 - Crowning Celebration 10:29 - The B section 18:43 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER:" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=lQ7xYaDXsac) 2025-05-16T18:02Z 587K followers, 32K engagements "How Clair Obscur's Music Works #8bitmusictheory #videogamemusic #clairobscurexpedition33 A few simple but intentional choices made with perfect execution. clair obscur expedition [--] rpg game music ost how to write music composition music theory 8-bit music theory clair obscur expedition [--] rpg game music ost how to write music composition music theory 8-bit music theory" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=1lWLUE2AAJk) 2025-05-15T22:04Z 587K followers, 42.2K engagements "How The Legend of Zelda Theme Works Let's do a Deep Dive into the one that started it all. 0:00 - The Zelda Theme is Legendary 1:27 - The Intro 2:53 - The Melody 8:04 - The Harmony 10:29 - The B section 15:34 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory #videogamemusic #zelda #8bitMusicTheory the legend of zelda zelda music loz theme ost nintendo music main theme how to write music composition koji kondo nes link game music video game vgm" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=Rm8bH4zthGo) 2025-04-29T15:15Z 587K followers, 150.2K engagements "Dragon Quest 4's Carefully Crafted Chromatic Basslines I LOVE DRAGON QUEST [--] MUSIC. There I said it. By the time you're done watching this video you will too. 0:00 - Descending Chromatic Basslines in Dragon Quest IV 0:47 - Overture 4:19 - Royal Minuet 6:52 - Town Theme 11:39 - Tomboy Princess's March 16:26 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory #videogamemusic #dragonquest #8bitMusicTheory dragon quest music dragon warrior music dq4" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=Wu3MaSrVqhQ) 2025-04-17T16:49Z 587K followers, 34.6K engagements "How Colgera's Boss Theme Works Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Colgera's theme is one of the best from Tears of the Kingdom's soundtrack and it does everything a boss theme should. It sets you up with a feeling of heroic determination it plummets into chaotic intimidating dissonance and then brings you back up with a feeling of triumph. With different phases of the music triggered as you progress through the boss fight the music is designed to match the flow of the battle which makes it all the more impactful on the listener. Let's dig in and see just how it makes this happen 0:00 -" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=sEipYlDptIM) 2025-03-31T15:14Z 587K followers, 121.3K engagements "Hope vs Despair in Nine Sols best boss theme Nine Sols was probably my favourite game of [----] and while most of the soundtrack is pretty ambient and hard to talk about from a nerdy music theory perspective Ji's theme features some very cool chords that I just had to delve into on the channel. 0:00 - Nine Sols Rocks 1:25 - That First Chord 4:10 - What The Hell Is That 5:23 - The Connection Between Timbre and Dissonance 6:40 - Here Come the Strings 7:27 - Hopeful B section 10:47 - Ambiguous Ending PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album:" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=GU-ej-QUjTc) 2025-03-18T13:37Z 587K followers, 71.2K engagements "Turn one bar of melody into a whole soundtrack. WAAH YOU THOUGHT I WAS DONE WITH WARIO LAND [--] YOU WERE WRONG 0:00 - Wario Land [--] 1:27 - The Main Theme 2:36 - Level Themes 5:57 - I-v7 Chords 7:25 - Minor Key Variations 9:12 - 'Day' and 'Night' Variations 12:32 - Brighter Variations 14:21 - Gross Variation 15:24 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory #Wario #videogamemusic #8bitMusicTheory wario land [--] nintendo music gameboy music melody" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=oUtT6HCfxgE) 2025-02-27T15:50Z 587K followers, 89.3K engagements "Articulation makes a BIG difference #nintendo #composer #8bitmusictheory It does wario land [--] writing a level theme main theme composition music theory how to write music 8-bit Music Theory wario land [--] writing a level theme main theme composition music theory how to write music 8-bit Music Theory" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=oZl5zlFeR8E) 2025-02-27T15:49Z 587K followers, 35K engagements "Day themes vs Night themes #8bitmusictheory #composition #vgm Do you prefer Day or Night wario land [--] writing a level theme main theme composition music theory how to write music 8-bit Music Theory wario land [--] writing a level theme main theme composition music theory how to write music 8-bit Music Theory" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=Mb4BKea125w) 2025-02-26T18:28Z 587K followers, [----] engagements "All of Wario Land 3's level themes. Once you hear it you can't unhear it wario land [--] writing a level theme main theme composition music theory how to write music 8-bit Music Theory wario land [--] writing a level theme main theme composition music theory how to write music 8-bit Music Theory" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=c9HNzs8_km4) 2025-02-25T18:00Z 587K followers, 13K engagements "How does Video Game Beach Music Work What is it about beach level music that puts us right there on the shore our backs on the sand and our feet in the air How does a piece of music fill our nostrils with the scent of salty seas The answer turns out to be rhythm harmony attitude and a guitar. 0:00 - Beach Music 1:18 - I-IV progression 2:30 - Bossa Nova guitar 3:44 - Partido Alto rhythm 6:18 - iii-VI-ii-V progression 9:01 - Adding a tropical 'tinge' 10:22 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD:" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=k_s-R_xKsYU) 2025-02-16T17:46Z 587K followers, 92.4K engagements "Wario Land 3's Soundtrack Secret Wario Land [--] has one of the coolest 'musical moments' that almost nobody would notice on a normal playthrough of the game: the [--] music boxes you collect throughout your adventure each have their own separate jingle and these little jingles combine together to create the game's credits music. It's a great melody from a great game and finding out how these jingles fit into it made me appreciate it even more 0:00 - Wario Land [--] 1:09 - Music Box Jingles 4:03 - Music Boxes Unite 6:36 - Credits Theme 7:58 - Credits Theme B Section 10:53 - Credits Theme Outro 12:43 -" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=JzcgsTZjN3g) 2025-01-27T19:15Z 587K followers, 54.2K engagements "Transcribing Live I start off trying to fix a transcription of Twilight Princess's Hyrule Field theme but I get distracted by questions and launch into a demonstration of transcribing Route [---] from Pokemon Brilliant Diamond PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory NOTEBOOK: https://www.themusiciansnotebook.com/collaborations/8-bit-music-theory DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory live transcription music music theory composition analysis ear training video game music 8-bit Music Theory live transcription music music theory composition analysis" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=A3Xa57Btyb4) 2025-01-17T18:02Z 587K followers, 10.3K engagements "How to use Secondary Dominants I wanted this video to be almost like a glossary of the different kinds of secondary dominants that you can use in a major key. Each chord in a major key gives a slightly different feeling when you approach it with its secondary dominant chord and I found tons of video game examples for each of these types of harmonic movements. Enjoy 0:00 - What are Secondary Dominant Chords (skip this bit if you already know) 3:14 - SD to the ii chord 7:52 - SD to the iii chord 9:37 - SD to the IV chord 13:24 - SD to the V chord 16:03 - SD to the vi chord 19:04 - Outro" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=GtEpaJzlLyg) 2025-01-17T16:15Z 587K followers, 191.8K engagements "How to Dissect a Melody Oh we're getting REAL nitty-gritty today. Treasure of the Rudras features a lot of great themes with melodies that are very easy to break down into 'structural notes' and 'embellishing notes' which make it a perfect vehicle to showcase that concept how it works and how it can help you analyze melodies. 0:00 - Melodies are hard to analyze 1:08 - Melodic Embellishments 1:52 - Creating a Melodic Reduction 7:32 - Different Melodies with the Same Skeleton 10:25 - Complicated Melodic Embellishments 15:24 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=PZ5POrP-NMw) 2024-12-29T19:44Z 587K followers, 96K engagements "Melody Technique: Enclosures #melody #composition #music #8bitmusictheory So what is an enclosure anyway" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=aagBdSrzNrg) 2024-12-26T20:24Z 587K followers, 46.2K engagements "The Music Theory Behind Astral Observatory One of the best pieces of music in the video game canon and it's only [--] bars long. Let's break down what makes the Astral Observatory theme from Majora's Mask so great. 0:00 - Astral Observatory 1:09 - Instrumentation 1:47 - Melody 3:29 - The Intro Run 5:36 - Wandering Out of Key 8:03 - Phrasing 9:14 - Colourful Note Choices 10:44 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory #composition" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=rgo_L4k4190) 2024-12-16T15:31Z 587K followers, 69.7K engagements "5 Sus Chords to Get Yourself a Girlfriend We all know what's holding back our love lives: not enough music theory. Join me as I walk through [--] different versions of the 'sus chord' and showcase how you can use them to win over the girl of your dreams. 0:00 - We've all been there 0:57 - What's a Sus Chord 1:42 - The 4-3 Suspension 7:18 - The Suspension Stretch 11:01 - The Fakeout Major Resolution 16:21 - The "Soul" V Chord 19:10 - Unresolved Sus Chords Just Floating Around PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD:" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=0xDBa2LDELI) 2024-11-29T16:19Z 587K followers, 83.5K engagements "Transcribing some Wario Land [--] Come watch me transcribe the soundtrack to Wario Land [--] for the Gameboy Color PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory live transcription music music theory composition analysis ear training video game music 8-bit Music Theory live transcription music music theory composition analysis ear training video game music 8-bit Music Theory" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=x6VJxKGESsI) 2024-11-15T17:43Z 587K followers, 13.5K engagements "How Can Music Be Scary What makes music scary I pinpoint [--] approaches composers use to write horror music and use them to break down Dead Space 2's "Lacrimosa". Huge thanks to Jason Graves for sharing the score to the piece with me for this analysis Jason Graves' 'Music of Dead Space' series: https://youtube.com/playlistlist=PLA-S_iErwwwRSF3QaJezrg4tLTvCXv0QV&si=sZeGBa8riBuu1RTu 0:00 - Music can be scary 1:35 - "Dementia Motif" intro 3:55 - "Isaac Clarke's Theme" 5:04 - Tense Intervals 7:22 - Unsettling Timbres 9:34 - Aleatoric Techniques 14:49 - Atonal Writing 17:34 - Lacrimosa's 3rd" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=2EdYbvC24tY) 2024-10-31T15:11Z 587K followers, 74.6K engagements "You Can't Write Music as Pretty as Pikmin 4's Credits Theme What makes the Pikmin [--] credits music so beautiful I take an even deeper dive than usual to try and figure it out. 0:00 - Pikmin 4's Credits Theme is Beautiful 1:26 - Micro-level Analysis 4:13 - The Bb/Eb Chord 6:39 - The Minor iv Chord 9:41 - Mid-level Analysis 11:39 - Climactic Melodic Moments 13:36 - Macro-level Analysis 21:09 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory #pikmin4" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=yzVOGKGjDZs) 2024-10-23T20:39Z 587K followers, 47.2K engagements "The Art of the Title Screen Theme I unironically love Princess Peach: Showtime and the first time I booted up the game and got greeted by the title screen theme it took my breath away. The game's two title screen themes are both some of the most gorgeous music in video games and I just had to make a video breaking down why. 0:00 - Title Screens 1:10 - Entrancing Prelude 8:30 - Captivating Prelude 15:15 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER:" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=F3bUEZ2QkwU) 2024-09-30T16:13Z 587K followers, 35.4K engagements "How to Write Hero Music with Heart FINALLY an actual 8-bit soundtrack on 8-bit Music Theory Kid Icarus has a great score and I think the music would be as well remembered today as Metroid's music is if the game itself had more of a legacy. Let's dive into how the soundtrack straddles the line between head-strong and heartfelt 0:00 - Kid Icarus 1:23 - Heroic vs Emotional 1:58 - Underworld Theme 5:42 - Descending Bassline 7:27 - Sky Palace Theme 8:41 - Title Screen Theme 10:29 - Credits Theme 12:32 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album:" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=05FCRiwdrUU) 2024-09-20T14:41Z 587K followers, 34.6K engagements "How Nintendo Makes Music Sound Japanese I always love in Mario games when there's a level themed around feudal Japan and in this video I wanted to take a look and see what techniques these games use to make their music feel Japanese. 0:00 - Japanese Mario Levels 1:14 - Percussion Propulsion 3:24 - 4th Based Harmony 5:07 - SM3DW - Hands-On Hall 7:16 - Princess Peach: Showtime - Ninja Village 8:55 - Pentatonic Scales 9:36 - Hirajoshi Scale 10:57 - Paper Mario: The Origami King - Shogun Studios Entrance 11:44 - Super Mario Odyssey - Bowser's Castle Courtyard 12:26 - Pentatonic Melodies in Paper" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=d2ddFe96_78) 2024-08-30T21:20Z 587K followers, 98.6K engagements "How Shadow of the Colossus' Music Works Let's see how the music of Shadow of the Colossus enhances the gameplay loop 0:00 - Long Winded Intro 1:27 - Basic Gameplay Loop 2:26 - Searching for the Colossus 3:08 - Approaching the Colossus 5:37 - Battle Begins 8:09 - Turning the Tide of Battle 10:29 - Colossus Defeated 13:21 - Categorical Composition 17:23 - Long Winded Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory #shadowofthecolossus #gamemusic" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=XImCutZuIaI) 2024-08-19T16:29Z 587K followers, 60.3K engagements "I wrote a fake Professor Layton tune Enormous thanks to the musicians who contributed their time and talents to this recording: Eli Bishop - Violin Kasey Kurtz - Guitar Andy-Ru - Upright Bass & Mixing You can check out the analysis video I wrote this tune for here: https://youtu.be/k17yQXuv_JE #composition #videogamemusic #8bitmusictheory professor Layton layton music original music how to write music video game music violin accordion guitar 8-bit Music Theory professor Layton layton music original music how to write music video game music violin accordion guitar 8-bit Music Theory" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=jMFW43d-PKI) 2024-07-31T20:14Z 587K followers, 45.2K engagements "The Secret to Writing a Professor Layton Theme Professor Layton is one of those series where the music seems especially important. Each games' soundtrack brings you into their game's world and crafts the mysterious goodhearted gentlemanly vibe that sits at the heart of the series. After transcribing and studying the title themes from each of the mainline games in the series I put together a road map for how to craft your own music in the style of a Professor Layton theme. You can listen to the entire piece I wrote here: https://youtu.be/jMFW43d-PKI 0:00 - What's the Professor Layton Sound" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=k17yQXuv_JE) 2024-07-31T13:39Z 587K followers, 73.2K engagements "Can Odd Meters Feel Good Odd Time Signatures in Video Game Music Part [--] Who can get enough odd time signatures I certainly can't This time we're diving in to try and figure out how to make odd time signatures feel good with at least one example that feels specifically very bad. Enjoy 0:00 - Odd time signatures can groove too 1:03 - Wild Woods - Mario Kart [--] 5:53 - Balatro Theme 7:53 - Winning Result - Mario Kart [--] 11:01 - Sagat's Theme - Street Fighter II 14:24 - Fairy Flying Theme - Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 15:55 - Mad Luca - Suikoden II 19:33 - Outro PATREON:" [YouTube Link](https://youtube.com/watch?v=87razGQtrUM) 2024-07-22T16:12Z 587K followers, 90.4K engagements Limited data mode. Full metrics available with subscription: lunarcrush.com/pricing
@8bitmusictheory 8-bit Music Theory
8-bit Music Theory posts on YouTube about theory, how to, video game, ost the most. They currently have [-------] followers and [---] posts still getting attention that total [-----] engagements in the last [--] hours.
