So there I was, noodling away at random waiting for inspiration to strike, and I hit this combination of notes. "Ooh ..." I said, "that sounds pretty nice." I spend about 15 minutes developing it, and after coming up with about four bars of more good stuff, it hits me.

It needed a horn section. I was "composing" Herb Alpert's El Toro Solo, aka The Lonely Bull

Now I'm willing to believe that George Harrison was telling the truth when he denied consciously plagiarizing "He's So Fine" for "My Sweet Lord".

Do you often have that experience?

I'm not a complete idiot. Some parts are missing.

I often catch myself doing this, so many licks and riffs sound like something then turn out to actually be something.

I've done it with miss heard lyrics too.

estreet
Yes, done it many times.

After all - if you steal something that is at the back of peoples memories, it will just sound familiar and you've got a head start in getting them into your tune.

There's something to be said even for single notes, opening chords, etc. being familiar.
It's mostly a subconscious thing for people... not all listeners know that all those guitar songs in E sound similar because they're in E.

...
I had a song that turned out to be most of the same chord changes as "If you don't know me by now" by Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes.
My song was in 4/4, though, had some more-extended harmonies, and I modulated three more times.

Cheese is great.

i wrote a song..played it for the band and the drummer pointed out that i was playing Unchained Melody..man was that embarrasing or what..

The reality is that we do not wash our own laundry - it just gets dirtier.

www.myspace.com/tumbleweedofsurf

About 30 years ago I wrote a song in B minor that was supposed to be along the lines of Windy and Warm. I just used it as a way to practice my fingerstyle without the embarrassment of trying to actually copy Chet. A few years later I was playing it in front of someone and they called it Stray Cat Strut.

After I checked it out I realized that the songs had little in common except for the descending bass line and the feel, which was identical. A few years ago I saw a clip of Brian Setzer pleying Stray Cat Strut in concert and when he took his solo he quoted Windy and Warm. I've always wondered if Brian Setzer wrote Stray Cat Strut with Windy and Warm in mind.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.

Surfabilly
One day, I was working on a frivolous piece of lyric poetry (rhyming at the end of a line), ... I grabbed my guitar, and started strumming the first original piece that I'd composed, then read the developing poem again. It was then that it hit me - Damint! I've accidentally written lyrics to my surf instrumental piece!

I've always liked rhyme, but then, I'm not a poet.

Don't be too hard on yourself. There are only so many meters. Even if you weren't a poet you'd probably know most of them implicitly. Which one was this? I'm curious what works well with surf music! Something Iambic, I bet.

Since I'm interested in the connections of songs, I often wonder if a given tune is a conscious adaptation of another one or not. My feeling is that if the similarities are extended there must be a connection. However, the connection could easily be unconscious. The flip side of this is that if someone actually refers to a song by the same name and credits the original composer, then you have to assume any similarities are deliberate, but even so there are often fairly serious differences. The question of when a song is the same as another is something of a vexed issue. Especially if there are no lyrics.

Serpico
if you listen to our song Cuban Cigar in our myspace and then compare with NESgame Kung Fu you will find the main riff to be almost identical, i didnt know that when i wrote the song..

its also reminiscent of a DD song in the fast parts.
but I wont tell him.

Jeff(bigtikidude)

Jeff(bigtikidude)

Last night I just realized that a lead part I was writing bears an uncanny resemblance to the beginning of "The High Wall", which is now my current earworm.

I'm not a complete idiot. Some parts are missing.

Hey Jake, I don't know them, are they big-time? Pretty amazing production values on that vid if they aren't!

this happens to me eveyr time i try to write a song..... i always figure out that it soudns llike some other song so i just give up!

-Zanti

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