Ok, how do you know when you make a riff whether it's original or not?

As far as I've known, you can't get sued for using someone's line, as long as you don't use their song.

Considering all the musicians out there, you're bound to use atleast one thing in your life, unintentionally, that's already been done before.

I'd avoid it, though, if you're aware it's in use, that's what I generally do.

I used to have this one line, a few years back, when I was in a ska/punk band... My guitarist (at the time) swore on his life that it was a part of a Green Day song (the one line). I didn't really change it, I just stopped playing the whole thing, since I was dumbfound on what else to use...

 

As someone once observed, "all the great literature has already been written and all the great music has already been played."

What they were referring to is the fact that we are all the product of what has preceded us.

If the riff is new to you, that's all that matters.

The killer is that when you get to be an older guy, like me, you realize that something you thought was original is often a copy of something you almost forgot about.

Either way, if it's new to your ears and to your audience's ears, that's all that matters.

The difference between "ripoff" and "influence" is usually subjective or convenient.

 

There are a lot of bassists out there writing a lot of riffs. They are bound to sound similar or even be the same as parts of other songs. Take a step further, musicians have been writing music for more than a thousand years.

I don't think it would be easy to write anything that was 100% original.

 

said the beastie boys back in '89, "only twelve notes that a man can play."

i've written pieces that unintentionally had chord changes vaguely resemble other things... i just consider it to be an influence.

at the same time, don't forget that the anal-retentive composers of the chiffons' "he's so fine" accused george harrison (r.i.p.) of stealing part of the melody for "my sweet lord". george pleaded coincidence (from the heart) but a court said the two songs sounded similar and found for the "he's so fine" guys.

 

In western music anyway.

 

The first song that I ever wrote had a I-V-minIII-IV progression for the verses, and Imin-bVI-bVII-V for the chorus and guitar solo.

I am heavily influenced by Rush, but didn't realize that the verse chord progression was just like Spirit of Radio.

So, I brought the song to practice, and demoed the chord progression on guitar, and the guitarist and drummer are both like 'That sounds like Spirit of Radio, dude!'

I was totally bummed out. I thought that I written a really cool song with a fairly complex chord progression for a first time writer(especially for a 16 year old), and it sounded like a Rush song.

That's OK, over the years it has gotten more complex rhythmically, and while the chord progression might sound like Spirit of Radio, the feel is like Rush's more complex stuff, so the Spirit influence isn't as noticeable. Good song though. I can't wait to get a new copy of that studio session, I'll have some really cool mp3's to share.

 

This is something that I try to avoid when writing songs, lines etc. I once came up with a bassline that was exactly the same as the chorus bass line from The Police's 'Spirits in a Material World'. I heard the song on TV about 2 months after I wrote it and thought 'Bugger!'.

Like has been said, it's very easy to write something that has already been written, especially with chord progressions. Sometimes when I hear a new song on the radio I cringe because the chord progression has been written a thousand times before. It's just a matter of writing what you feel I guess.

 

Well, this thread reminds me of something that happened to me a while back.. I just wrote a song, and I was really happy because it was probably the best thing I had ever written. All day I was humming the melody in my head. Got home, turned on my CD player..
The melody was nearly the same as an AFI song.
But the chord progression sounded completely different. Just to be nice, I changed the melody a little so it's not exact.. Still sounds like it though. It's ok. I call it influence. That's what you get for listening to the same music all the time.

 

Non-western music uses different scales. I'm not sure of any types other than Indian music which uses microtonal scales that can have much more that 12 notes per octave. I'm sure if you do a search you will find much information on this on the web.

Also if you listen to reggae very much, you will hear the same bass lines (riddims) over and over. There are some riddims (like Ring the Alarm and Sleng Teng) that have 300+ versions each. Check out www.reggae-riddims.com for a list of popular riddims.

 

Yes, our guitarist spent some time in South America, and while he was there, he bought an unusual instrument, (at least to us). I forget what it's called, but the sound would make you think of a sitar if you heard it. It has whole steps, half steps, and get this, quarter steps. The quarter steps sound really cool. (they would probaly sound dissonant to an untrained ear, I would guess)

 

Yes.

 

The first bassline I ever "wrote" turned out to be Clapton's Cocaine. God I thought I was cool, then....busted.