Copyright Law Question

[DavMattBandrums]

i have been playing drums for a long time now and although i have played in many bands i still havent found one were our oringal pieces come out in the sound we want. so last year i sat down at a piano and just started writting and i have a good friend who has perfect pitch so id say "bom bom la la la" and she said "D F# C". anways the song that i wrote that is still very much a work in progress has a bassline with a halftime feel which i really like. well today i was listening to ''sugar will'' and there are some parts that are very close to being the same (the jam section) and actally some parts that are the same (after the sax vs piano breakdown) as the bassline i wrote. i doubt that fonzie came and listen to me practice and stole my line, so i have a feeling that if anyone is in trouble that someone is me.

does anyone know what the rule/law about something like this is?

[tdowe99]

I think as long as the melody is different you're fine.
Think about it... there are only 12 different notes in Western music's scale, so you might have a similar sounding piece.

A blatant rip-off? Well that's a different story, but I think you're in the clear.

[DavMattBandrums]

yea i thought so but i wanted to make sure.. the last band i want to mis-use is of course the dmb.

[dman0808]

... and actally some parts that are the same (after the sax vs piano breakdown) as the bassline i wrote. i doubt that fonzie came and listen to me practice and stole my line, so i have a feeling that if anyone is in trouble that someone is me.

does anyone know what the rule/law about something like this is?

as the above poster said, there are only 12 notes in western music...that's why you can't copyright just a bassline or simple guitar riff, you have to copyright a full piece of work.

[meadowlark]

you should visit www.copyright.gov or www.yahoo.com/Government/Law I think music and writing is under intellectual property
hope it helps

[1eyed_jack]

did you record it so we could listen to it?

[DavMattBandrums]

i suppose i could just record the parts in question really quick.. ill do that and maybe post them by tonight