Extracting chord progressions: a copyright issue?

G'day fellas,

A question I've been pondering on for a while has been: are there legal guidelines for extracting chord progressions from preexisting songs and using them in my own work? Is it similar to drawing on an entire melody? 

Thanks heaps!

13 hours ago, Quinn St. Mark said:

A question I've been pondering on for a while has been: are there legal guidelines for extracting chord progressions from preexisting songs and using them in my own work? Is it similar to drawing on an entire melody?

I think using the harmonic underpinning of a pre-existing composition as an under-drawing of a new composition is a common technique in variation technique - you can change basically all the other features of the music while keeping the harmony the same and make it totally unrecognizable from the original.  Also - as far as I know, you can't copyright a chord progression itself.  I could be wrong though - these things have been repeatedly contested in court.  Interesting question!

Peter

Hey @Quinn St. Mark,

I agree with Peter. I don't think anyone can claim a copyright for a chord progession since it should be some public knowledge but not privately owned by anyone. Also the creativity of a whole piece involves not only harmony, but many parts like melody, rhythm etc., and if other parts are not too similar with the original song I am sure your piece should be counted as an original piece as well. I sometimes quote passages from previously composers both consciously and unconsciously (with the main victim being Beethoven since he's my idol lol), but I think they are all fair use since they are integrated into my piece, rather than just copying.

Henry

Thanks a lot, @PeterthePapercomPoser and @Henry Ng Tsz Kiu for the clarification!