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Social Influence
Social category influence gaming technology brands social networks countries finance cryptocurrencies travel destinations stocks musicians celebrities
Social topic influence theory #1200, how to, video game, ost, nintendo #2476, $7974t #3439, let s #1554, main, games, pokemon #2727
Top accounts mentioned or mentioned by @shymanmusic
Top assets mentioned Chainlink (LINK)
Top Social Posts
Top posts by engagements in the last [--] hours
"How Cynthia's Theme Terrorized a Generation In this video I take a look at Cynthias battle theme as well as her approach theme and try to spell out how the music sets the stage for the battle and delivers an appropriately threatening experience 0:00 - Intro 1:15 - Approaching Cynthia 8:34 - Battle Against Cynthia 13:42 - Connection to Pokemon's Musical Legacy 14:41 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory #pokemon #champion"
YouTube Link 2024-04-30T15:04Z 587K followers, 1.4M engagements
"Musical Symbolism in Clair Obscur: Expedition [--] The Clair Obscur: Expedition [--] soundtrack is one of the most elegantly composed game scores I've heard in a long time with different themes and motifs woven throughout the soundtrack in a way that's not at all in your face but offers layers and layers of extra depth and meaning when you start to dig into it. In this video I take a look at a theme called "Continuer t'aimer" pick out a few places where it's used and see what it can tell us about the game's story and characters. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory MERCH STORE:"
YouTube Link 2025-12-11T16:00Z 587K followers, 107K engagements
"Cogwork Dancers' Brutal Ballet The Cogwork Dancers boss fight is one of my favourite moments of Hollow Knight: Silksong a perfect way to break up the game with a new kind of fight and one that uses music to its fullest effect in making an impactful moment. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory MERCH STORE: https://8bit-shop.fourthwall.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory 0:00 - Cogwork Dancers 1:29 - Phase [--] 9:11 - Phase [--] 11:28 - Phase [--] 14:21 - Phase [--] :( 16:12 - Christopher Larkin rules #silksong #hollowknight #gamemusic"
YouTube Link 2025-11-30T14:16Z 587K followers, 83.5K engagements
"Death Silksong and Music Theory Let's take a brief tour through the Silksong soundtrack and then take a deep dive into the Grand Silkmother boss fight theme. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory MERCH STORE: https://8bit-shop.fourthwall.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory 0:00 - The Dies Irae 3:14 - Appearances in Silksong's Soundtrack 8:00 - Grand Silkmother Boss Theme #silksong #indiegame #vgm #8bitMusicTheory silksong hollow knight ost hornet boss theme christopher larkin indie game game music music theory composition ballet how to"
YouTube Link 2026-01-31T16:09Z 587K followers, 49.1K engagements
"How to Write Gorgeous Chords like Masashi Hamauzu Masashi Hamauzu's music is so rich and stylish and colourful. In analyzing some of it I came across a sound that he seems to gravitate toward that I call the 'Sus Chord Slash Chord'. Let's break down what it is and how to use it PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory MERCH STORE: https://8bit-shop.fourthwall.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory 0:00 - Who's Hamauzu 1:30 - Sus Chord Slash Chords 2:40 - Minor [--] Sound 5:38 - Maj13 sound 7:48 - Maj7#11 sound 9:31 - First inversion Maj2 sound"
YouTube Link 2025-10-17T16:48Z 587K followers, 117.2K engagements
"When Bioshock Infinite Covered The Beach Boys As a huge fan of the Beach Boys' album Pet Sounds as well as a huge fan of video games hearing 'God Only Knows' sneak its way into Bioshock Infinite was one of the most pleasant surprises of my video game playing history. Transcribing and analyzing the Barbershop-ified arrangement of this Brian Wilson classic I realized just how different the Barbershop style is from what Wilson was trying to achieve in his original recording - which makes the fact that this arrangement works all the more impressive. Join me as I break down exactly how the"
YouTube Link 2020-03-22T19:49Z 587K followers, 314.8K engagements
"Gusty Garden Galaxy's Perfect Melody For this video I chose to analyze just one piece of music to keep it short and simple. Well the piece of music I chose was Gusty Garden Galaxy's theme from Super Mario Galaxy and so after analyzing just the first half of the tune the video is pushing [--] minutes. Short and simple it is not but the subject of the video is so graceful in the way that it approaches its melody that I just couldn't help myself. Enjoy Notebook: https://www.themusiciansnotebook.com/collaborations/8-bit-music-theory PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory TWITTER:"
YouTube Link 2020-04-16T18:18Z 587K followers, 663.2K engagements
"How to Write Drum Parts (for non drummers) Drums are a weird instrument to try and write for if you don't know how to play them. As a drummer myself I know first hand how difficult most arrangers find writing drum parts because I've had to play some truly brutal drum charts in my day. Just some real stinkers. Thankfully this video is here to give a little overview about what a good drum part should have and some of the basic notation principles that you'll need to know. Huge thanks to my friend Lauren T and my wife Em for recording the sax and trumpet parts in the final arrangement You can"
YouTube Link 2021-08-29T20:50Z 587K followers, 1.2M engagements
"How to use Secondary Dominants I wanted this video to be almost like a glossary of the different kinds of secondary dominants that you can use in a major key. Each chord in a major key gives a slightly different feeling when you approach it with its secondary dominant chord and I found tons of video game examples for each of these types of harmonic movements. Enjoy 0:00 - What are Secondary Dominant Chords (skip this bit if you already know) 3:14 - SD to the ii chord 7:52 - SD to the iii chord 9:37 - SD to the IV chord 13:24 - SD to the V chord 16:03 - SD to the vi chord 19:04 - Outro"
YouTube Link 2025-01-17T16:15Z 587K followers, 191.8K engagements
"How Koji Kondo Writes Creepy Music I take a look at some old Zelda Dungeon music to find out how series composer Koji Kondo kept us unsettled. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory legend of zelda loz ocarina of tim oot music music theory zelda music nintendo nintendo music analysis analyze link ganon ganondorf theme priest of the dark order aghanim prince of darkness shadow temple dungeon dungeon music scary spooky creepy unsettling spirit temple water temple forest temple jabu jabu inside jabu jabu's belly deku tree scary music horror"
YouTube Link 2018-03-31T16:37Z 587K followers, 786.1K engagements
"Wario Land 3's Soundtrack Secret Wario Land [--] has one of the coolest 'musical moments' that almost nobody would notice on a normal playthrough of the game: the [--] music boxes you collect throughout your adventure each have their own separate jingle and these little jingles combine together to create the game's credits music. It's a great melody from a great game and finding out how these jingles fit into it made me appreciate it even more 0:00 - Wario Land [--] 1:09 - Music Box Jingles 4:03 - Music Boxes Unite 6:36 - Credits Theme 7:58 - Credits Theme B Section 10:53 - Credits Theme Outro 12:43 -"
YouTube Link 2025-01-27T19:15Z 587K followers, 54.2K engagements
"4 Tips for Writing Ambient Chord Progressions In this video I take a brief look at harmonic conventions in David Wise's ambient music from the Donkey Kong Country series. TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory David Wise Interview footage from: https://www.youtube.com/watchv=ain8sBEjx_4 8bit music theory theory analysis 8-bit [--] bit video game music vgm donkey kong country dkc diddy's kong quest diddy kong aquatic ambience ambient music stickerbush symphony stickerbrush symphony forest interlude songs composition 8bit music theory theory"
YouTube Link 2018-02-28T16:46Z 587K followers, 515.3K engagements
"TOP [--] Koji Kondo One-Offs Koji Kondo is rightfully acclaimed as the biggest name in video game music thanks to his legendary soundtracks for the early Mario and Zelda games. I don't think he gets enough credit for the music that he's written since taking a supervisor role on Nintendo's soundtracks. Kondo contributes at least one piece of music to each new Mario and Zelda instalment and in this video I go through my top [--] favourite Koji Kondo One-Offs PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory MERCH STORE: https://8bit-shop.fourthwall.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER:"
YouTube Link 2025-09-16T14:23Z 587K followers, 74.2K engagements
"How The Legend of Zelda Theme Works Let's do a Deep Dive into the one that started it all. 0:00 - The Zelda Theme is Legendary 1:27 - The Intro 2:53 - The Melody 8:04 - The Harmony 10:29 - The B section 15:34 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory #videogamemusic #zelda #8bitMusicTheory the legend of zelda zelda music loz theme ost nintendo music main theme how to write music composition koji kondo nes link game music video game vgm"
YouTube Link 2025-04-29T15:15Z 587K followers, 150.2K engagements
"What Makes a GOOD Leitmotif Pokmon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky Leitmotifs are great. Drawing associations between different melodic figures and characters places or elements within a story are a great way to enrich the storytelling of a game while simultaneously giving players an easy way to connect with the music. All great leitmotifs are great musical ideas but not all great musical ideas make great leitmotifs. Join me as I take a look at the leitmotif-heavy soundtrack of the Pokmon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky games to try and figure out what kind of"
YouTube Link 2020-03-31T17:59Z 587K followers, 446.9K engagements
"The Phoenix Wright Musical Formula SPOILER ALERT: the background footage in this video kinda spoils the second case in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All. The Phoenix Wright series' courtroom drama is still just as compelling [--] years after the original game's release in spite of its formulaic nature. This is in no small part due to the series' fantastic musical history with tunes written to perfectly accompany and elevate our journey from nervously waiting for each trial to begin to tearing apart the witnesses' testimony and cracking each case wide open. Join me as I break"
YouTube Link 2021-12-30T18:39Z 587K followers, 429.1K engagements
"How Simple Chord Progressions Work It's fun to talk about s p i c y voicings and perplexing harmonies but most music out there stays pretty simple in the chord department. Even simple chord progressions need to follow some underlying logic for what works and what doesn't and in this video I present a way of analyzing harmony that's simple but that I find helpful. Each example was taken from a game requested by one of my highest tier Patrons whom I can't thank enough for their generosity and support 0:00 - Intro 1:18 - [--] Types of Chord Movement 3:06 - Rain World Main Theme 5:56 - Kentucky"
YouTube Link 2022-04-30T19:31Z 587K followers, 511.3K engagements
"An exhaustingly detailed analysis of To Zanarkand's music theory One of the most evocative pieces in the Final Fantasy repertoire To Zanarkand from Final Fantasy X showcases Nobuo Uematsu's sophisticated writing. The piece manages to be emotionally potent without being musically complex so let's dive in with a detailed analysis to try and figure out how it does that. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory MERCH STORE: https://8bit-shop.fourthwall.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory 0:00 - Advanced =/= Sophisticated 1:19 - Introduction"
YouTube Link 2025-12-31T16:32Z 587K followers, 52.1K engagements
"How They Made The Great Sea Feel C U R S E D 'The Great Sea is Cursed' from the Wind Waker soundtrack takes the inviting adventurous great sea theme we all know and love and creepifies it. Tritones clashing harmonies and references to past themes come in to transform the heroic into the horrifying. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory MERCH STORE: https://8bit-shop.fourthwall.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory 0:00 - The Great Sea is Cursed 0:58 - Iconic Cello Ostinato 5:10 - Tritone-ifying the Melody 7:22 - Creepy 4ths 8:20 -"
YouTube Link 2026-02-13T19:59Z 587K followers, 20.9K engagements
"Analyzing why people like funk Marvel vs Capcom [--] This one turned into more of an exploration of why people like funk and jazz rather than a deep dive on the Marvel vs Capcom [--] soundtrack but hopefully it's interesting enough PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory MERCH STORE: https://8bit-shop.fourthwall.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory 0:00 - Funk/Jazz vs Rock 2:01 - Syncopated Rhythm 9:07 - B A S S 13:02 - Solos 18:41 - Outro #marvelvscapcom #funk #jazz #gamemusic #8bitMusicTheory marvel vs capcom [--] marvel capcom spiderman captain"
YouTube Link 2025-10-31T15:52Z 587K followers, 64K engagements
