Compose Emotional Game Music Without Guessing
Best Music Theory Course: Level 2
If you are:
- Staring at your DAW thinking “my ideas are basic, not original, and I have no clue why.”
- Sitting on a hard-drive full of half-finished tracks that never quite “feel right.”
- You used to compose, lost momentum, and now every attempt reminds you what you’ve forgotten.
You already hear incredible music in your head. Level 2 is where you finally get the language to compose it on purpose, and if that sounds like you, this course was built for you.
Level 2 is for gamer‑composers who want real skills, not random tips:
Theory feels intimidating
You might be starting almost from zero, never finished a full track, and theory feels intimidating.
You cannot get consistent quality
You might have dabbled in chords, YouTube tutorials, maybe released a piece or two, but you cannot get consistent quality.
Your fire and clarity are gone
You might be “stalled out,” you know some theory, you have past work, but your fire and clarity are gone.
You all have the same goals: Have a track in a game, have your own recognisable style, make people lean forward and say “wait, you wrote this?” and have indisputable proof of progress instead of more abandoned projects. This is what Level 2 is designed to do.
By the end, you will be able to:
- Hear a rhythm and notate it correctly, including eighth notes, syncopation, pickups, dotted rhythms, repeats, and complex patterns in 2/4, 3/4, and 4/4.
- Use dynamics and articulation (staccato, legato, accents, crescendos) so your MIDI doesn’t sound like a flat piano roll.
- Read and notate in both treble and bass clef comfortably, and use the grand staff the way real game and film scores do.
- Understand and build all the core scales you actually use in games: major, natural minor, harmonic minor, melodic minor, pentatonic major and minor.
- Build and hear every triad type (major, minor, diminished, augmented) and seventh chord type (maj7, min7, dominant, half‑diminished), then use them to shape emotion.
- Use inversions, slash chords, and Roman numerals to reharmonize progressions and steal moves from your favorite OSTs.
- Read a piece of game music and actually know why it works in terms of rhythm, harmony, and form.
- Start building a small library of your own motifs, chord progressions, and rhythmic patterns you can reuse across tracks.
Finish better music that sounds human, emotional, and intentional.
What is inside Best Music Theory Course: Level 2
You get a complete, sequenced curriculum. No guessing what to learn next.
Rhythm Mastery
Eighth notes, beat divisions, strong vs weak beats, 2/4 vs 3/4 vs 4/4, dotted rhythms, pickup measures, repeat signs and realistic rhythmic composition. You stop fighting the grid and start controlling it.
Dynamics and Articulation
Piano to forte, crescendos and diminuendos, staccato and legato. You learn how notation communicates “short,” “connected,” “grow here,” so you can program your MIDI the same way.
Reading Like A Composer
Bass clef, grand staff, and note-reading shortcuts. You bridge from “melody on top only” thinking to full‑range orchestral thinking, which is crucial for game music.
Scales That Actually Show Up In Games
Major, all three minor types, and both major and minor pentatonics. You learn how those relate, how to hear them, and how to pick scales that match the emotion you want.
Chords and Power Chords
Triads in all qualities, power chords for rock and hybrid tracks, inversions, slash chords, and broken chords. You start seeing the neck/keyboard as chord shapes, not random notes.
Seventh Chords and Real Harmony
Maj7, min7, dominant7, half‑diminished, plus how they appear when you harmonize scales. You learn how game and anime scores get that lush, “grown up” harmony without guesswork.
Functional Harmony and Analysis
Roman numerals, chord function, and basic analysis. You learn to read progressions as I, ii, V etc, so you can steal harmonic moves from any OST and bend them to your style.
Lyric and Rhyme Patterns
A compact module on rhyme types and schemes so if you ever compose songs, themes, or bard music for narrative games, your lyrics and phrasing do not sound amateur.
Clear video lessons plus notated examples and composition exercises
Every concept is taught with clear video lessons plus notated examples and composition exercises that live in the same world as video game music, not eighteenth‑century church choir only.
How it works
Self‑paced HD lessons you can rewatch any time.
Structured workbook exercises that move from drilling to short real compositions (so you are always applying).
Clear checkpoints so you always know “what to do today” instead of wandering YouTube.
Lifetime access, so you can come back when you are scoring a new game and need to refresh a concept.
When you get stuck, you are not alone; you are inside the same ecosystem that has already helped many gamers release their first legit tracks and start pitching to devs.
Who this is not for
If you want a fast “copy this chord progression” hack and never actually understand what you are doing, this is not it. If you are willing to sit down, do the boring work, and stack skill after skill until theory feels simple and obvious, Level 2 will change how you hear music. Ready to stop guessing and start composing on purpose? If you want one clear path from “I kind of know some chords” to “I can read, compose, and shape music like a real composer,” your next step is simple.
Want to see every lesson in Music Theory 2?
Expand to see the full curriculum
Course Content
Questions before you apply
Do I need to finish Level 1 first?
Is this only for video game composers?
What if I barely read music?
How much time does it take per week?
Do I need a piano or specific DAW?
Will this help my mixing or sound design?
How is this different from free YouTube theory videos?
What if I am already intermediate in theory?
How long do I have access?
Is there a guarantee?
Yes, our guarantees are for the programs, not each individual course by itself.
If you’re in QuesTone, you’re covered by our 10‑in‑365 guarantee: follow the plan and complete the required work, and if you don’t release 10 professional‑quality pieces in 365 days, we refund your program tuition.
If you’re in Gamer Music Creator Guild, you’re covered by our Guild guarantee: show up, do the work, and we’ll get you to 10–20 released tracks in 120 days – or we keep working with you for free until you do.
This course is one part of those systems. When you apply, we’ll tell you which program you’d be in and which guarantee would apply to you.
Make Music with Dan Spencer
Dan Spencer coaches Music Theory 2 from the practical composer and music-mentor perspective: learn the idea, try it in music, finish the assignment, and know the next move when you sit down to compose.
Dan Spencer is Music Mentor Dan: a composer, OST creator, and coach who teaches the practical path from idea (or no ideas!) to finished music you can actually ship.
Meet Dan