TW #21 — Tracking Tips (Dan Hartrell)

A 14-year-old Mazurka member's beginner lesson, built around a hypothetical newbie called Studly, on why melodies need scales and rhythm — with the scale formulas written as tracker keyboard steps.

Key claims#

• Track the drums first, then a bass, so the downbeats are visible; only then the melody. Never place melody notes at a fixed interval of rows ("every X amount of rows") — "that shows little rhythm".
• Semitone and whole tone in tracker terms: pressing the keys in the order AZSXDCFVGBHNJMK / 1Q2W3E4R5T6Y7U8I9O0P in ST3 or FT2 steps through every semitone (some keys are silent); a semitone is C-4→C#4, a whole tone C-4→D-4.
• Formulas: major = WT WT ST WT WT WT ST (C D E F G A B C); harmonic minor = WT ST WT WT ST W+ST WT (C D D# F G G# B C); blues/jazz = W+ST WT ST ST W+ST WT (C D# F F# G A# C; "I've seen guys change the D# to E"); chromatic (every note); whole tone C D E F# G# A# C ("dreamy"); aeolian C D D# F G G# A# C ("used often in pop"); "oriental pentatonic" C D E G A C — ride down it and start a second ride two notes lower for parallel chords (C+G, A+E, G+D …); an "Egyptian (or Arabic) pentatonic" C C# E F G G# B C — "adding … a C# can make any scale sound Egyptian" (a seven-note scale despite the name).
• A funk sax line: blues scale plus articulation — D0F volume slides for "4 staccato" notes, G90 portamento "for wavey sound" on pipe and reed instruments, SD1 note delay for a grace note, and alternating A05/A08 speeds for swing. Staccato = a quick sharp note, portamento = bending to the destination, grace note = a quick "slip" note leading into another.
• Once the scale of a genre is in your fingers, melodies come "in a few seconds" — and may unintentionally resemble other tunes.

Practical takeaways#

Rhythm section first; pick the scale for the genre; articulate runs with D0F, G90, SD1 and swung speeds (lead-articulation).

Notable quotes#

• "Organization can be the key to a cool tune."
• "BTW, do not use the above melody. It has not been tested and may be lethal."

Relevance#

Scale formulas in step notation, the tracker-keyboard-as-chromatic-scale observation and a second source for staccato/grace-note commands; complements scales-and-modes and melody-writing.

Pages touched#

scales-and-modes, melody-writing, lead-articulation, shuffle-funktempo, tracking-workflow, tracker.