Team Fortress 2 (Main Theme) (Soundtrack)

Team Fortress 2 Official Soundtrack

"Team Fortress 2 (Main Theme)" "Playing With Danger" "Rocket Jump Waltz" "The Art of War" "Faster Than a Speeding Bullet" "Right Behind You" "Petite Chou-Fleur" "Intruder Alert" "Drunken Pipe Bomb" "More Gun" "Haunted Fortress 2" "TF2 Saxxy 2011 Theme" "A Little Heart to Heart" "MEDIC!" "Archimedes" "Dreams of Cruelty" "The Calm" "ROBOTS!" "Dapper Cadaver" "Rise of the Living Bread" "Red Bread" "Three Days to Live" "Seduce Me!" "Stink Lines" "It Hates Me So Much" "Misfortune Teller" "Soldier of Dance" "RED Triumphs!" "BLU Triumphs!" "Yeti Park" "Saxton's Dilemma" "Mercenary Park" "Saluting the Fallen"

"Team Fortress 2" is one of the song titles featured on the official Team Fortress 2 Soundtrack, listed as track number one, as well as being track two on The Orange Box Original Soundtrack. Known as the 'theme tune' of the game, it is the song featured in the Meet the Heavy short (with the ending flourish being featured at every Meet the Team video) and Trailer 1, as well as being one of 33 different main menu themes. A blues cover is also included in the soundtrack for Poker Night at the Inventory.

Video

An alternate version added in the Jungle Inferno Update:

Guitar transcription

The following is an abridged transcription of the song. The bass plays the exact same thing, coming in after the intro.

For best results, play in bridge position. Pick closer to bridge for closer tonality but keep tremolo picking as even as possible.

Main Theme     
                    | 
time = 4/4 130bpm   | 
Standard E-tuning   | 
(c) Mike Morasky / VALVe 2007                   

					E Major with chromatic shifts down to Eb Major
       Intro                                    Fig. 1                     Fig. 2
e ||----------------------------------------|--------------------------|-------------------------------|
B ||----------------------------------------|--------------------------|-------------------------------|
G ||----------------------------------------|--------------------------|-------------------------------|
D ||----------------------------------------|--------------------------|-------------------------------|
A ||----------------------------------------|--------------------------|-------------------------------|
E ||--5h-777-5h-777-5h-777-777-7--6--5--3---|--0--0--0--3--3--3--0--0--|--0--7--7--7--5--5--5b6--5b7---|
      8th-16th notes                              8th notes                        gradually bend up
  Tremolo picking with slight gallop          slight accent on 2

    Intro Alternative 
|----------------------------------------|
|----------------------------------------|
|----------------------------------------|
|--1h-222-1h-222-1h-222-222-2--1--0------|
|------------------------------------3---|

    Fig. 1                   Fig. 3                      Fig. 1                     Fig. 4
|------------------------|---------------------------|--------------------------|---------------------------|
|------------------------|---------------------------|--------------------------|---------------------------|
|------------------------|---------------------------|--------------------------|---------------------------|
|------------------------|---------------------------|--------------------------|---------------------------|
|------------------------|---------------------------|--------------------------|---------------------------|
|--0--0--0--3--3--3--0--0|--0--7--7--7--6--6--5--5---|--0--0--0--3--3--3--0--0--|--0--0--1--1--2--2--3--3---|

Analysis

Key: E Minor
Time Signature: 4/4
Tempo: 130 BPM
Length: 1:13
Release Date: July 19, 2006
Update: Base Game
Composer: Mike Morasky
Instrumentation: 4 trumpets, 3 trombones (2 tenors, 1 bass), organ, 2 electric guitars, electric bass, drumset, 2 percussion

The Team Fortress 2 Main Theme is in the key of E minor, with the overall modality being most similar to the E minor blues scale (E, G, A, Bb, B, and D), though often emphasizing D#. Stylistically, it borrows several elements from rock music such as the drum beat, the use of the blues scale, and the instrumentation. In addition to the standard rock instruments like guitar, bass, drums, and often keyboard, there is a section of brass players. Several parts of the main theme, like the use of chromaticism, the descending blues scale, and the bassline. are used as leitmotifs throughout the soundtrack, as well as in certain sound cues.

There is little progression or development for the main motifs, aside from short build ups, and the compositional content is fairly simple, with most instruments playing identical or similar parts. For example, trombone 1 and trumpet 1, 3 and 4 all play the main horn line, percussion and trombone 2 and 3 play notes to accent the bassline, and electric guitar 1 and electric bass both play the bassline. Guitar 1, organ, and trumpet 2 are unique parts, however, in that they all play short solos between major sections or otherwise play parts different from the rest of the ensemble. For example, trumpet 2 is notated in the official sheet music as a "screech part," a term used often for parts or players which primarily play much higher than others. This style of playing the trumpet is used often in jazz bands, marching bands, and Drum Corps for the purpose of "screeching" above the rest of a band. That style of trumpet playing, as well as the mixture of electric and brass instruments, produces a sound reminiscent of jazz, which much of Team Fortress 2's musical identity is centered around.

Trivia

• One of the defining features of Team Fortress 2's main theme is the prominent semitone at the end of every phrase. The direction of this semitone is also the characterizing difference between the domination sound cue, and the revenge sound cue.
• The guitar riff at the end of the theme (1:08-1:10) is used in the Commando level of Casual Mode's level up sounds.
  • Also in Casual Mode, a version without the lead trumpet is played at the end of each game.
• The end section (1:06-1:12) is played after winning a round.
• The official 2020 rerelease on Spotify mistakenly spells the title as "Tean Fortress 2".
• The ticking in the beginning is not found within the official sheet music.