"How Clair Obscur's Music Works #8bitmusictheory #videogamemusic #clairobscurexpedition33 A few simple but intentional choices made with perfect execution. clair obscur expedition [--] rpg game music ost how to write music composition music theory 8-bit music theory clair obscur expedition [--] rpg game music ost how to write music composition music theory 8-bit music theory"
YouTube Link 2025-05-15T22:04Z 587K followers, 42.2K engagements
"How Can Music Be Scary What makes music scary I pinpoint [--] approaches composers use to write horror music and use them to break down Dead Space 2's "Lacrimosa". Huge thanks to Jason Graves for sharing the score to the piece with me for this analysis Jason Graves' 'Music of Dead Space' series: https://youtube.com/playlistlist=PLA-S_iErwwwRSF3QaJezrg4tLTvCXv0QV&si=sZeGBa8riBuu1RTu 0:00 - Music can be scary 1:35 - "Dementia Motif" intro 3:55 - "Isaac Clarke's Theme" 5:04 - Tense Intervals 7:22 - Unsettling Timbres 9:34 - Aleatoric Techniques 14:49 - Atonal Writing 17:34 - Lacrimosa's 3rd"
YouTube Link 2024-10-31T15:11Z 587K followers, 74.6K engagements
"Odd Time Signatures in Video Game Music Everyone loves odd meters right Whether it's to add a little wrinkle in an otherwise straightforward tune or an attempt to completely discombobulate the listener odd time signatures are one of my favourite ways to add interest to a piece of music. In this video I take a look at some of my favourite examples of odd meters in video game music and the effects that they have on each piece. SHIRTS: https://8bitmerch.bandcamp.com/merch/keyboard-intro-t-shirts PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory"
YouTube Link 2019-01-14T18:46Z 579K followers, 2M engagements
"Nonfunctional Harmony in Chrono Trigger Today I take a look at the way the Chrono Trigger soundtrack uses "nonfunctional chord progressions". Thanks to my lovely wife for making the intro art PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory"
YouTube Link 2017-02-21T13:40Z 580K followers, 637.4K engagements
"How to Write a NieR Song The NieR games have some of the most distinctive soundtracks to come out in the modern era and I take the opportunity to break down some of the elements that are so core to the music's identity. Enjoy PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory NOTEBOOK: https://www.themusiciansnotebook.com/collaborations/8-bit-music-theory DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory #NieRMusic #NieRAutomata #MusicTheory"
YouTube Link 2021-10-30T18:21Z 578K followers, 227.1K engagements
"Why Rainbow Road Sounds VICTORIOUS in Mario Kart World Mario Kart World's soundtrack somehow exceeded even my unforgivingly high expectations and I just had to make a video going over the game's take on Rainbow Road. An adaptive multi-movement musical work that manages to bring the giant sprawling open world game to a satisfying conclusion this truly might be the best Rainbow Road yet. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory 0:00 - Rainbow Road"
YouTube Link 2025-07-30T15:35Z 587K followers, 79.6K engagements
"How Celeste Takes a Little and Gets a Lot Listening to the tune 'Resurrections' from Celeste I was struck by the economy of ideas at play. Each part added to the music over the [--] minute runtime was somehow related to a previous idea connected to a following idea as well like the music was a giant puzzle made of perfectly interlocking pieces. After analyzing the piece I boiled it down to [--] broad compositional ideas that informed each individual part throughout the tune and that's what I'm gonna discuss in this video. Hope you like it 8-bit Big Band Show Trailer/info:"
YouTube Link 2019-10-02T17:04Z 584K followers, 321.9K engagements
"Music Theory Minute #1.4 - Upper Structure Triads Welcome to Music Theory Minute a new weekly series meant to give easily digestible music theory tidbits on a regular release schedule. The idea behind this series is that each week the topic of the month will be explored in increasing depth. This video explores the concept of upper structure triads. The PDF I mentioned at the end: https://drive.google.com/file/d/12HX-u2Fzx96kOoUuwdZ_HEW2Uqs5X_0t/viewfbclid=IwAR3gtevrMMVNa2iF6dJh0ClH0748M1l7p29VV62-haztmZACrucoByyW3aI SHIRTS: https://8bitmerch.bandcamp.com/merch/. PATREON:"
YouTube Link 2019-03-27T23:24Z 579K followers, 86K engagements
"Music Theory Minute #1.2 - Voicing Extended Chords Welcome to Music Theory Minute a new weekly series meant to give easily digestible music theory tidbits on a regular release schedule. The idea behind this series is that each week the topic of the month will be explored in increasing depth. This video is meant to introduce the how the voicing of a chord can affect the sound of that chord. SHIRTS: https://8bitmerch.bandcamp.com/merch/. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory #MusicTheoryMinute #chordextensions #musictheory"
YouTube Link 2019-03-13T18:20Z 577K followers, 113K engagements
"The Music Theory of Silksong's Bone Bottom Theme My bottom actually is not very bony and I don't appreciate the implicati- oh that's the name of the town Right on right on. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory MERCH STORE: https://8bit-shop.fourthwall.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory 0:00 - Bone Bottom vs Dirtmouth 1:16 - The sad sad b6 2:00 - Consistent Chord Structure 3:54 - The B Section 6:16 - Sacrificing the Key for the Chord Structure 8:50 - Dirtmouth's emotional approach 9:45 - Bone Bottom's emotional approach #silksong"
YouTube Link 2025-09-30T19:27Z 587K followers, 78.9K engagements
"it's not Debussy it's Dragon Quest 'Sea Breeze' from Dragon Quest IV known on the game soundtrack as 'Expanding the Map' is an absolutely gorgeous orchestral piece that was crammed on to the NES soundchip. Hearing the full orchestral realization of legendary composer Koichi Sugiyama's vision it's clear how much inspiration he drew from the style of Claude Debussy in its composition. Let's dive into what makes Sea Breeze sound so magical and pick out what elements specifically were taken from the french impressionist style. All examples of Debussy pieces were created using SNES sound fonts to"
YouTube Link 2025-08-27T13:04Z 587K followers, 48K engagements
"How To Write A Song From The Mega Man [--] Soundtrack I'm back with a look at what makes Mega Man 2's soundtrack sound like Mega Man 2's soundtrack. PATREON: patreon.com/8bitmusictheory TWITTER: twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory"
YouTube Link 2017-07-08T17:25Z 576K followers, 327.4K engagements
"Ya got TRICKED: That Full Band was really just [--] Channels The Gameboy much like the NES had very limited sound capabilities and yet the Pokemon Trading Card Game video game managed to squeeze a whole soundtrack of full-sounding arrangements out of that hardware. In this video I go over some techniques the soundtrack uses to trick you into thinking there are more voices present in the music than there actually are. 0:00 - Intro 0:41 - Gameboy's Sound Limitations 1:44 - Making a full band out of [--] channels 4:10 - Articulation Tricks 5:54 - Duty Cycle 8:54 - Using Repeating Figures 10:24 -"
YouTube Link 2024-02-03T20:10Z 580K followers, 183.1K engagements
"The DORIAN Mode Feels MYSTERIOUS (among other things) The Dorian Mode is the most versatile of the [--] major modes but 'versatile' doesn't seem like a very click-bait-y word to put in the title. From mysterious to heroic to funky the Dorian mode sees a lot of play in a wide variety of musical contexts and in this video I explore how the different ways of handling the characteristic raised 6th note contribute to each of these various effects. 0:00 - What's the Dorian Mode 0:39 - Midna's Lament - The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess 2:00 - Dirtmouth Theme - Hollow Knight 2:58 - Cyan's Theme -"
YouTube Link 2023-02-22T21:42Z 581K followers, 261K engagements
"Baka Mitai Actually Slaps Though If Baka Mitai didn't get permanently stuck in your head after hearing it I don't know what to tell you. I don't think we can be friends. English translated lyrics from: https://yakuza.fandom.com/wiki/Bakamitai PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory NOTEBOOK: https://www.themusiciansnotebook.com/collaborations/8-bit-music-theory DISCORD: https://discord.gg/R8XUEdT #BakaMitai #Yakuza #musictheory"
YouTube Link 2020-10-19T20:43Z 579K followers, 550K engagements
"The AEOLIAN Mode Feels Devastating You might've thought I wasn't gonna touch on the more vanilla modes but I am Come check out what makes the Aeolian mode or Natural Minor Scale sound so depressing. 0:00 - What's the Aeolian Mode 2:57 - NOT AEOLIAN: Desert Ruins - Wario Land [--] 3:38 - Auriel's Ascension - Elder Scrolls IV 4:30 - Aquatic Ambience - Donkey Kong Country 6:16 - Our Children Taken - The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess 8:02 - Guile's Theme - Street Fighter [--] 9:33 - Billy & Jimmy Lee's Theme - Double Dragon 10:22 - Metal Man - Mega Man [--] 10:52 - Objection - Phoenix Wright: Ace"
YouTube Link 2023-04-30T13:30Z 577K followers, 205.9K engagements
"How Shadow of the Colossus' Music Works Let's see how the music of Shadow of the Colossus enhances the gameplay loop 0:00 - Long Winded Intro 1:27 - Basic Gameplay Loop 2:26 - Searching for the Colossus 3:08 - Approaching the Colossus 5:37 - Battle Begins 8:09 - Turning the Tide of Battle 10:29 - Colossus Defeated 13:21 - Categorical Composition 17:23 - Long Winded Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory #shadowofthecolossus #gamemusic"
YouTube Link 2024-08-19T16:29Z 587K followers, 60.3K engagements
"How Creative Limitations Shaped Ocarina of Time's Best Music The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time must have the most beloved soundtrack in video game music history. This time around I break down some of the limitations composer Koji Kondo faced writing melodies for the game's titular instrument and how those limitations spawned some of the greatest themes of the medium. Interview: https://www.glitterberri.com/ocarina-of-time/1101-interviews/playing-the-ocarina/ PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory NOTEBOOK: https://www.themusiciansnotebook.com/collaborations/8-bit-music-theory"
YouTube Link 2021-09-29T21:11Z 581K followers, 1.1M engagements
"Melody Technique: Enclosures #melody #composition #music #8bitmusictheory So what is an enclosure anyway"
YouTube Link 2024-12-26T20:24Z 587K followers, 46.2K engagements
"How Dark Souls Turns Motifs Into Music A deep dive into how Gwyn Lord of Cinder is built out of a couple of motifs. Hold onto your hats for this one Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Twitter: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory"
YouTube Link 2017-02-01T20:13Z 578K followers, 522.6K engagements
"Rosalina is a Disney Princess (musically) Rosalina's Observatory is a beautiful piece of music with a whimsical dreamy quality that sounds like it was pulled right out of an old Disney movie. In this video I explore how the piece borrows from old Disney Princess music as well as the broader Romantic musical tradition to create this effect. 0:00 - Intro 1:05 - Disney Princess Music 2:17 - Chromatic Approach Notes 4:54 - Tonic Diminished Chord Resolutions 6:14 - Appoggiaturas 7:52 - Combining Two Techniques 11:42 - I Advocate for Musical Theft 13:58 - Outro Check out my video editor's own"
YouTube Link 2022-03-18T18:21Z 584K followers, 155K engagements
"'GET GOOD' ALBUM LISTENING PARTY Let's listen through the new 8-bit & The Single Players Album 'GET GOOD' available NOW My music channel: @shymanmusic BANDCAMP: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/get-good Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/032xWVMpwJBa5EJyOfrxh8si=YNOfeemPR2SY-NhM9B0qUQ Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/ca/album/get-good/1861144444"
YouTube Link 2026-01-17T01:55Z 587K followers, [----] engagements
"Pepsiman's Theme Song SHREDS Pepsiman is about as '90s as '90s ad campaigns get and the first couple minutes of the Pepsiman theme song are hilariously repetitive and over-the-top. But just when you think the tune has nothing else to offer besides people yelling "PEPSIMAAAAN" over a surf beat at the top of their lungs you get hit in the face with some absolutely killing sax and trumpet solos. Let's take a moment to appreciate these hidden gems of improvisation and outline some ways that these masters structure their improvised lines. Big thanks to my wife for recording the trumpet solo from"
YouTube Link 2021-02-14T21:52Z 577K followers, 371.5K engagements
"What Makes A Good Melody - Earthbound's Snowman Theme Since winter is upon us I thought it'd be fun to analyze one of my favourite tunes from the Earthbound soundtrack: the Snowman theme. Shout out to Ellie McEla (https://www.youtube.com/user/TheBigMinorsOfficial) for providing a truly impressive transcription of this tune as well as the rest of the earthbound soundtrack which you can find here: http://kobbelobbe.tumblr.com/mother Follow me on twitter: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory"
YouTube Link 2016-12-15T17:09Z 580K followers, 240.7K engagements
"How does Video Game Beach Music Work What is it about beach level music that puts us right there on the shore our backs on the sand and our feet in the air How does a piece of music fill our nostrils with the scent of salty seas The answer turns out to be rhythm harmony attitude and a guitar. 0:00 - Beach Music 1:18 - I-IV progression 2:30 - Bossa Nova guitar 3:44 - Partido Alto rhythm 6:18 - iii-VI-ii-V progression 9:01 - Adding a tropical 'tinge' 10:22 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD:"
