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.

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 Major
Time Signature: 4/4
Tempo: 130 BPM
Length: 1:13
Release Date: July 19, 2006
Update: Base Game
Composer: Mike Morasky

The chords in the song are E Major, A, and Eb Major. The lead guitar plays a pentatonic melody using the notes E, G, B, Ab, and A. The notes Ab and A are borrowed from the Eb Major pentatonic scale, which mirrors the chords in the song shifting chromatically down from E Major to Eb Major. The notes G and A are also borrowed from the E minor scale. This technique is central to the blues rock guitar playing style featured, which is most often noted for its blend between the major and minor versions of the same key; some guitar plays choose to refer to this scale as the blues or blues pentatonic scale. This breaking of structure develops a more free-form, rebellious sound, complimented by the harsh brass hits.

This song also features horn sections, which plays the root note of each chord alongside some embellishments. The drums play a standard kick-snare rock rhythm, with the kick drum grounding the pattern on the 1 of each measure. On top of this, the hi-hat plays a 16th note rhythm, mixed with shakers and possibly a tambourine.

Trivia

• One of the defining features of the Team Fortress 2 (Main Theme) is the prominent semitone at the end of every phrase in this song. The direction of this semitone is also the characterizing difference between the domination sound cue, and the revenge sound cue.
• Playing With Danger, Intruder Alert, Drunken Pipe Bomb, and Haunted Fortress 2 are all in the same key as this theme.
• Playing With Danger uses the same guitar melody for both its guitar and horns sections. Intruder Alert and Drunken Pipe Bomb both use similar variations of this part.
• The ending flourish (1:06-1:12) is used in the match winning theme as it is behind the cheering.
• The ending flourish is also used in both Playing With Danger and Rocket Jump Waltz, with the latter shortening it to just the last 5 beats.
• Some similar parts are used in some Casual Mode level ups.
• The 2020 rerelease on Spotify has a typo that makes it 'Tean Fortress 2'