Analysing tools?
 

Right, feel free to close an redirect in case I didn't understand what I already read here, but I stll have a general question.

Currently my bandmate has a torrent of music writing going on, meaning that my musical knowledge is being quite stretched - major, minor, melodic, harmonic, on and on and on.

When I'm writing something for someone elses song like this, I start by finding all the root notes and then simply test all the scales I know which have those notes and might sound right. What I'm wondering is, are there any other tools, so to speak, to determine what scales or modes might be good?

guitar pro 5 has a scale identifier if thats what you mean? I've never used it as i have a very basic musical theory have no idea what a key is never found the need to learn, needed to learn time siggies though. Using the approach your using now you might come across something cool.

You can always break down the chord you're playing over and use those notes to make a scale. Usually I play a scale that fits each chord in my progression. Like if the chord is a Am7, then I'll play A Dorian over it, then if it goes to a Cmaj7, then I'll throw in C Lydian, then if it goes to a Emadd9, then I'll play E Aeolian or E Harmonic Minor. Basically I'll make a scale out of the notes in my chord.

I talk about it and have a file to download and look at in this thread.

Theory Question

Transcribe! is a really useful tool for that sort of thing. It'll load an audio file, and based on the region you select show the different pitches in a graph. It's also an invaluable tool for transcribing </advertising>

Seriously though, i use it all the time