When you have more time check this out
 
Music Theory Long Version
 
P.S. if you have any questions on anything you see and hear in the videos just ask even if you think it may be a dumb question.

Another useful music theory video.  I think there are 4 of them by Claus Levin
 
Theory Claus Levin

bayoubill
I'm composing my own material, and my level of theory is down in the toilet. The purpose is more to be able to self educate, and tell key/modalities that a song actually is in ... post creation/fact. Eventually the tool will hopefully no longer be needed, as I will have absorbed the knowledge by hearth ... hopefully without interfering with my existing style of playing ... in a good way. 
 
Watch the video below from start to finish. No need to memeorize just watch
 
Basic Music Theory
 

Thanks, great starting point ... think I need to digest first video a bit before I move on :) 

iRelevant

tobiaslindahl
 Voda gives good advince imo. You really should be able to get the key in your own songs and that gives you the "scale" too I guess. These software tools could of course be a good help if ears and theory is not trained enough yet, but use them sparingly and as support and I am sure you will be able to pick most these things out quickly for yourself in no time without the use of software.
 
Anything that can slowdown songs but keep pitch will work very well so riffstation mentioned above will likely work. I use audacity when/if transcribing things I can't get at normal speed and it works very well. 

I'm composing my own material, and my level of theory is down in the toilet. The purpose is more to be able to self educate, and tell key/modalities that a song actually is in ... post creation/fact. Eventually the tool will hopefully no longer be needed, as I will have absorbed the knowledge by hearth ... hopefully without interfering with my existing style of playing ... or if it does ... in a good way. 

Well, that sounds like a great approach! The right tools used wisely can be a big help.  

Btw, I am actually ( right now ) sitting transcribing somestuff I recorded WAY back in the 90's and I use Transcribe ( I wrongly called it audacity above, brain fart) atm to get some fast parts down correctly. This **** was before I used cakewalk, used something called Musicator back then and the sounds are horrible, but some of the material aint too bad in itself so want to recreate it, do a remake if you will, with some better sounds and updates. 
Trying to sort out what I did 25 years ago sometimes calls for slowing **** down a bit :) 

Transcribe is my favorite and awesome tool!!!
 
"great starting point ... think I need to digest first video a bit before I move on :)"
 
 Those will help a lot and you can watch as needed. Don't bog yourself down with theory.
Remember  Create music more out of the wild then create music more out of the wild 
 
The reason I posted the other videos is Chronic Amnesia  If I don't mention them now in about 20 min I will say " What videos?" Kinda like PTSS

iRelevant
As said. I like to create music more out of the wild, and then later figuring out what kind of scale it is in.
I was wondering if anybody could recommend an app or offline program that quickly let's you identify 
which scale/s your song actually are in ... by plotting in notes used, as well as maybe identifying which
cords could go a long with it ? 
 
Thanks, Sven
 
PS. I'm not looking for anything super pro, even free ware would be appreciated. 

 
not to sidetrack,
but this is a perfect argument for why every musician should learn music theory.
 
an effort, well rewarded.

All anyone has to remember is Am 
 
 
 
 
 
"Once you accomplish that your work is done" I said in my Homer Simpson voice 

bayoubill
Create music more out of the wild then create music more out of the wild instead of figuring out what kind of scale it is in. Since each song is it's own identity so each song will be different. If you spend the time on figuring things out that's how much time you would have had creating instead of figuring. 
Please excuse my interruption on your Fred but I have this affliction called PTSS and can't help myself
 

I know my theory inside and out but when composing in the piano roll I don't think about it even once. I don't even think about the note names, or the names of the chords I'm writing. I do the whole thing by ear. That's what I really like about the piano roll, it's just linear columns of notes which maintain the same relationship to each other no matter where on the roll you are. I've gotten halfway through tunes and realized I don't even know what key they're in. I'm glad I know the theory but one thing's for sure, you can certainly get by without it. 

Maybe  Anvil Studio helps learn  music.