How Do You Figure Out a Chord That Includes Arpeggios?

[Uffe von Lauterbach]

I hate to ask this question, because I don't know if the arpeggio is entirely ignored, or if you have to figure out how many chords are within one measure. My question comes from the video below, though. Ridley's Lair does the same thing, but for Mother Brain's theme, it comes off as extreme. So how do I figure out the chords when the top (or bottom) section uses rapid arpeggios? I'm not asking anyone to figure these chords out for me, I'll do that myself if I can get an answer. Thanks in advance!

 

[pixelseph]

Hi Uffe!

The track you linked doesn’t sound like it contains western harmony functional chords inside. I’m hearing trills between half-step notes and an occasional whole-step note to make the tension ramp.

However, to answer your question, the method I use to determine chords when listening to arpeggios is to listen for the lowest note and then work out what the interval is between it and the closest note to it, then do the same for the next note. The relationship between the intervals will usually give you the biggest clue to the chord.

Sometimes there can be multiple chords being outlined during a single arpeggiated melodic line. It’s not always easy to pick out when this is happening, though one trick for that is to listen to the harmony/support instruments and if the notes shift under a particular spot in the melody, it’s highly likely that the chord has changed

Edited May 27 by pixelseph

[Uffe von Lauterbach]

16 hours ago, pixelseph said:

Hi Uffe!

The track you linked doesn’t sound like it contains western harmony functional chords inside. I’m hearing trills between half-step notes and an occasional whole-step note to make the tension ramp.

However, to answer your question, the method I use to determine chords when listening to arpeggios is to listen for the lowest note and then work out what the interval is between it and the closest note to it, then do the same for the next note. The relationship between the intervals will usually give you the biggest clue to the chord.

Sometimes there can be multiple chords being outlined during a single arpeggiated melodic line. It’s not always easy to pick out when this is happening, though one trick for that is to listen to the harmony/support instruments and if the notes shift under a particular spot in the melody, it’s highly likely that the chord has changed

Thanks! And Metroid is from Japan, so perhaps that's why. 🤷‍♂️  But at the time, I think this particular track by Hirokazu Tanaka was probably about as close to being musique concrète, experimental, or perhaps some kind of avant-garde in 8 bit form. 😃 Anyway, I'll take into consideration of what you said, as this is something I wasn't sure about how I'd approach it.

[Master Mi]

Dude, this sounds more like a broken 8-bit lawnmower engine than a NES soundtrack.

But I can well imagine how this "track" came about:
---------------------------------------------------------------

CEO in the game development team: "Guys, the release of the game is tomorrow, but we still have to compose an extraordinary boss theme."
Staff: "Boss, our schedule is filled to the brim - we have no capacity."
CEO: "Heya, intern - we're relying on you. We need you to create something special in less than 30 minutes that even posterity will be talking about."

Something special that even posterity will still be talking about: ...

[pixelseph]

4 hours ago, Uffe von Lauterbach said:

Thanks! And Metroid is from Japan, so perhaps that's why. 🤷‍♂️  But at the time, I think this particular track by Hirokazu Tanaka was probably about as close to being musique concrète, experimental, or perhaps some kind of avant-garde in 8 bit form. 😃 Anyway, I'll take into consideration of what you said, as this is something I wasn't sure about how I'd approach it.

Yup! Tanaka wanted the score to have feel and mood, not be harmonically pleasing - and that first Metroid OST nailed it. Musique concréte is definitely a better classifier for it than, say, song.

[Aaron Lehnen]

Interesting that this conversation came up today.
I literally just finished this entire album and dropped the release a few hours ago, and that mother brain track was something interesting. 
Hopefully, I can share it with you all in the future. 

But yes the arpeggios that seem chaotic and are very hard to iron down what they are actually doing with any traditional approach beyond 20th century harmony and heptatonic scales. First, it seemed quartal in nature; but then I would see a minor 3rd & #4th pop up here and there at the end of a phrase and then m6ths & M6ths with m7ths. So tons of chromatic notes. Clearly the idea was meant to sound chaotic unsettling and almost alive sounding, and he nailed it. 
Not sure I could stand behind any chord analysis; but if you wanted a rough idea where to start, maybe think about Fm11 with additional chromatic passing tones of #4s and both M6ths & m6ths played very staccato in 32nd notes. Not sure how much that helps but hope it does some. 

GL with the Metroiding/Jamming. 

Best,
Aaron (MnG)