Origonality

Call me niave but i listen, play, and write guitar with a goal of one day becoming a lead guitarist in a successful band. Ive only been playing for 2 years but ive gotten damn good. Im also a bit of a music buff, i collect records, have around 200 albums on CD and have a good knowledge of pop/rock of the last 30 years. im only 19.

The problem is.. when i write sumin on guitar I become paranoid that its a copy of something else. For example i was messing around with Em, D/F# and G5. i came up with a simple but effectively phrased arpeggio run, what I thought would be a good intro or mid8 for a new song. i then thought it sounded too fimiliar, and right enuff, on a B-side to an aerosmith Single theres a track with dialogue over a piano. the piano is clearly playing arpeggios on Em, D and G!!
i in no way copied it but i cant be bothered writing the song now incase its good and people think i copied it!!

I do this all the time, think of a progression and suddenly realise its the same as "do they no its xmas" or "i aint no nice guy". Am worried that I no too much and that theres nothing i can come up with thats origonal. I steer clear of the obvious 3 chord trick but i still end up remembering a similar song.
I came up with this killer central riff from which i wrote other riffs and chorus to make a cool rock track. But now i get the feeling the riffs beat and range is similar to a drum bit off a guns n roses song- they both go daa di di daaaaaaaaa sorta thing (more intricate tho!)

I only just got my 4 track so im only really thinking of the basic progression and structure of the songs, but i feel i cant get off the mark unless i write some genre defining guitar re-inventing part like 'sweet child o mine' or, i duno, 'nothing else matters'.

Its so much harder for people of my generation to write as so many things have now been done. For example- A5- C5- D5-... its clearly Smoke on the water,!! but guns n roses did a song 'pretty tied up" and the first thing i thought of is "they must know that bit is similar!"

Maybe am too picky. this singer Robbie Williams (duno if u no him, hes famous in the UK) has a new song, Feel, n me n my pal thought of like 3 songs it was the same as!! Is this true of all songs?
Whats allowed!!!?

I bet that by doing simple chord progressions will in no way help you to compose something original. Just the combinations have been already been played.
And also depends what are your goals, if you want just to sell millions of albums and to show your ass off on the MTV or whatever awards you can play an A C D G song, maybe shift two of the chords for the chorus but that is not obligatory, especially if your name is Lenny Kravitz. ANd look cute, have a crazy hairstyle.
With other words you do not need to be creative in order to be famous.

Hey Axel, I had the same problem too and also thought the same way you did also. Truth is, nothing is original no matter what you do, someone before you has already done it. Especially if your using common chords like E, A, D, and G. There is an almost infinite number of songs with those chords mixed in them. About having any problems with people saying you copied it; as long as you don't copy the entire song there's no worry. Just have fun writting stuff, and don't be too critical on yourself. If you wanna be alittle more original, try different tunings on the guitar and play the same thing. I do that occasionally cause I find I come up with some neat stuff. Just don't kill yourself because your songs have the same chords as another. :D Have fun!

I tend to disagree with the idea that "it's all been done before".

If all you listen to is rock or pop or whatever then naturally everything you try to write will sound just like your influences.

Try listening to a form of music you'd never think of even touching with a 10-foot pole and take your rock mentality and apply it to this style. Guaranteed you will start thinking in new ways.

Take that chord progression that you think sounds like something else and put a different rhythm to it (i.e. funk it up).

Try combinations of effects pedals. A simple tremelo effect can render even the most familiar licks unrecognizable and start to sound like something new.

There's a million things that have yet to be done in music, just don't be afraid to step out of the familiar territory because of what someone else might say.

DivineSaga, I was generally talking about Chord progression. There's only so many combinations that can be done, and music is older than history itself so all of them have been done. There's nothing original about Em, D, G or any other chord progession you can come up with. The rest I agree with you.

Yes that's true that the most obvious chord progressions have been used, but there's a lot of chords that rarely get used and new ones that can be created just by approaching the guitar from a different angle (two-handed chords, harmonic chords, feedback chords, chords played with an e-bow, etc...).

Although I have to admit that just any combination of notes may not sound very pleasing to the ear. :)

That is true, you can approach the way you play a chord differently and come up with a new sound. In the the end, they are still chords. Just alittle more extreme in there range. Although they are correctly spelled differently, they can be broken back into a reasonable chord even the feedback and harmonic ones. An example would be a 11th chord is the same note in the chord as sus4 extension. The aural range is limited to 12 notes, so however many combinations you can make of those notes is the limit of chords. Then again like you said, alot are not very pleasant to the ear. :) The one's that are pleasant are used more commonly.

On a extra note, chords are not only played harmonically, but melodically too. So those little riffs in songs are based on chords too. Like this.

G#b5 Amaj6 G#b5
E:-------------------------------|
B:-------------------------------|
G:-------------------------------|
D:-6-6-6-6-6---------------6-----|
A:-5-5-5-5-5--9p7-9p7------5-----|
E:-4-4-4-4-4----------9-5--4-----|

Nobody can patten a chord progression. Songs are being ripped off all the time and it sounds in no way intentional for you to be ripping off these songs.

I think you will be fine. The music you are making will always come out different. Once you throw in a bass player and a vocalist and a drummer it gives everything its OWN sound which makes the uninqueness of the band.

If you wanted i'm sure you could expand your creativity...listen to a band like Dredg, they are extremely unique and creative.

Simple music works a lot too, bands like The Beatles or Coldplay all use pretty basic stuff but it still sounds unique and good. (To certain people)

Anyway...I admire that fact that you have that quality in you, if i write a song that sounds like another song i usually try to change it too. So i too have the same fetish in hopes i'll be extremely unique and admired someday ;).

Good luck. :)