Making melodies and then realizing they already exist

[e-motion]

So I made this pseudo-awesome melody, very impressed with what I was doing. But I kept thinking "I think I heard this somewhere"... I thinked more and realized that:



My melody has the exact same notes (order, and rhythm is also similar) as the first 5 notes of this lol. Also, the rest of the melody is heavily based on those 5 notes. It's not the first time this happened to me (another example is "Hit the Road Jack", but in the end I let it die in my HD, never making a song out of it.

Has this ever happened to you? How do you proceed?

[ehbes]

Run with and if anyone asks say you made the melody better NEVER ADMIT DEFEAT

[Hircine]

dude you just tchaikovsky. Also do it anyway, intelectual rights dropped already.

[Sine69]

I swear that this is happening in this tune I'm working on right now. I've heard the melody I made somewhere else, but I can't put my finger on it

[glottis5]

Who cares? Just go with it. You can't own music, man

[Gurnumsbug]

I swear that this is happening in this tune I'm working on right now. I've heard the melody I made somewhere else, but I can't put my finger on it

^this!
Most confusing feeling ever!

[dubesteppe]

it happens to me all the time

[efence]

So I made this pseudo-awesome melody, very impressed with what I was doing. But I kept thinking "I think I heard this somewhere"... I thinked more and realized that:



My melody has the exact same notes (order, and rhythm is also similar) as the first 5 notes of this lol. Also, the rest of the melody is heavily based on those 5 notes. It's not the first time this happened to me (another example is "Hit the Road Jack", but in the end I let it die in my HD, never making a song out of it.

Has this ever happened to you? How do you proceed?

musicians use the same note or chord or timing structure everytime you write anything. its gonna happen. dont worry about it til you realize you've used the same chords in the same style but the other artist did it better....;than move on.

[Sonika]

if you've heard it before it probably lingered in your subconscious and the reason you wrote that melody on the first place was because it was already in the depths of your brain.

I'm reading a book about this at the moment, called Musicophilia: Music and the Brain. It's really good, I'd recommend it to anyone interested in a good read.

[lowpass]

Subconsciously imitating Tchaikovsky?

Looks like you're heading in the right direction!

[wub]

Subconsciously imitating Tchaikovsky?

Looks like you're heading in the right direction!

[JTMMusicuk]

i did it once and realised id rewrote the 'drop' in a foreign beggars bro remix
does this make me a bad person?

[wub]

Not at all.

[e-motion]

Yes I did know the track before. My father used to play it a lot in his car during my early childhood because he mostly listens to classical music.

Well, 4 of the 5 notes were pure random jamming on my keyboard. The other (actually, the second note of tchaikovsky's one) I basically tried a lot and that was the one that fit better (now I understand why lol).

The thing is, the melody is not a rip-off... but the original is way better (obviously) :S but yeah, I think this one I'm gonna keep it because I think this needs a highly trained ear to get it (you don't hear part that has the same 5 notes unless you loop the melody, and since it has 16 bars, I guess I may not loop it hehehe) or someone who knows the song well (which I think most dubstepers don't).

[blinx]

lol i have caught my friends band playing a new song, which ended up being hotel california lol they didnt hear it until i pointed it out to them.


I usually refer to this as interpolation, regardless if its the right term or not, but i define it as someone references a well known melody on purpose, but in their own context/song (like when trey does the simpsons theme in the middle of a guitar solo) or when you run those five notes that sound similar but in your own way, like your almost paying honor to the past lol

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interpolation_(music)

[atticuh]

There is nothing completely original under the sun. All you can hope to do is leave your mark on what is already known.

[rymebox]

try and play around with melodies on a keyboard/piano instead of coming up with them in your head. I always find that coming up with original melodies in your head is way harder than playing them out for some reason.

[therapist]

Call it a remix. God knows the world needs more fat Tchaikovsky Dubstep remixes.

I remember doing this years ago with the melody from Tortured by Coki.

[ehbes]

Call it a remix. God knows the world needs more fat Tchaikovsky Dubstep remixes.

I remember doing this years ago with the melody from Tortured by Coki.

Your username will be forever confusing... Is therapist or the rapist?

[Alistairr]

i ran into a brick wall this evening on the melody front, so used an appregiator for my sax line turned out rather well:


Soundcloud


thus the moral of the story is never despair, there is always a way round ur issue