Has this been done already?

I just started writing this peice off an chord progression I came up with today, but it sounds oddly familiar. I am hoping that I am not writing something that has already been written. Please listen and let me know what you think.

Piano and orch.MUS

Piano and orch.MID

Just a quick question, what chord progressions haven't been used? :P

Just a quick question, what chord progressions haven't been used? :P

True that :p

but yeah, this sounds pretty familiar

The first gesture is a little like the signature progression in Burt Bacharach's "This Guys in Love with You" although don't be afraid to use it, as even Bacharach lifted it from eighteenth century music. I was rather surprised to find the same progression in a Hugo Distler work from 1940 recently -- no one copied him, as that piece had been sitting in a cabinet, unperformed, until 2004.

Don't be afraid of the familiar; your audiences will thank you for it. That said, the rhythmic profile of the string chords is a little too blocky and strident; you need to vary the rhythm and texture a little to keep it from falling flat. The second chord in measure 8 is rather awkward; you may want to opt for three voices rather than four. And I hope you plan to embellish that figure in the primo a bit more; the two half notes is a little too barren an answer to what you open with.

Uncle Dave

Thanks everyone! Especially Uncle Dave for your indepth input.

It doesn't sound like anything I have heard, but that is probably due to me not ever hearing anything that sounds like this piece.

I don't know much else to say

With the exception of that one harmonically jarring chord, the rest does sound fairly familiar (it's more obvious in the beginning). Nonetheless, I love it and you should absolutely keep it. As long as it stemmed from your own creativity, who cares who coincidentally wrote something similar in the past? There are no copyrights on harmonic progressions or melodies, and just about anyone can appreciate a good cover (and this is far less derivative than a blatant cover).

With the exception of that one harmonically jarring chord, the rest does sound fairly familiar (it's more obvious in the beginning). Nonetheless, I love it and you should absolutely keep it. As long as it stemmed from your own creativity, who cares who coincidentally wrote something similar in the past? There are no copyrights on harmonic progressions or melodies, and just about anyone can appreciate a good cover (and this is far less derivative than a blatant cover).

Wow thanks a lot! I will definatly keep it, and keep working on it!

Even if the chords sound familiar, no one can copyright a chord progression. If they do in fact exist, take it upon yourself to mold them into something 10 times better! By the way, those would sound AWESOME if you played around with different inversions.