YouTube Link 2025-02-16T17:46Z 587K followers, 92.4K engagements
"The Music Theory Behind Astral Observatory One of the best pieces of music in the video game canon and it's only [--] bars long. Let's break down what makes the Astral Observatory theme from Majora's Mask so great. 0:00 - Astral Observatory 1:09 - Instrumentation 1:47 - Melody 3:29 - The Intro Run 5:36 - Wandering Out of Key 8:03 - Phrasing 9:14 - Colourful Note Choices 10:44 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory #composition"
YouTube Link 2024-12-16T15:31Z 587K followers, 69.7K engagements
"The MIXOLYDIAN Mode is Really Kind of Goofy Of all the major modes Mixolydian carries a uniquely lighthearted spirit. In this video I go through some examples of this in games talk a little bit about what the mode isn't and then take a look at one of the less lighthearted aspects of the scale. Enjoy 0:00 - Introduction 0:35 - What's the Mixolydian Mode 1:48 - The I-bVII vamp 5:48 - What the Mixolydian Mode isn't 8:47 - Not Always Goofy: The minor v 10:45 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD:"
YouTube Link 2022-10-17T16:45Z 580K followers, 251.3K engagements
"You Can Think About Melodies Harmonically Too In this video I take a look at different ways a melody can evoke the sound of a chord or progression and how that might be used to great effect using the soundtrack of Kirby's Block Ball for the Gameboy as an example. 0:00 - Intro 1:17 - How Can a Melody Spell Out a Chord 2:24 - Triad+1 3:49 - [--] chord tones + passing tone 6:00 - Melody implying alternate harmony 10:20 - Melody implying extended harmony 11:27 - Melody implying chord progression 14:24 - Melodic Pivot Notes 15:54 - FINAL CHALLENGE 18:39 - Outro PATREON:"
YouTube Link 2022-02-28T16:39Z 580K followers, 199.3K engagements
"Chromatic Notes Are Goofy In Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door In this video I took a look at a few of the ways you can make chromaticism sound goofy using the soundtrack from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door as an example. There's a lot of different types of sounds or effects you can get out of chromatic notes and this game's music was the perfect showcase for some of the more silly ones. DISCORD: https://discord.gg/ZJwwEwJ PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory #papermario #videogamemusic #musictheory chromaticism in music making"
YouTube Link 2018-08-28T21:35Z 586K followers, 273.4K engagements
"How to Learn How to Write for Orchestra In this video I don't talk about any tips for orchestrating an arrangement but rather I share my approach for how I tackle learning how to orchestrate. It's a strategy for acquiring vocabulary that you can use in your own writing. I've found it helpful hopefully you will too Download the score for the 25th Anniversary Kirby's Adventure Medley: https://www.kirby.jp/music/score/eng/term.php Get the Guild Wars [--] Score Book: https://materia.store/collections/guild-wars-2-living-world-season-2-score-bookref=8bitmt PATREON:"
YouTube Link 2025-05-30T15:48Z 587K followers, 71K engagements
"Analyzing The Sax Solo From Dolphin Shoals In this episode I take apart the sax solo from Mario Kart 8's Dolphin Shoals track. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory 8bit music theory music theory music 8-bit [--] bit vgm video game music mario kart [--] dolphin shoals jazz improvisation improv sax sax solo saxophone alto jazz solo analysis analyze musical analysis mario kart mario music 8bit music theory music theory music 8-bit [--] bit vgm video game music mario kart [--] dolphin shoals jazz improvisation improv sax sax solo saxophone alto jazz"
YouTube Link 2017-10-04T16:56Z 586K followers, 1.2M engagements
"Write Music with IMPACT It's easy to get lost in the weeds with musical analysis and forget the most important part job of a piece of music: to emotionally impact the listener. With my newest album of video game jazz I put a lot of thought into creating specific moments in each piece that would do just that and in this video I go through a few of them to show the strategies I used to do so. My new music channel: @shymanmusic BANDCAMP: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/get-good Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/032xWVMpwJBa5EJyOfrxh8si=YNOfeemPR2SY-NhM9B0qUQ Apple Music:"
YouTube Link 2026-01-24T16:06Z 587K followers, 25.3K engagements
"SURGE OF POWER - The Hype-est track from Mega Man Battle Network The Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection comes out today and in this video I'm taking a look at the boss theme "Surge of Power" from Mega Man Battle Network [--]. The tune starts hype and gets progressively hyper as it goes on - how does it do this Watch the video to find out Check out the Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection here: https://gsght.com/c/fkhhwh PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER:"
YouTube Link 2023-04-14T21:25Z 586K followers, 134.1K engagements
"The Beautiful Musical Textures of Okami Okami's music is as beautiful and unique as its visual style and in this video I take a look at how the approach to harmony instrumentation and texture are to thank for this Interview with Masami Ueda I referenced in the video: https://parkerchapin.wordpress.com/2015/07/27/interview-with-masami-ueda/ 0:00 - Introduction 1:32 - Japanese Aesthetic 2:59 - Cursed Shinshu Field 6:42 - Lake Harami 11:22 - Enter Waka 14:56 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD:"
YouTube Link 2022-11-28T16:53Z 586K followers, 72.2K engagements
"Day themes vs Night themes #8bitmusictheory #composition #vgm Do you prefer Day or Night wario land [--] writing a level theme main theme composition music theory how to write music 8-bit Music Theory wario land [--] writing a level theme main theme composition music theory how to write music 8-bit Music Theory"
YouTube Link 2025-02-26T18:28Z 587K followers, [----] engagements
"The Ionian Mode Feels RELAXING Is there a point to the "Ionian mode" It's just another name for the major scale and surely the major scale couldn't have any unique colours or qualities that set it apart Well in the process of making this video I discovered that if you treat the major scale like I've been treating every other major mode it does have a uniquely relaxing quality. Check out the examples in the video and you'll see what I mean 0:00 - Ionian Mode vs Major Scale 1:06 - Animal Crossing: New Horizons - Museum Theme 2:51 - Final Fantasy VI - Relm's Theme 5:11 - Earthbound - Sunrise &"
YouTube Link 2023-07-21T19:54Z 586K followers, 157.5K engagements
"Katamari Damacy's Lonely Rolling Star Rocks Lonely Rolling Star is one of those tunes that I think is just impossible to hate. Join me as I break down how the approach the melody the harmony and the way these two elements interact create something great. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory NOTEBOOK: https://www.themusiciansnotebook.com/collaborations/8-bit-music-theory TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory DISCORD: https://discord.gg/R8XUEdT #Katamari #videogamemusic #musictheory katamari katamari Damacy video game music composition music theory lonely rolling star how to"
YouTube Link 2020-12-10T17:30Z 586K followers, 130.4K engagements
"What IS Metric Modulation The Lake Theme from Pokemon Diamond and Pearl Today I break down what a Metric Modulation is and why you should care using one of the best examples I can find the Lake Theme from Pokemon Diamond and Pearl. Enjoy PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory NOTEBOOK: https://www.themusiciansnotebook.com/collaborations/8-bit-music-theory DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory #PokemonBrilliantDiamond #PokemonShiningPearl #MusicTheory"
YouTube Link 2021-11-30T20:51Z 585K followers, 195K engagements
"Why is Dragon Roost Island such a Bop Why indeed PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory NOTEBOOK: https://www.themusiciansnotebook.com/collaborations/8-bit-music-theory DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play Check out my video editor's own channel here: https://www.youtube.com/gamescorefanfare #Zelda #WindWaker #8bitMusicTheory the legend of Zelda the wind waker Zelda music dragon roost island island theme hajime waker Koji kondo how to write music composition lesson dragon roost"
YouTube Link 2022-06-12T16:47Z 586K followers, 291.1K engagements
"Chibi-Robo's Wild and Wacky Soundtrack Chibi-Robo is a gem of a game. I played it a lot growing up and always had fond memories of it but it wasn't until fairly recently that I remembered just how weird and great the soundtrack is. There's a bunch of tunes that are worth talking about more than I could get into in this one video but I wanted to highlight some of the tracks that I thought exemplified the 'style' of the game's soundtrack. The long-winded rambly goofy and at times intensely dissonant score is really hard to pin down to one style and yet it all feels cohesive as the vision of"
YouTube Link 2020-05-31T18:14Z 586K followers, 80.5K engagements
"How to Use the LYDIAN Mode This video uses entirely examples of the Lydian mode used in video game music but it's really about general principles of using modes when writing music that could apply to any scale. This one was a lot of fun to make hope you enjoy 0:00 - Intro 0:28 - What is the Lydian Mode 1:01 - Mode Method 1: The Crust 2:14 - Mode Method 2: The Cheese 3:29 - Mode Method 3: The Pepperoni 4:06 - Fake Lydian sounds 6:00 - The Crust: Yoshi's Story 7:57 - The Crust: Zelda's Lullaby 10:24 - The Cheese: Rogueport 12:00 - The Cheese: Garden of Hope 13:35 - The Pepperoni: Space Junk"
YouTube Link 2022-08-28T20:02Z 587K followers, 457.1K engagements
"Kirby Air Riders' Music is FUN FUN FUN I take a look at the main theme for Kirby Air Riders "Starlit Journey" and break down why it feels so full of joy. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory MERCH STORE: https://8bit-shop.fourthwall.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory 0:00 - Starlit Journey 0:59 - Intro 2:47 - Verse 5:56 - Chorus 9:51 - Bridge 10:47 - Final Choruses 14:00 - I love music #kirby #nintendo #gamemusic #8bitMusicTheory kirby air ride air riders switch [--] game racing game music starlit journey ost nintendo nintendo music jpop"
YouTube Link 2025-11-19T14:13Z 587K followers, 30.6K engagements
"Turn one bar of melody into a whole soundtrack. WAAH YOU THOUGHT I WAS DONE WITH WARIO LAND [--] YOU WERE WRONG 0:00 - Wario Land [--] 1:27 - The Main Theme 2:36 - Level Themes 5:57 - I-v7 Chords 7:25 - Minor Key Variations 9:12 - 'Day' and 'Night' Variations 12:32 - Brighter Variations 14:21 - Gross Variation 15:24 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory #Wario #videogamemusic #8bitMusicTheory wario land [--] nintendo music gameboy music melody"
YouTube Link 2025-02-27T15:50Z 587K followers, 89.3K engagements
"Articulation makes a BIG difference #nintendo #composer #8bitmusictheory It does wario land [--] writing a level theme main theme composition music theory how to write music 8-bit Music Theory wario land [--] writing a level theme main theme composition music theory how to write music 8-bit Music Theory"
YouTube Link 2025-02-27T15:49Z 587K followers, 35K engagements
"Music Theory Minute #2.1 - Intro to Melodic Structure Welcome to Music Theory Minute a new weekly series meant to give easily digestible music theory tidbits on a regular release schedule. The idea behind this series is that each week the topic of the month will be explored in increasing depth. This video introduces the idea that certain notes in a scale or key have a tendency to resolve to other notes in that scale or key. In future episodes I'll be exploring how composers use this to their advantage to write well structured melodies. SHIRTS: https://8bitmerch.bandcamp.com/merch/. PATREON:"
YouTube Link 2019-04-03T16:51Z 586K followers, 151.6K engagements
"Tutorial Level 2: Modes In this video I talk about what I believe to be the correct way to think about modes. TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory"
YouTube Link 2017-09-19T02:44Z 586K followers, 129.7K engagements
"How to Write Hero Music with Heart FINALLY an actual 8-bit soundtrack on 8-bit Music Theory Kid Icarus has a great score and I think the music would be as well remembered today as Metroid's music is if the game itself had more of a legacy. Let's dive into how the soundtrack straddles the line between head-strong and heartfelt 0:00 - Kid Icarus 1:23 - Heroic vs Emotional 1:58 - Underworld Theme 5:42 - Descending Bassline 7:27 - Sky Palace Theme 8:41 - Title Screen Theme 10:29 - Credits Theme 12:32 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album:"
YouTube Link 2024-09-20T14:41Z 587K followers, 34.6K engagements
"5 Sus Chords to Get Yourself a Girlfriend We all know what's holding back our love lives: not enough music theory. Join me as I walk through [--] different versions of the 'sus chord' and showcase how you can use them to win over the girl of your dreams. 0:00 - We've all been there 0:57 - What's a Sus Chord 1:42 - The 4-3 Suspension 7:18 - The Suspension Stretch 11:01 - The Fakeout Major Resolution 16:21 - The "Soul" V Chord 19:10 - Unresolved Sus Chords Just Floating Around PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD:"
YouTube Link 2024-11-29T16:19Z 587K followers, 83.5K engagements
