My Chords Don't Fit Any Scale, What Do I Do?
I made a chord progression of Gm, F#aug, A#/F, E7b5, and then Gm, F#aug, A#, and finally C7. I thought it has a rather "spooky" sound to it but I realized it didn't fit any scales. I first I thought it was G minor, but obviously not. If I use Gm natural, no F#, and I use Gm melodic or harmonic no F. Then I thought maybe C blues. Nope. Even more "outlandish" Scales don't have the notes E F F# G, like double harmonic, overtone, and neapolitan. So when stuck in a scenario like this, which scale should I choose? I'm not looking for an opinion based answer, just some pointers on the best-course-of-action for something like this, no matter what non-related chords I'm dealing with.
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There are two false assumptions you have about this progression and music in general. The first is that there has to be a scale to fit a given progression. This is not the case at all and a lot of more complex pieces of music use many different scales especially as the harmony weaves between different ideas. One example that has a similar progression is the verses of Spanish Castle Magic which the melody comes from the progression itself rather then a scale.
Second, these chords are very related and make a nice descending chromatic line with a large amount of common tones between the chords. A good chunk of the confusion is due to how you notated the chords as how they are named obscure the nature of this progression. If you instead call the progressions a Gm, Gb+ Bb/F E7b5 and Gm, Gb+, Bb, C7 you can see what is going on much better.
X:1
L:1/4
M:
K:F
V:1 clef=treble
"Gm"[G _B d] "Gb+"[_G _B d] "Bb/F"[F _B d] "E7b5"[E ^G _B d]|"Gm"[G _B d] "Gb+"[_G _B d] "Bb"[F _B d] "C7"[c E G _B]||
%
As you can see, in the firs progression you always have a Bb and D in your chords and in your second progression. I can very much see this as being in one of the modes of F major as the only two notes outside of it are Gb and G# and the E7b5 and C7 will pull you towards an F tonic if you let them resolve.
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