You read right... who likes these guys? Who don''t? But to be more on topic, I am a bit unclear on the nature of intervals and chords. I think I''ve seen 2 different definitions of an interval, and I can''t deal with chords until I get the scales down... Any books recommended out there? I would recommend my brother, but he lives kinda far away, and I don''t know if he would feel like explaining it to me. Is there a site down there that explains how to make something SOUND a certain way? eg: making your music sound egyptian or chinese?

While I''m no expert on "the nature of chords" and such, I do have some humble suggestions for your more specific problem. It''s all in the scales and rhythm. Just as something sounds jazzy because of a blues scale and syncopated rhythm, you can get other general styles by simply using an appropriate scale an rhythm.

For instance, the chinese feel can be approximated by using
a five-note scale consisting of the first, third, sharp fourth, fifth, and secenth degrees of the major scale.

I did a quick search and found a nice listing of some useful exotic scales, which happen to include the chinese and egyptian scales you''re interested in. (The chinese scale checks out with my own version, btw)

Good luck composing!

BTW... "Orgy" as the subject is a really good way to get attention

Whoopsie, forgot to put the end tag on that, and only registered users can edit. Sorry :}