By the way, GUEST/Misirlou--even though you say that you don't know anything about music theory, the fact that you can work out chords to some fairly unusual melodies shows that you have a good, practical working understanding of music theory.You just don't know the names for things.

The names are very helpful when you're communicating with others, but, people can learn the names without understanding the underlying process. Worse, people can teach the names without really explaining the underlying process, and often do.