"Explaining Super Mario's Underwater Music In this video I tackle Super Mario Bros.' iconic underwater theme breaking down how the music fits the rhythm of the game's underwater levels and how it develops just a couple musical ideas in to a full satisfying piece. 0:23 - Matching the Rhythm of the Gameplay 2:59 - Chromatic Neighbour Embellishment 5:20 - Developing the Piece Out of These [--] Ideas 8:20 - Ending Section 10:29 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER:"
YouTube Link 2024-02-29T14:12Z 518K followers, 58.9K engagements
"Leitmotif in Hollow Knight's Soundtrack In the final installment of this series looking at the Hollow Knight soundtrack I follow the development of the game's main theme throughout several boss battle themes analyze what makes each variation on the theme fit the emotional tone at hand and explore some of the music's implications on the game's lore. SHIRTS: https://8bitmerch.bandcamp.com/merch/keyboard-intro-t-shirts PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory #HollowKnight #videogamemusic #musictheory"
YouTube Link 2019-06-16T18:37Z 575K followers, 634.8K engagements
"How I Turned Rainbow Road into a Jazz Fusion Jam I'm very excited to have released my debut video game cover album last week a tribute to the music of the GameCube called "Let's Play" by 8-bit & The Single Players. In this video I breakdown the process of creating one of my favourite arrangements from the album a high energy take on Rainbow Road from Mario Kart: Double Dash with spicy chord changes wailing solos and gratuitous drum fills. Hope you enjoy Full Album on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlistlist=PL-ZQIvQFPv4LU8jcoLiR2531AIu7mUWJx Album available for purchase on bandcamp:"
YouTube Link 2022-05-26T16:48Z 560K followers, 107.8K engagements
"Can Odd Meters Feel Good Odd Time Signatures in Video Game Music Part [--] Who can get enough odd time signatures I certainly can't This time we're diving in to try and figure out how to make odd time signatures feel good with at least one example that feels specifically very bad. Enjoy 0:00 - Odd time signatures can groove too 1:03 - Wild Woods - Mario Kart [--] 5:53 - Balatro Theme 7:53 - Winning Result - Mario Kart [--] 11:01 - Sagat's Theme - Street Fighter II 14:24 - Fairy Flying Theme - Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 15:55 - Mad Luca - Suikoden II 19:33 - Outro PATREON:"
YouTube Link 2024-07-22T16:12Z 587K followers, 90.4K engagements
"The Music Theory of Revali's Theme Let's dive into Revali's gorgeous theme from Breath of the Wild and break down what it says about Revali's character how it relates to the other Rito music in the game and most of all what makes it sound like it belongs in a Ghibli movie. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory 0:00 - Revali's Theme 0:58 - Gentle Opening Melody 6:03 - Lush Colourful Bridge 8:32 - Referencing Rito Village 11:11 - Climactic"
YouTube Link 2025-06-28T19:06Z 587K followers, 41.7K engagements
"Transcribing Live I start off trying to fix a transcription of Twilight Princess's Hyrule Field theme but I get distracted by questions and launch into a demonstration of transcribing Route [---] from Pokemon Brilliant Diamond PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory NOTEBOOK: https://www.themusiciansnotebook.com/collaborations/8-bit-music-theory DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory live transcription music music theory composition analysis ear training video game music 8-bit Music Theory live transcription music music theory composition analysis"
YouTube Link 2025-01-17T18:02Z 587K followers, 10.3K engagements
"How Video Game Jingles Work HUGE THANKS TO PATRON ISABEL MARTINEZ FOR THE SUGGESTION Jingles are an essential part of video game audio and some of the most memorable and widely known pieces of video game music are these tiny musical fragments. A great jingle needs to get an idea across quickly and unambiguously which usually translates to some very dramatic musical ideas. Let's take a look at some of the best video game jingles and see if we can derive some principles of what makes a great jingle work. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album:"
YouTube Link 2025-07-18T19:25Z 587K followers, 56.6K engagements
"The Musical Evolution of Rainbow Road In this video I take a look at the musical evolution of one of the Mario Kart series' most iconic tracks. TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Background footage sources: https://www.youtube.com/watchv=QSiuPQ7WMzQ& https://www.youtube.com/watchv=dV6Loo6048w& https://www.youtube.com/watchv=WN0V3ZFYJPY https://www.youtube.com/watchv=ZOSVzI4AImE& https://www.youtube.com/watchv=53oskQhrwQY&"
YouTube Link 2018-03-20T17:46Z 571K followers, 555.2K engagements
"What are the Melodic Minor Modes After finishing my series on the major modes I thought I'd put together a video walking through the [--] modes of the melodic minor scale as a sort of epilogue. There were a few scales that I couldn't find video game examples of so I had to make my own. Hope you enjoy it 0:00 - What is a Mode 2:00 - What is the Melodic Minor Scale 3:33 - Melodic Minor Scale in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night 4:33 - The Dorian b2 Scale 5:23 - The Lydian Augmented Scale 6:15 - The Lydian Dominant Scale 8:19 - The Mixolydian b6 Scale 9:58 - The Locrian #2 Scale 10:58 - The"
YouTube Link 2023-09-22T16:27Z 543K followers, 107.7K engagements
"Gohdan's Theme is a Baroque Banger I love all of the Wind Waker boss themes but Gohdan's theme has so much going on that I thought it deserved its own full video. Let's take a look at how Gohdan's theme combines stylistic elements of the Baroque period of music with a more aggressive modern approach to create such a unique and compelling atmosphere for the fight 0:00 - Intro 1:33 - Gohdan's Canon 5:40 - Gohdan's Dynamic Music 9:40 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER:"
YouTube Link 2024-04-24T16:36Z 543K followers, 65.2K engagements
"Breath of the Wild Soundtrack Analysis PART [--] of 4: Main Theme In this video I take a look at the structure of Breath of the Wild's Main Theme. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory"
YouTube Link 2017-04-03T20:34Z 559K followers, 223.2K engagements
"Hope vs Despair in Nine Sols best boss theme Nine Sols was probably my favourite game of [----] and while most of the soundtrack is pretty ambient and hard to talk about from a nerdy music theory perspective Ji's theme features some very cool chords that I just had to delve into on the channel. 0:00 - Nine Sols Rocks 1:25 - That First Chord 4:10 - What The Hell Is That 5:23 - The Connection Between Timbre and Dissonance 6:40 - Here Come the Strings 7:27 - Hopeful B section 10:47 - Ambiguous Ending PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album:"
YouTube Link 2025-03-18T13:37Z 587K followers, 71.2K engagements
"Explaining Super Mario Bros.' Underground Theme DEHNEH DEHNEH DEHNEH 0:00 - Intro 0:38 - The Underground Theme 2:28 - "Let's Not Talk About It" 4:12 - Time Signature Evolution 5:17 - Real Music Theory Analysis 7:03 - How Did Koji Kondo Write That Ending Line 9:31 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory #nintendo #mario #8bitMusicTheory"
YouTube Link 2023-10-30T17:26Z 543K followers, 133.2K engagements
"The VIBES of Final Fantasy IX Part 1: Melodies of Life Some aspects of music are easier to categorize theoretically than others but the ease with which a concept is turned into a theory is not related to the importance of that concept to the effectiveness of a piece of music. There's something about Uematsu's work that's tough to put your finger on but after thinking about it for a long time I've realized that Uematsu's writing has consistently great Vibes. In Part [--] of this [--] part series on the music of Final Fantasy IX I take a look at how texture in music can effect a piece's Vibe and take"
YouTube Link 2021-05-31T14:08Z 565K followers, 79.1K engagements
"Live Transcribe Stean Gardens from Super Mario Odyssey From the comments on my last video it's clear that Steam Gardens was snubbed in my top [--] Kondo One-offs video. Let's fix that. MERCH: https://8bit-shop.fourthwall.com/ live transcription music music theory composition analysis ear training video game music live analysis how to write music Super Mario Odyssey Mario Music steam gardens koji kondo 8-bit Music Theory live transcription music music theory composition analysis ear training video game music live analysis how to write music Super Mario Odyssey Mario Music steam gardens koji kondo"
YouTube Link 2025-09-19T17:39Z 587K followers, [----] engagements
"How to Dissect a Melody Oh we're getting REAL nitty-gritty today. Treasure of the Rudras features a lot of great themes with melodies that are very easy to break down into 'structural notes' and 'embellishing notes' which make it a perfect vehicle to showcase that concept how it works and how it can help you analyze melodies. 0:00 - Melodies are hard to analyze 1:08 - Melodic Embellishments 1:52 - Creating a Melodic Reduction 7:32 - Different Melodies with the Same Skeleton 10:25 - Complicated Melodic Embellishments 15:24 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my"
YouTube Link 2024-12-29T19:44Z 587K followers, 96K engagements
"Live Transcribing and Analyzing the Music from When You Go To Bed In Donkey Kong Bananza Join me in this quest live transcription music music theory composition analysis ear training video game music donkey kong bananza live analysis how to write music 8-bit Music Theory live transcription music music theory composition analysis ear training video game music donkey kong bananza live analysis how to write music 8-bit Music Theory"
YouTube Link 2025-07-25T19:08Z 587K followers, [----] engagements
"How Super Smash Bros. Music Sets a Tone for the Series In this video I take a look at the overall tone that gets set throughout (most of) the Super Smash Bros. series' music. There are a LOT of similarities between the music of Melee SSB4 and the new Super Smash Bros. Ultimate theme and some interesting differences between these games and the music of the original Super Smash Bros. and Super Smash Bros. Brawl. So I thought I'd explore that a little bit. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory DISCORD: https://discord.gg/ZJwwEwJ"
YouTube Link 2018-07-19T19:30Z 567K followers, 419.3K engagements
"Wind Waker's Boss Themes are the Best in the Series Fite me 0:00 - Intro 1:12 - Ocarina of Time Boss Theme 2:08 - Gohma's Theme 5:50 - aLttP Boss Theme 6:44 - Kalle Demos' Theme 9:38 - The Helmaroc King's Theme 13:09 - Jalhalla's Theme 17:16 - Molgera's Theme 21:43 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory #Zelda #windwaker #8bitMusicTheory"
YouTube Link 2024-03-19T18:42Z 558K followers, 130.6K engagements
"Dragon Quest 4's Carefully Crafted Chromatic Basslines I LOVE DRAGON QUEST [--] MUSIC. There I said it. By the time you're done watching this video you will too. 0:00 - Descending Chromatic Basslines in Dragon Quest IV 0:47 - Overture 4:19 - Royal Minuet 6:52 - Town Theme 11:39 - Tomboy Princess's March 16:26 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory #videogamemusic #dragonquest #8bitMusicTheory dragon quest music dragon warrior music dq4"
YouTube Link 2025-04-17T16:49Z 587K followers, 34.6K engagements
"Will Mario Kart World's Music Hold Up In dissecting Mario Kart World's main theme we see an interesting combo approach: the upbeat jazz fusion live band music of Mario Kart [--] returns but with a new gritty American blues-rock influence. Join me in breaking down how the theme works and what it says about the game PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory 0:00 - How could Mario Kart World live up to [--] 2:48 - Blues Influence 4:53 - Classic Rock"
YouTube Link 2025-06-04T16:55Z 587K followers, 129.4K engagements
"All of Wario Land 3's level themes. Once you hear it you can't unhear it wario land [--] writing a level theme main theme composition music theory how to write music 8-bit Music Theory wario land [--] writing a level theme main theme composition music theory how to write music 8-bit Music Theory"
YouTube Link 2025-02-25T18:00Z 587K followers, 13K engagements
"How Nintendo Makes Music Sound Japanese I always love in Mario games when there's a level themed around feudal Japan and in this video I wanted to take a look and see what techniques these games use to make their music feel Japanese. 0:00 - Japanese Mario Levels 1:14 - Percussion Propulsion 3:24 - 4th Based Harmony 5:07 - SM3DW - Hands-On Hall 7:16 - Princess Peach: Showtime - Ninja Village 8:55 - Pentatonic Scales 9:36 - Hirajoshi Scale 10:57 - Paper Mario: The Origami King - Shogun Studios Entrance 11:44 - Super Mario Odyssey - Bowser's Castle Courtyard 12:26 - Pentatonic Melodies in Paper"
YouTube Link 2024-08-30T21:20Z 587K followers, 98.6K engagements
"Storytelling through Music in Hollow Knight I love the way the tiny clues littering Hollow Knight's world add up to a full story when you piece them all together and leaving things open ended allows fans of the game to explore and discuss what these clues mean long after the game is over. These clues show up in characters' dialogue details in the environments and yes even the game's soundtrack. I wanted to take a look at one small example of the soundtrack contributing to the game's lore as well as discuss generally how composer Christopher Larkin develops themes throughout this soundtrack."
