Is that based on a real Alabama song? I am writing a song based on that style and that "rock organ" part sounds really good. I have to change it a little not to infringe on PG Music's demo, but I also want to go listen to the original Alabama tune (if there is one), so that I am not (accidentally) plagiarizing something.

Thanks,

Kevin

Chord changes can't be copyrighted.

Melody and melodic hooks, certain riffs, that's a different story.

Write your song, then look into any possible infringements, rewrite only if deemed necessary afterwards.


--Mac

I started out using the demo song as a template. I changed the chords quite a bit here and there, so I am not worried about that too much. The part that I overlooked was the Rock organ "melody" during the verse part -- that didn't change (and I understand why). Now, I don't consider that part a melody, since the vocal melody line is different.

So my plan now is to not worry about it until the song is pretty much done. Then I will either go in and try and modify that BIAB "melody" section manually so it is different or have my wife just compose a whole new section (I've tried re-generating the melody, but it always sounds bad -- which leads me to believe that this part was actually composed by a real person). I don't mind if that part had an influence on my final vocal melody, I just don't want to plagiarize the PGM demo song on the rock organ part (which it seems that I have done).

I am having an impossible time modifying that line by hand, though. Maybe I'll just export the midi over to Cakewalk and see if it is easier to edit there.

Thanks,

Kevin