Which scales? (funky house basslines)

[nuffink]

It's a theory forum. It exists specifically to pick things apart using theory.
Every now and again a tourist pops in and tells us we shouldn't be doing it. I've no idea why. Does it bother you that we discuss theory?

[z15]

It's a theory forum. It exists specifically to pick things apart using theory.
Every now and again a tourist pops in and tells us we shouldn't be doing it. I've no idea why. Does it bother you that we discuss theory?

Well, deeply sorry for invading your personal area if it's like that. I didn't know comments like this are a nuisance / noise on the theory forum and I apologize for that. However, in any case, you miss most of my post - the part that I tried to clarify and underline. I did NOT imply that "theory is a devil's tool" or "why the hell are you discussing music theory on a music theory forum", I simply think that:

1) it is probably counterproductive / erroneous to analyze dance music basslines like that using tonal rules, since it's very probable (based on those two examples) that it doesn't give you a _meaningful_ interpretation considering the context
2) when someone's motive for starting the discussion is "why does it work?" or "why does it sound good?" the question is more about psychology of music than music theory anyway

So what I'm saying is "this is probably a question that's best approached via other means than trying to fit it into the standard music theory context". The second point above just implies (IMHO) the thing that you reacted so strongly about - that analyzing music is a perfectly viable and recommendable tool for learning and understanding music other people have done, but you have to pick the right tool set for right job and it still doesn't give you any meaningful answers on "why does this work" or "why does this sound good".

Let's try it once more. What I was trying to say is that your interpretations are (most probably) good in the context where you are making them, but that doesn't neccessarily mean that one would understand that kind of music any better using those analysis methods.

As for being a tourist, that's probably because I don't enjoy discussing things like patch design or music theory too much for personal reasons. I just felt there might be some room for an outsider's remark in case it didn't feel odd to any of the regulars to put that particular material through the standard pop/jazz harmony grinder.

[z15]

Anyway, sorry if you felt that was completely unneccessary and stupid, I'll just stop now.

[Amblin]

I see following rules as more of a way to narrowing down the choices to meet your vision, this without testing every possible combination.

[JumpingJackFlash]

It's the concept of augmentation that totally annihilates everything I know about this subject. Throwing in a pair of augmented chords here and there and you will have a weird looking scale.

It sure widens the "freedom" when it comes to composing, but it changes the rules that I thought was set.
Are there any rules that augmentations must follow?

My Introduction to Chromatic Harmony may be of some use.