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Could I Be Done For Plagiarism?


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Old 12-11-2010, 20:42
CABLEDUDE
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I've written a song and I didn't realise until afterwards I'd used almost all the chords to Wonderwall subconsciously, but it sounds nothing like it, and the melody I'd sing would be different, and some of the chords are in a different order, etc

Hypothetically, could I potentially be done for plagiarism with this?

If so, would the Gallagher brothers punch me
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Old 12-11-2010, 20:43
youjustburnkid
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If it doesn't sound anything like it then I don't think you would
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Old 12-11-2010, 20:49
CABLEDUDE
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Well my song goes:

G, G6, Dsus4, A7sus4, D

And Wonderwall goes with a capo on the 2nd fret:

G6, G, Dsus4, A7sus4

I don't use a capo for a start, and play with a different beat.
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Old 12-11-2010, 22:08
Capablanca
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If the melody is different you'll be fine. Plus Noel isn't exactly guilt free when it comes to a spot of plagiarism.
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Old 12-11-2010, 22:15
reishun
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boulevard of broken dreams is pretty similar to wonderwall in that respect, moreso than your song and although noel bitched about it no lawsuit ever came of it.
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Old 12-11-2010, 22:27
Randy Gibbons
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Well my song goes:

G, G6, Dsus4, A7sus4, D

And Wonderwall goes with a capo on the 2nd fret:

G6, G, Dsus4, A7sus4

I don't use a capo for a start, and play with a different beat.
I might be misunderstanding here, but if you're playing G, G6etc shape, but with a capo, then you're playing different chords: G is not G, but two steps higher - an A, and so on. Ergo - you're playing different chords and you're in a different key. Although I'm no expert, my opinion is you're home free and laughing.

At a much more prosaic level, you're not likely to have any trouble unless you have a monster hit with it - "where there's a hit, there's a writ" - in which case, good luck.
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Old 12-11-2010, 23:21
CABLEDUDE
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boulevard of broken dreams is pretty similar to wonderwall in that respect, moreso than your song and although noel bitched about it no lawsuit ever came of it.
Oddly enough when I was writing mine I kept thinking this sounds a bit like Green Day
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Old 13-11-2010, 00:53
Blavatsky
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A chord progression can never be copyrighted otherwise Status Quo and the Beatles would have benn sued off the planet.
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Old 13-11-2010, 01:24
Lab
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Well my song goes:

G, G6, Dsus4, A7sus4, D

And Wonderwall goes with a capo on the 2nd fret:

G6, G, Dsus4, A7sus4

I don't use a capo for a start, and play with a different beat.
By Noel Gallagher's own admission in a really old interview he doesn't know himself what the names are of the chords he plays, so no problem. Apparently Aimee Mann congratulated him on the use of an obscure chord or chord change and he said "I don't know what I'm playing, I just put my fingers on the strings and try to make a nice sound", or something similar. Nothing to worry about.

Besides, as others have said, Noel wasn't above a spot of borrowing himself. Even the title 'Wonderwall' comes from a George Harrison song.
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Old 13-11-2010, 01:44
PerfectPeter
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By Noel Gallagher's own admission in a really old interview he doesn't know himself what the names are of the chords he plays, so no problem. Apparently Aimee Mann congratulated him on the use of an obscure chord or chord change and he said "I don't know what I'm playing, I just put my fingers on the strings and try to make a nice sound", or something similar. Nothing to worry about.

Besides, as others have said, Noel wasn't above a spot of borrowing himself. Even the title 'Wonderwall' comes from a George Harrison song.
Yeah Wonderwall Music.
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Old 13-11-2010, 16:30
CABLEDUDE
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Yeah Wonderwall Music.
I think it was an album of all sound effecty stuff for an Indian film, anyway as you all said he wasn't averse to a bit of pilfering himself.
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Old 13-11-2010, 22:31
goodtimegirl
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Think of something like 12 bar blues, which is a standard and well used set of chord progressions - tons of songs have been written using this progression so, no, duplicating chord progressions is definitely not a problem. Only if the melody is too similar might there be an issue. There again, Andrew Lloyd Webber successfully won his case by claimimg that there are only so many note and phrase combinations available, before you inevitably duplicate somewhere or other.
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