YouTube Link 2019-06-03T16:08Z 560K followers, 382.4K engagements
"The Wii Shop Theme can teach you Jazz Songwriting The Wii Shop Theme is surprisingly a perfect example of the fundamentals of jazz harmony. It's also just a total banger. 0:00 - "Elevator Music" / the Bossa Nova style 3:28 - Wii Shop Theme 4:01 - Beautiful Upper Extensions / the 7-6 move 5:19 - ii V I voice leading 8:20 - 3+7 voice leading in the Wii Shop Theme 12:38 - How Jazz Melodies Work 14:44 - The Rootless ii V I 16:18 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER:"
YouTube Link 2023-09-30T14:32Z 543K followers, 139.4K engagements
"The Secret to Writing a Professor Layton Theme Professor Layton is one of those series where the music seems especially important. Each games' soundtrack brings you into their game's world and crafts the mysterious goodhearted gentlemanly vibe that sits at the heart of the series. After transcribing and studying the title themes from each of the mainline games in the series I put together a road map for how to craft your own music in the style of a Professor Layton theme. You can listen to the entire piece I wrote here: https://youtu.be/jMFW43d-PKI 0:00 - What's the Professor Layton Sound"
YouTube Link 2024-07-31T13:39Z 587K followers, 73.2K engagements
"How to Write Atmospheric Music on a Super Nintendo Secret of Evermore has a great moody soundtrack that I'm sure would be a way bigger deal in video game music history if it hadn't been released shoulder to shoulder with the best video game soundtracks of all time. Let's take a look at the soundtrack and see how it creates such a poignant atmosphere. 0:00 - How does SoE craft its musical atmosphere 1:24 - Simulated Reverb 3:13 - Sitting on Am for forever 7:16 - A Clever Homage 9:25 - Changing Keys on a Dime 18:06 - Voice Leading through Weird Key Shifts 20:41 - Outro PATREON:"
YouTube Link 2024-05-26T18:49Z 529K followers, 30.4K engagements
"Why Does This Music Sound Untrustworthy The Case of the Golden Idol is a great puzzle game with some very puzzling music. It sounds suspicious hiding a creeping darkness behind a bright mask. It's a perfect atmosphere for a game about uncovering conspiracy theories hidden cult rituals and magic artifacts. 0:00 - Intro 1:34 - The Watching Eye 6:28 - Gentleman Robber 12:27 - Crowning Celebration 10:29 - The B section 18:43 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER:"
YouTube Link 2025-05-16T18:02Z 587K followers, 32K engagements
"How Link's Awakening Rearranges a Soundtrack After being blown away by the Link's Awakening remake and its approach to rearranging the original Gameboy soundtrack I decided to see if I could analyze the new soundtrack to glean some insight into arranging for a group that you don't often hear in video game soundtracks: wind sextet. After analyzing the game's wind sextet arrangement of its title theme I tried to 'steal' the ideas present in the arrangement in order to create a wind sextet arrangement of the original Pokemon Red Blue and Yellow title screen of my own. After much trial and error"
YouTube Link 2019-11-28T21:20Z 563K followers, 217.9K engagements
"How Colgera's Boss Theme Works Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Colgera's theme is one of the best from Tears of the Kingdom's soundtrack and it does everything a boss theme should. It sets you up with a feeling of heroic determination it plummets into chaotic intimidating dissonance and then brings you back up with a feeling of triumph. With different phases of the music triggered as you progress through the boss fight the music is designed to match the flow of the battle which makes it all the more impactful on the listener. Let's dig in and see just how it makes this happen 0:00 -"
YouTube Link 2025-03-31T15:14Z 587K followers, 121.3K engagements
"How Music Matches Gameplay in Ori's "Shadows of Mouldwood" The Shadows of Mouldwood level from Ori and the Will of the Wisps shows how developing a theme across multiple musical tracks within a level can enhance the emotional effect the game is trying to create. Enjoy Composer Code podcast episode I referenced: https://composercode.com/gareth-coker/ PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory Check out my video editor's own channel here:"
YouTube Link 2023-01-30T19:21Z 568K followers, 47.6K engagements
"Why does Dark Souls sound like Dark Souls The music of the souls games has a very specific sound that doesn't change much throughout the series so in this video I take a look at some of the common elements that define the sound of these games. 0:00 - Intro 0:41 - No Music 1:27 - Orchestration 2:37 - Iudex Gundyr - Dark Souls [--] 4:00 - Gehrman's Theme - Bloodborne 5:33 - Dominant V chords 6:31 - Firelink Shrine - Dark Souls 7:45 - Diminished vii chord 8:18 - Tower Knight - Demon's Souls 9:29 - Godskin Apostle - Elden Ring 11:19 - Great Grey Wolf Sif - Dark Souls 13:02 - Sinh the Slumbering"
YouTube Link 2023-11-29T18:06Z 557K followers, 252.8K engagements
"Atmosphere and Motivic Development in Hollow Knight's Soundtrack The world of Hollow Knight feels unlike any other game world I've ever played with a thick atmosphere that makes each area an utter joy to explore. This is in no small part due to the wonderful soundtrack to the game composed by Christopher Larkin and in this video I attempt to explain part of how the music aids in creating the game's atmosphere by dissecting the City of Tears Soul Sanctum and Soul Master themes. SHIRTS: https://8bitmerch.bandcamp.com/merch/keyboard-intro-t-shirts PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory"
YouTube Link 2019-05-21T17:40Z 559K followers, 315.4K engagements
"The Music of Zelda's Best Ending ThERE I SAID IT. Tears of the Kingdom's ending sequence is unforgettable and the music plays a huge role in making it the enormous emotional climax that it is. Let's dive into why: 0:00 - Overall Shape of a Musical Work 2:08 - Ganondorf's Transformation 7:57 - Duelling Ganondorf 12:10 - Dragon Battle 18:06 - Final Catch 20:02 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory #tearsofthekingdom #zeldamusic"
YouTube Link 2023-10-23T18:10Z 543K followers, 160.9K engagements
"Transcribing some Wario Land [--] Come watch me transcribe the soundtrack to Wario Land [--] for the Gameboy Color PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory live transcription music music theory composition analysis ear training video game music 8-bit Music Theory live transcription music music theory composition analysis ear training video game music 8-bit Music Theory"
YouTube Link 2024-11-15T17:43Z 587K followers, 13.5K engagements
"Music Theory Minute #1.1 - What's a Chord Extension Welcome to Music Theory Minute a new weekly series meant to give easily digestible music theory tidbits on a regular release schedule. The idea behind this series is that each week the topic of the month will be explored in increasing depth. This video is meant to introduce the idea of a chord extension to those who who may be unfamiliar with the concept with each subsequent week's video exploring gradually more advanced aspects of chord extensions in music. Then after a month we'll move onto a new topic and start at an easy level again. Let"
YouTube Link 2019-03-06T20:46Z 575K followers, 161.8K engagements
"You Can't Write Music as Pretty as Pikmin 4's Credits Theme What makes the Pikmin [--] credits music so beautiful I take an even deeper dive than usual to try and figure it out. 0:00 - Pikmin 4's Credits Theme is Beautiful 1:26 - Micro-level Analysis 4:13 - The Bb/Eb Chord 6:39 - The Minor iv Chord 9:41 - Mid-level Analysis 11:39 - Climactic Melodic Moments 13:36 - Macro-level Analysis 21:09 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory #pikmin4"
YouTube Link 2024-10-23T20:39Z 587K followers, 47.2K engagements
"How They Made The Great Sea Feel C U R S E D 'The Great Sea is Cursed' from the Wind Waker soundtrack takes the inviting adventurous great sea theme we all know and love and creepifies it. Tritones clashing harmonies and references to past themes come in to transform the heroic into the horrifying. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory MERCH STORE: https://8bit-shop.fourthwall.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory 0:00 - The Great Sea is Cursed 0:58 - Iconic Cello Ostinato 5:10 - Tritone-ifying the Melody 7:22 - Creepy 4ths 8:20 -"
YouTube Link 2026-02-13T19:59Z 587K followers, 20.9K engagements
"Death Silksong and Music Theory Let's take a brief tour through the Silksong soundtrack and then take a deep dive into the Grand Silkmother boss fight theme. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory MERCH STORE: https://8bit-shop.fourthwall.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory 0:00 - The Dies Irae 3:14 - Appearances in Silksong's Soundtrack 8:00 - Grand Silkmother Boss Theme #silksong #indiegame #vgm #8bitMusicTheory silksong hollow knight ost hornet boss theme christopher larkin indie game game music music theory composition ballet how to"
YouTube Link 2026-01-31T16:09Z 587K followers, 49.1K engagements
"Write Music with IMPACT It's easy to get lost in the weeds with musical analysis and forget the most important part job of a piece of music: to emotionally impact the listener. With my newest album of video game jazz I put a lot of thought into creating specific moments in each piece that would do just that and in this video I go through a few of them to show the strategies I used to do so. My new music channel: @shymanmusic BANDCAMP: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/get-good Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/032xWVMpwJBa5EJyOfrxh8si=YNOfeemPR2SY-NhM9B0qUQ Apple Music:"
YouTube Link 2026-01-24T16:06Z 587K followers, 25.3K engagements
"'GET GOOD' ALBUM LISTENING PARTY Let's listen through the new 8-bit & The Single Players Album 'GET GOOD' available NOW My music channel: @shymanmusic BANDCAMP: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/get-good Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/032xWVMpwJBa5EJyOfrxh8si=YNOfeemPR2SY-NhM9B0qUQ Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/ca/album/get-good/1861144444"
YouTube Link 2026-01-17T01:55Z 587K followers, [----] engagements
"Live Transcribe Stean Gardens from Super Mario Odyssey Let's listen through the new 8-bit & The Single Players Album 'GET GOOD' available on Jan [--] live transcription music music theory composition analysis ear training video game music live analysis how to write music Super Mario Odyssey Mario Music steam gardens koji kondo 8-bit Music Theory live transcription music music theory composition analysis ear training video game music live analysis how to write music Super Mario Odyssey Mario Music steam gardens koji kondo 8-bit Music Theory"
YouTube Link 2026-01-15T18:33Z 587K followers, [--] engagements
"An exhaustingly detailed analysis of To Zanarkand's music theory One of the most evocative pieces in the Final Fantasy repertoire To Zanarkand from Final Fantasy X showcases Nobuo Uematsu's sophisticated writing. The piece manages to be emotionally potent without being musically complex so let's dive in with a detailed analysis to try and figure out how it does that. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory MERCH STORE: https://8bit-shop.fourthwall.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory 0:00 - Advanced =/= Sophisticated 1:19 - Introduction"
YouTube Link 2025-12-31T16:32Z 587K followers, 52.1K engagements
"Announcement New 8-bit & The Single Players album coming soon. 8-bit single players jazz fusion jazz music instrumental shred pokemon battle vgm nintendo music covers arrangement album 8-bit single players jazz fusion jazz music instrumental shred pokemon battle vgm nintendo music covers arrangement album"
YouTube Link 2025-12-24T15:28Z 587K followers, 17K engagements
"Musical Symbolism in Clair Obscur: Expedition [--] The Clair Obscur: Expedition [--] soundtrack is one of the most elegantly composed game scores I've heard in a long time with different themes and motifs woven throughout the soundtrack in a way that's not at all in your face but offers layers and layers of extra depth and meaning when you start to dig into it. In this video I take a look at a theme called "Continuer t'aimer" pick out a few places where it's used and see what it can tell us about the game's story and characters. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory MERCH STORE:"
