question

ok so first off, my teacher said to find what key a riff is in you write all the notes being played down, then play them in order of the alphabet, at least i think thats what he said, i have a bad memory. is this right? is there an easier way to find out?

if this is the case, what do i do about a riff like this?

E|-0-15-14-13-0-12-13-14-11-12-13-0-|

then if i play them its a chromatic scale, so what do i do? is it just anything goes or is there a better way to find out waht scales/key to use

Aiight first figure out what notes you're playing...

E, G, F#, F and D#. Or D#, E, F F#, G. (same notes rearranged.)

As for keys...
That's for you to decide. In western music, the stantard key has seven tones. You're only talking about five of them.
Some Ideas...
Take out the D# and you got: D bebop minor (D E F F# G A B C)
Take out the F and you got: G bebop major (oops well ive got to run girlfriend callin...) just mess around till you find something you like ill get back to this later

You could do that

or you could just use the scale finder on this site =P

nothing comes up when i put the notes in

oh also, how can i tell if something is in the key of major or minor?

if its got the major third its major, minor third-minor.

C major: C G E (E is the major third.)
C minor: C G D# (D# is the minor third.)

basically to go from major to minor just flat the third.

To sum up what i was saying before, because you only have five notes, that just so happen to be chromatic, you arent going to find a specific scale or key that is specific to those notes (in western music that is). So apply these notes where you see fit to apply them. You're pretty much gonna be playing blues, jazz or metal oriented stuff if youre using straight chromatics. I'm sure you'll find the right context! :)

ok thanks

wow actually that major/minor thing finally made sense with the flattening the 3rd.