Using the same chords as another track

[dj_devious1]

Basically I made a riff on the keyboard a few days ago but I knew I'd heard something similar before. On MTV Dance this morning I heard 'Reason' by Ian Van Dahl and it sounds like I've used the same chords but arranged them slightly differently, the bass is also the same.

Here is a rough sample of the synth and bassline I made a few days ago:
http://www.zshare.net/audio/74855425708c5643/

And 'Reason' by Ian Van Dahl:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Reason-UK-Radio ... 839&sr=1-1

When we are creating melodies and eventually get something that sounds 'right' is it because we are just relating to something we've heard before on another track?

If you were to release such a track commercially could you run into legal trouble? Have you got any other examples of tracks that sound similar or use the same melody?

Cheers

[tenshin111]

I wouldn't worry. This is one of the most generic progressions I have heard in this kind of music. There's probably dozens of other tracks that sound similar.

[resonanceaudio]

I wouldn't worry. This is one of the most generic progressions I have heard in this kind of music. There's probably dozens of other tracks that sound similar.

Which is probably why he should change it! Got to have you're own sound, else what's the point?

[Melkor]

An actual melody is "copyright-able" .... just ask Men At Work.

A chord progression isnt.

A combination of chord progression and syncopated rhythm could be subject to copyright, however eg Nirvana used the "More Than A Feeling" riff almost verbatim on "Teen Spirit" so i guess its a case by case basis.

"Which is probably why he should change it! Got to have you're own sound, else what's the point?"

Maybe he saw it as a challenge to create an original song from a progression that is so cliche ...... just like Blues players endlessly re-interpreting a 12 bar blues.

[icelizarrd]

If you were to release such a track commercially could you run into legal trouble? Have you got any other examples of tracks that sound similar or use the same melody?

To my understanding, chord progressions can't actually be copyrighted. (Maybe unless it's a very long and very unusual sequence?) It's if you use a chord progression with a similar melody that you should watch out. Listening to yours and the Ian van Dahl example, it's only three chords, and that particular combination is used all over the place in trance (and pop songs in general, actually).

For comparison , then start paying attention in rock and pop music. That progression is all over the place, especially the first four chords. I've started noticing, actually, that it shows up a lot starting on a different chord from the sequence, too, e.g. if it would normally be C, G, Am, F repeating, you might hear Am, F, C, G repeating instead, if the song is in A minor (the relative minor of C). It's the same sequence, just "rotated" over two. (The octave that the chord goes to may change, of course.)

[DrawMusic]

Is that the chord progression? (I haven't clicked on the clips.) Google "sensitive female chord progression".

[pandashake]

Is that the chord progression? (I haven't clicked on the clips.) Google "sensitive female chord progression".

Check out this one...

[icelizarrd]

Is that the chord progression? (I haven't clicked on the clips.) Google "sensitive female chord progression".

Er, not the OP's example. The OP's example (or van Dahl's, to be more precise, don't remember the OP's starting key) was something like F, F, Am, G, then repeat. We also see it with two bars on the i chord (Am, Am, G, F) like , which also happens to be in A minor. Can't think of any other examples off the top of my head, though.

I was mentioning the "sensitive female chord progression" just for comparison to a really common progression. And yeah, it's the same one I and pandashake linked to. Jeeeze, even though I know it's used all over the place, it's still kind of... galling... to see so many hit songs lined up like that.

[psenior]

Songwriters have consciously been doing this kind of thing forever because it is the easiest path to success. If you did so unconsciously I wouldn't worry about it. I've done the same thing where I wrote a song and later figured out it had pieces of chord progressions from 3 of my favorite songs.

[Xnah]

Ian van Dahl is now Anna Grace, isn't she?