Ever write a riff...

[JCM800SD1]

and think it’s awesome and your thinking how cool it’s going to be with the band or on your tracks?

Then you hop in the car and crank up your band of the month and realize you innocently and subliminally jacked one of their riffs?

I hate that. Drawing board...I am coming back to thee.

[GuitarBilly]

yes, I've done that many times. It sucks

Trying playing it backwards. Sometimes it works.

[K-Bizzle]

More times than I can count.
So Fucking annoying.

Now I just do it intentionally and steel one songs rhythm and anothers vibe and scale.

[MacaroniSalad]

I know a guy who would give his songs working titles of the bands he ripped off.

[skybluegary]

I once had someone offer me a song "he'd written," he then proceeded to play it; exact words and chords of an existing song.

[linthat22]

I remember digging on a ruff that I thought I wrote and come to find out (3 years later) that I ripped off an Iron Maiden riff.

[Pepi]

This was when I realized I sucked

[K-Bizzle]

I once had someone offer me a song "he'd written," he then proceeded to play it; exact words and chords of an existing song.

Eeeeeeeeeevvvvvvrrrryyyyy rooooossssseeee has its thorrrrrnnnsss

[nightflameauto]

This covers about 98% of all the stuff I've written over the years. My favorite is when you finish recording the entire song, thinking it's super bad-ass and has a really cool vibe to it, then sometime over the next few days you play an album you haven't listened to in a couple years and hear the exactly same song. I did that twice in the past couple years. That's a and then some.

[Ostinato Rubato]

This is us.

Just remember that chord progressions and arpeggios can't be copywritten. Steal at will. But yeah riffs are tricky because they usually have melodic movement that might be a copyright issue. But if it's straightforward chords it's on the table. Even the exact rhythm.

If you just finished writing the best riff in the world that already existed, just make a small adjustment like adding a pickup note and call it your own. I learned that trick from Vanilla Ice.

[Steinmetzify]

Did this the other night; was trading shit back and forth with a buddy because we both got Oranges recently. Sent him a clip and said I dug it, he sent me back a YT vid of Clutch and laughed his ass off at me.

[itchyfingers]

I think it's ok to cop a portion of a riff or slightly alter something that you love that naturally comes out in your playing. They're your influences, it's only natural that you're going to sound like them. I also find that crowds love it when you tease a riff from a famous song that works over the progression that you "wrote" with your band.

[nightflameauto]

I think it's ok to cop a portion of a riff or slightly alter something that you love that naturally comes out in your playing. They're your influences, it's only natural that you're going to sound like them. I also find that crowds love it when you tease a riff from a famous song that works over the progression that you "wrote" with your band.

See 101 Proof from Pantera. When Dime breaks into Cat Scratch Fever in the middle of Cowboys from Hell the crowd goes ballistic.

Believer used to break out into the Munsters theme in the middle of a tune when they played live too. That was a crowd pleaser.

[ajaxlepinski]

When recording and composing new songs, a lot of pro producers and well known bands will create a new track and import a song (written by someone else) that they want to mimic.
This is done more often than we may think.

Half of the Sex Pistols songs were based on ABBA riffs.

[itchyfingers]

Not surprised the Sex Pistols couldn't write their own songs. Sheeiit, they couldn't even play their own songs.

[ajaxlepinski]

Not surprised the Sex Pistols couldn't write their own songs. Sheeiit, they couldn't even play their own songs.

True that! Chris Spedding played most of the guitar parts and all the leads.

[itchyfingers]

Leather jacket + SG + punk = Ajax Approved!

[Beef]

Was thinking about this thread today. I was mucking around with this melody it sounded real nice, there was some potential there and then I realized it's basically the melody to Hallelujah.

[itchyfingers]

You were right all along Beef, that is a beautiful melody!

[Beef]

That is true. I just didn't write it.

[itchyfingers]

Pfft, insignificant detail...

[Ostinato Rubato]

You were right all along Beef, that is a beautiful melody!

I cried just thinking about it.

[ajaxlepinski]

You guys talking about this one?
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRP8d7hhpoQ[/youtube]

[itchyfingers]

^Wow. I didn't know singing could sould so pretentious.

I prefer this version...

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YjbJTS5C_I[/youtube]

[nightflameauto]

DON'T DISS THE PENTATONIX!

They're pretty badass with some of their cover tunes. Honestly though, I'm not a fan of how they did Halleluiah.