YouTube Link 2025-12-11T16:00Z 587K followers, 107K engagements
"Cogwork Dancers' Brutal Ballet The Cogwork Dancers boss fight is one of my favourite moments of Hollow Knight: Silksong a perfect way to break up the game with a new kind of fight and one that uses music to its fullest effect in making an impactful moment. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory MERCH STORE: https://8bit-shop.fourthwall.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory 0:00 - Cogwork Dancers 1:29 - Phase [--] 9:11 - Phase [--] 11:28 - Phase [--] 14:21 - Phase [--] :( 16:12 - Christopher Larkin rules #silksong #hollowknight #gamemusic"
YouTube Link 2025-11-30T14:16Z 587K followers, 83.5K engagements
"Kirby Air Riders' Music is FUN FUN FUN I take a look at the main theme for Kirby Air Riders "Starlit Journey" and break down why it feels so full of joy. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory MERCH STORE: https://8bit-shop.fourthwall.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory 0:00 - Starlit Journey 0:59 - Intro 2:47 - Verse 5:56 - Chorus 9:51 - Bridge 10:47 - Final Choruses 14:00 - I love music #kirby #nintendo #gamemusic #8bitMusicTheory kirby air ride air riders switch [--] game racing game music starlit journey ost nintendo nintendo music jpop"
YouTube Link 2025-11-19T14:13Z 587K followers, 30.6K engagements
"Analyzing why people like funk Marvel vs Capcom [--] This one turned into more of an exploration of why people like funk and jazz rather than a deep dive on the Marvel vs Capcom [--] soundtrack but hopefully it's interesting enough PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory MERCH STORE: https://8bit-shop.fourthwall.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory 0:00 - Funk/Jazz vs Rock 2:01 - Syncopated Rhythm 9:07 - B A S S 13:02 - Solos 18:41 - Outro #marvelvscapcom #funk #jazz #gamemusic #8bitMusicTheory marvel vs capcom [--] marvel capcom spiderman captain"
YouTube Link 2025-10-31T15:52Z 587K followers, 64K engagements
"How to Write Gorgeous Chords like Masashi Hamauzu Masashi Hamauzu's music is so rich and stylish and colourful. In analyzing some of it I came across a sound that he seems to gravitate toward that I call the 'Sus Chord Slash Chord'. Let's break down what it is and how to use it PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory MERCH STORE: https://8bit-shop.fourthwall.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory 0:00 - Who's Hamauzu 1:30 - Sus Chord Slash Chords 2:40 - Minor [--] Sound 5:38 - Maj13 sound 7:48 - Maj7#11 sound 9:31 - First inversion Maj2 sound"
YouTube Link 2025-10-17T16:48Z 587K followers, 117.2K engagements
"The Music Theory of Silksong's Bone Bottom Theme My bottom actually is not very bony and I don't appreciate the implicati- oh that's the name of the town Right on right on. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory MERCH STORE: https://8bit-shop.fourthwall.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory 0:00 - Bone Bottom vs Dirtmouth 1:16 - The sad sad b6 2:00 - Consistent Chord Structure 3:54 - The B Section 6:16 - Sacrificing the Key for the Chord Structure 8:50 - Dirtmouth's emotional approach 9:45 - Bone Bottom's emotional approach #silksong"
YouTube Link 2025-09-30T19:27Z 587K followers, 78.9K engagements
"Live Transcribe Stean Gardens from Super Mario Odyssey From the comments on my last video it's clear that Steam Gardens was snubbed in my top [--] Kondo One-offs video. Let's fix that. MERCH: https://8bit-shop.fourthwall.com/ live transcription music music theory composition analysis ear training video game music live analysis how to write music Super Mario Odyssey Mario Music steam gardens koji kondo 8-bit Music Theory live transcription music music theory composition analysis ear training video game music live analysis how to write music Super Mario Odyssey Mario Music steam gardens koji kondo"
YouTube Link 2025-09-19T17:39Z 587K followers, [----] engagements
"TOP [--] Koji Kondo One-Offs Koji Kondo is rightfully acclaimed as the biggest name in video game music thanks to his legendary soundtracks for the early Mario and Zelda games. I don't think he gets enough credit for the music that he's written since taking a supervisor role on Nintendo's soundtracks. Kondo contributes at least one piece of music to each new Mario and Zelda instalment and in this video I go through my top [--] favourite Koji Kondo One-Offs PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory MERCH STORE: https://8bit-shop.fourthwall.com DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER:"
YouTube Link 2025-09-16T14:23Z 587K followers, 74.2K engagements
"it's not Debussy it's Dragon Quest 'Sea Breeze' from Dragon Quest IV known on the game soundtrack as 'Expanding the Map' is an absolutely gorgeous orchestral piece that was crammed on to the NES soundchip. Hearing the full orchestral realization of legendary composer Koichi Sugiyama's vision it's clear how much inspiration he drew from the style of Claude Debussy in its composition. Let's dive into what makes Sea Breeze sound so magical and pick out what elements specifically were taken from the french impressionist style. All examples of Debussy pieces were created using SNES sound fonts to"
YouTube Link 2025-08-27T13:04Z 587K followers, 48K engagements
"Why Rainbow Road Sounds VICTORIOUS in Mario Kart World Mario Kart World's soundtrack somehow exceeded even my unforgivingly high expectations and I just had to make a video going over the game's take on Rainbow Road. An adaptive multi-movement musical work that manages to bring the giant sprawling open world game to a satisfying conclusion this truly might be the best Rainbow Road yet. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory 0:00 - Rainbow Road"
YouTube Link 2025-07-30T15:35Z 587K followers, 79.6K engagements
"Live Transcribing and Analyzing the Music from When You Go To Bed In Donkey Kong Bananza Join me in this quest live transcription music music theory composition analysis ear training video game music donkey kong bananza live analysis how to write music 8-bit Music Theory live transcription music music theory composition analysis ear training video game music donkey kong bananza live analysis how to write music 8-bit Music Theory"
YouTube Link 2025-07-25T19:08Z 587K followers, [----] engagements
"How Video Game Jingles Work HUGE THANKS TO PATRON ISABEL MARTINEZ FOR THE SUGGESTION Jingles are an essential part of video game audio and some of the most memorable and widely known pieces of video game music are these tiny musical fragments. A great jingle needs to get an idea across quickly and unambiguously which usually translates to some very dramatic musical ideas. Let's take a look at some of the best video game jingles and see if we can derive some principles of what makes a great jingle work. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album:"
YouTube Link 2025-07-18T19:25Z 587K followers, 56.6K engagements
"The Music Theory of Revali's Theme Let's dive into Revali's gorgeous theme from Breath of the Wild and break down what it says about Revali's character how it relates to the other Rito music in the game and most of all what makes it sound like it belongs in a Ghibli movie. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory 0:00 - Revali's Theme 0:58 - Gentle Opening Melody 6:03 - Lush Colourful Bridge 8:32 - Referencing Rito Village 11:11 - Climactic"
YouTube Link 2025-06-28T19:06Z 587K followers, 41.7K engagements
"Will Mario Kart World's Music Hold Up In dissecting Mario Kart World's main theme we see an interesting combo approach: the upbeat jazz fusion live band music of Mario Kart [--] returns but with a new gritty American blues-rock influence. Join me in breaking down how the theme works and what it says about the game PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory 0:00 - How could Mario Kart World live up to [--] 2:48 - Blues Influence 4:53 - Classic Rock"
YouTube Link 2025-06-04T16:55Z 587K followers, 129.4K engagements
"How to Learn How to Write for Orchestra In this video I don't talk about any tips for orchestrating an arrangement but rather I share my approach for how I tackle learning how to orchestrate. It's a strategy for acquiring vocabulary that you can use in your own writing. I've found it helpful hopefully you will too Download the score for the 25th Anniversary Kirby's Adventure Medley: https://www.kirby.jp/music/score/eng/term.php Get the Guild Wars [--] Score Book: https://materia.store/collections/guild-wars-2-living-world-season-2-score-bookref=8bitmt PATREON:"
YouTube Link 2025-05-30T15:48Z 587K followers, 71K engagements
"Why Does This Music Sound Untrustworthy The Case of the Golden Idol is a great puzzle game with some very puzzling music. It sounds suspicious hiding a creeping darkness behind a bright mask. It's a perfect atmosphere for a game about uncovering conspiracy theories hidden cult rituals and magic artifacts. 0:00 - Intro 1:34 - The Watching Eye 6:28 - Gentleman Robber 12:27 - Crowning Celebration 10:29 - The B section 18:43 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER:"
YouTube Link 2025-05-16T18:02Z 587K followers, 32K engagements
"How Clair Obscur's Music Works #8bitmusictheory #videogamemusic #clairobscurexpedition33 A few simple but intentional choices made with perfect execution. clair obscur expedition [--] rpg game music ost how to write music composition music theory 8-bit music theory clair obscur expedition [--] rpg game music ost how to write music composition music theory 8-bit music theory"
YouTube Link 2025-05-15T22:04Z 587K followers, 42.2K engagements
"How The Legend of Zelda Theme Works Let's do a Deep Dive into the one that started it all. 0:00 - The Zelda Theme is Legendary 1:27 - The Intro 2:53 - The Melody 8:04 - The Harmony 10:29 - The B section 15:34 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory #videogamemusic #zelda #8bitMusicTheory the legend of zelda zelda music loz theme ost nintendo music main theme how to write music composition koji kondo nes link game music video game vgm"
YouTube Link 2025-04-29T15:15Z 587K followers, 150.2K engagements
"Dragon Quest 4's Carefully Crafted Chromatic Basslines I LOVE DRAGON QUEST [--] MUSIC. There I said it. By the time you're done watching this video you will too. 0:00 - Descending Chromatic Basslines in Dragon Quest IV 0:47 - Overture 4:19 - Royal Minuet 6:52 - Town Theme 11:39 - Tomboy Princess's March 16:26 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory #videogamemusic #dragonquest #8bitMusicTheory dragon quest music dragon warrior music dq4"
YouTube Link 2025-04-17T16:49Z 587K followers, 34.6K engagements
"How Colgera's Boss Theme Works Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Colgera's theme is one of the best from Tears of the Kingdom's soundtrack and it does everything a boss theme should. It sets you up with a feeling of heroic determination it plummets into chaotic intimidating dissonance and then brings you back up with a feeling of triumph. With different phases of the music triggered as you progress through the boss fight the music is designed to match the flow of the battle which makes it all the more impactful on the listener. Let's dig in and see just how it makes this happen 0:00 -"
YouTube Link 2025-03-31T15:14Z 587K followers, 121.3K engagements
"Hope vs Despair in Nine Sols best boss theme Nine Sols was probably my favourite game of [----] and while most of the soundtrack is pretty ambient and hard to talk about from a nerdy music theory perspective Ji's theme features some very cool chords that I just had to delve into on the channel. 0:00 - Nine Sols Rocks 1:25 - That First Chord 4:10 - What The Hell Is That 5:23 - The Connection Between Timbre and Dissonance 6:40 - Here Come the Strings 7:27 - Hopeful B section 10:47 - Ambiguous Ending PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album:"
YouTube Link 2025-03-18T13:37Z 587K followers, 71.2K engagements
