I agree with Azreal, the only rule a musician should follow is follow your ear. I may have stated this a million times but the best way to use theory is to understand music. Say you hear this great tune and you want to understand why that sounds so great. Figure out the parts on your instrument and then use your theory knowledge to understand what was done and why it sounds so good. Then you can later use what you learned in your own playing. The best thing is it doesn't take alot of theory to apply. Say you hear a tune with a D dominant 7 chord and you notice the lick had a G# to A transition, if you like that as I do (especially over a G natural). You know you can use that over any dominant 7 chord. You learned something new. When music follows too many rules it lacks invention.

The chromatic scale is a unique scale for harmonizing over pedal tone or drone. It's most effective when you just play it ascending or descending in semi-tones, like flight of the bumblebee. This would be it's particular quality just like all the other scales have there own quality or sound.

[Edited by noticingthemistake on 08-04-2003 at 10:45 AM]