"Turn one bar of melody into a whole soundtrack. WAAH YOU THOUGHT I WAS DONE WITH WARIO LAND [--] YOU WERE WRONG 0:00 - Wario Land [--] 1:27 - The Main Theme 2:36 - Level Themes 5:57 - I-v7 Chords 7:25 - Minor Key Variations 9:12 - 'Day' and 'Night' Variations 12:32 - Brighter Variations 14:21 - Gross Variation 15:24 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory #Wario #videogamemusic #8bitMusicTheory wario land [--] nintendo music gameboy music melody"
YouTube Link 2025-02-27T15:50Z 587K followers, 89.3K engagements
"Articulation makes a BIG difference #nintendo #composer #8bitmusictheory It does wario land [--] writing a level theme main theme composition music theory how to write music 8-bit Music Theory wario land [--] writing a level theme main theme composition music theory how to write music 8-bit Music Theory"
YouTube Link 2025-02-27T15:49Z 587K followers, 35K engagements
"Day themes vs Night themes #8bitmusictheory #composition #vgm Do you prefer Day or Night wario land [--] writing a level theme main theme composition music theory how to write music 8-bit Music Theory wario land [--] writing a level theme main theme composition music theory how to write music 8-bit Music Theory"
YouTube Link 2025-02-26T18:28Z 587K followers, [----] engagements
"All of Wario Land 3's level themes. Once you hear it you can't unhear it wario land [--] writing a level theme main theme composition music theory how to write music 8-bit Music Theory wario land [--] writing a level theme main theme composition music theory how to write music 8-bit Music Theory"
YouTube Link 2025-02-25T18:00Z 587K followers, 13K engagements
"How does Video Game Beach Music Work What is it about beach level music that puts us right there on the shore our backs on the sand and our feet in the air How does a piece of music fill our nostrils with the scent of salty seas The answer turns out to be rhythm harmony attitude and a guitar. 0:00 - Beach Music 1:18 - I-IV progression 2:30 - Bossa Nova guitar 3:44 - Partido Alto rhythm 6:18 - iii-VI-ii-V progression 9:01 - Adding a tropical 'tinge' 10:22 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD:"
YouTube Link 2025-02-16T17:46Z 587K followers, 92.4K engagements
"Wario Land 3's Soundtrack Secret Wario Land [--] has one of the coolest 'musical moments' that almost nobody would notice on a normal playthrough of the game: the [--] music boxes you collect throughout your adventure each have their own separate jingle and these little jingles combine together to create the game's credits music. It's a great melody from a great game and finding out how these jingles fit into it made me appreciate it even more 0:00 - Wario Land [--] 1:09 - Music Box Jingles 4:03 - Music Boxes Unite 6:36 - Credits Theme 7:58 - Credits Theme B Section 10:53 - Credits Theme Outro 12:43 -"
YouTube Link 2025-01-27T19:15Z 587K followers, 54.2K engagements
"Transcribing Live I start off trying to fix a transcription of Twilight Princess's Hyrule Field theme but I get distracted by questions and launch into a demonstration of transcribing Route [---] from Pokemon Brilliant Diamond PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory NOTEBOOK: https://www.themusiciansnotebook.com/collaborations/8-bit-music-theory DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory live transcription music music theory composition analysis ear training video game music 8-bit Music Theory live transcription music music theory composition analysis"
YouTube Link 2025-01-17T18:02Z 587K followers, 10.3K engagements
"How to use Secondary Dominants I wanted this video to be almost like a glossary of the different kinds of secondary dominants that you can use in a major key. Each chord in a major key gives a slightly different feeling when you approach it with its secondary dominant chord and I found tons of video game examples for each of these types of harmonic movements. Enjoy 0:00 - What are Secondary Dominant Chords (skip this bit if you already know) 3:14 - SD to the ii chord 7:52 - SD to the iii chord 9:37 - SD to the IV chord 13:24 - SD to the V chord 16:03 - SD to the vi chord 19:04 - Outro"
YouTube Link 2025-01-17T16:15Z 587K followers, 191.8K engagements
"How to Dissect a Melody Oh we're getting REAL nitty-gritty today. Treasure of the Rudras features a lot of great themes with melodies that are very easy to break down into 'structural notes' and 'embellishing notes' which make it a perfect vehicle to showcase that concept how it works and how it can help you analyze melodies. 0:00 - Melodies are hard to analyze 1:08 - Melodic Embellishments 1:52 - Creating a Melodic Reduction 7:32 - Different Melodies with the Same Skeleton 10:25 - Complicated Melodic Embellishments 15:24 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my"
YouTube Link 2024-12-29T19:44Z 587K followers, 96K engagements
"Melody Technique: Enclosures #melody #composition #music #8bitmusictheory So what is an enclosure anyway"
YouTube Link 2024-12-26T20:24Z 587K followers, 46.2K engagements
"The Music Theory Behind Astral Observatory One of the best pieces of music in the video game canon and it's only [--] bars long. Let's break down what makes the Astral Observatory theme from Majora's Mask so great. 0:00 - Astral Observatory 1:09 - Instrumentation 1:47 - Melody 3:29 - The Intro Run 5:36 - Wandering Out of Key 8:03 - Phrasing 9:14 - Colourful Note Choices 10:44 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory #composition"
YouTube Link 2024-12-16T15:31Z 587K followers, 69.7K engagements
"5 Sus Chords to Get Yourself a Girlfriend We all know what's holding back our love lives: not enough music theory. Join me as I walk through [--] different versions of the 'sus chord' and showcase how you can use them to win over the girl of your dreams. 0:00 - We've all been there 0:57 - What's a Sus Chord 1:42 - The 4-3 Suspension 7:18 - The Suspension Stretch 11:01 - The Fakeout Major Resolution 16:21 - The "Soul" V Chord 19:10 - Unresolved Sus Chords Just Floating Around PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD:"
YouTube Link 2024-11-29T16:19Z 587K followers, 83.5K engagements
"Transcribing some Wario Land [--] Come watch me transcribe the soundtrack to Wario Land [--] for the Gameboy Color PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory live transcription music music theory composition analysis ear training video game music 8-bit Music Theory live transcription music music theory composition analysis ear training video game music 8-bit Music Theory"
YouTube Link 2024-11-15T17:43Z 587K followers, 13.5K engagements
"How Can Music Be Scary What makes music scary I pinpoint [--] approaches composers use to write horror music and use them to break down Dead Space 2's "Lacrimosa". Huge thanks to Jason Graves for sharing the score to the piece with me for this analysis Jason Graves' 'Music of Dead Space' series: https://youtube.com/playlistlist=PLA-S_iErwwwRSF3QaJezrg4tLTvCXv0QV&si=sZeGBa8riBuu1RTu 0:00 - Music can be scary 1:35 - "Dementia Motif" intro 3:55 - "Isaac Clarke's Theme" 5:04 - Tense Intervals 7:22 - Unsettling Timbres 9:34 - Aleatoric Techniques 14:49 - Atonal Writing 17:34 - Lacrimosa's 3rd"
YouTube Link 2024-10-31T15:11Z 587K followers, 74.6K engagements
"You Can't Write Music as Pretty as Pikmin 4's Credits Theme What makes the Pikmin [--] credits music so beautiful I take an even deeper dive than usual to try and figure it out. 0:00 - Pikmin 4's Credits Theme is Beautiful 1:26 - Micro-level Analysis 4:13 - The Bb/Eb Chord 6:39 - The Minor iv Chord 9:41 - Mid-level Analysis 11:39 - Climactic Melodic Moments 13:36 - Macro-level Analysis 21:09 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory #pikmin4"
YouTube Link 2024-10-23T20:39Z 587K followers, 47.2K engagements
"The Art of the Title Screen Theme I unironically love Princess Peach: Showtime and the first time I booted up the game and got greeted by the title screen theme it took my breath away. The game's two title screen themes are both some of the most gorgeous music in video games and I just had to make a video breaking down why. 0:00 - Title Screens 1:10 - Entrancing Prelude 8:30 - Captivating Prelude 15:15 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER:"
YouTube Link 2024-09-30T16:13Z 587K followers, 35.4K engagements
"How to Write Hero Music with Heart FINALLY an actual 8-bit soundtrack on 8-bit Music Theory Kid Icarus has a great score and I think the music would be as well remembered today as Metroid's music is if the game itself had more of a legacy. Let's dive into how the soundtrack straddles the line between head-strong and heartfelt 0:00 - Kid Icarus 1:23 - Heroic vs Emotional 1:58 - Underworld Theme 5:42 - Descending Bassline 7:27 - Sky Palace Theme 8:41 - Title Screen Theme 10:29 - Credits Theme 12:32 - Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album:"
YouTube Link 2024-09-20T14:41Z 587K followers, 34.6K engagements
"How Nintendo Makes Music Sound Japanese I always love in Mario games when there's a level themed around feudal Japan and in this video I wanted to take a look and see what techniques these games use to make their music feel Japanese. 0:00 - Japanese Mario Levels 1:14 - Percussion Propulsion 3:24 - 4th Based Harmony 5:07 - SM3DW - Hands-On Hall 7:16 - Princess Peach: Showtime - Ninja Village 8:55 - Pentatonic Scales 9:36 - Hirajoshi Scale 10:57 - Paper Mario: The Origami King - Shogun Studios Entrance 11:44 - Super Mario Odyssey - Bowser's Castle Courtyard 12:26 - Pentatonic Melodies in Paper"
YouTube Link 2024-08-30T21:20Z 587K followers, 98.6K engagements
"How Shadow of the Colossus' Music Works Let's see how the music of Shadow of the Colossus enhances the gameplay loop 0:00 - Long Winded Intro 1:27 - Basic Gameplay Loop 2:26 - Searching for the Colossus 3:08 - Approaching the Colossus 5:37 - Battle Begins 8:09 - Turning the Tide of Battle 10:29 - Colossus Defeated 13:21 - Categorical Composition 17:23 - Long Winded Outro PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/8bitmusictheory Check out my album: https://8bitmt.bandcamp.com/album/lets-play DISCORD: https://discord.gg/8bmt TWITTER: https://twitter.com/8bitMusicTheory #shadowofthecolossus #gamemusic"
YouTube Link 2024-08-19T16:29Z 587K followers, 60.3K engagements
"I wrote a fake Professor Layton tune Enormous thanks to the musicians who contributed their time and talents to this recording: Eli Bishop - Violin Kasey Kurtz - Guitar Andy-Ru - Upright Bass & Mixing You can check out the analysis video I wrote this tune for here: https://youtu.be/k17yQXuv_JE #composition #videogamemusic #8bitmusictheory professor Layton layton music original music how to write music video game music violin accordion guitar 8-bit Music Theory professor Layton layton music original music how to write music video game music violin accordion guitar 8-bit Music Theory"
YouTube Link 2024-07-31T20:14Z 587K followers, 45.2K engagements
"The Secret to Writing a Professor Layton Theme Professor Layton is one of those series where the music seems especially important. Each games' soundtrack brings you into their game's world and crafts the mysterious goodhearted gentlemanly vibe that sits at the heart of the series. After transcribing and studying the title themes from each of the mainline games in the series I put together a road map for how to craft your own music in the style of a Professor Layton theme. You can listen to the entire piece I wrote here: https://youtu.be/jMFW43d-PKI 0:00 - What's the Professor Layton Sound"
YouTube Link 2024-07-31T13:39Z 587K followers, 73.2K engagements
"Can Odd Meters Feel Good Odd Time Signatures in Video Game Music Part [--] Who can get enough odd time signatures I certainly can't This time we're diving in to try and figure out how to make odd time signatures feel good with at least one example that feels specifically very bad. Enjoy 0:00 - Odd time signatures can groove too 1:03 - Wild Woods - Mario Kart [--] 5:53 - Balatro Theme 7:53 - Winning Result - Mario Kart [--] 11:01 - Sagat's Theme - Street Fighter II 14:24 - Fairy Flying Theme - Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 15:55 - Mad Luca - Suikoden II 19:33 - Outro PATREON:"
YouTube Link 2024-07-22T16:12Z 587K followers, 90.4K engagements
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