jacobsladder

Hello folks, this is my first posting on here - and thought I'd give my thoughts on this story, which I only read about from the BBC's website earlier this evening. Basically, I think it'll all blow over - I don't doubt Satriani's ability as a guitarist (which is exceptional, it has to be said) and a composer, but I think he's a tad deluded if he thinks he's the only musician in the world who has come up with that melody. I think he'll look rather silly if it does end up going to court - when I first heard Viva La Vida, I thought to myself that it reminded me of another song...but unable to put my finger on what that song was...but so what? It's still a top song, whether it allegedly sounds like another song or not. I know some people have cited the the George Harrison/The Chiffons case earlier in the thread - the difference with that was that the actual construction of "My Sweet Lord" was extremely similar to "He's So Fine", even down to key changes and vocal arrangements, which probably led to the decision of plagiarism being evident in that case. I've heard the Satriani song - and yes, a section of the main guitar melody sounds like the vocal melody in VLV...and that's about it. The rest of the song doesn't bear too much similarity to VLV. It always amuses me when I hear accusations of plagiarism - after all, there are only 13 notes in an octave, and even allowing for pitch differences, there's bound to be a song SOMEWHERE in the world that sounds like a song SOMEWHERE else in the world. I'm a big death metal fan - I know that people who don't like that style or are unfamiliar with it think every song in that genre sounds like every other song. And the chances are that there are a large number of matches in that genre (let's face it, they all play in a minor key, and all use a handful of chords, so there's bound to be some musical "Snap" going on!). But there's never any accusation of plagiarism going on within that genre - basically because it's not worth it the effort. Oh by the way, a quick hello to the poster on here called Satchfan - good to see you're devoted to the Satch in such a big way, but do bear in mind that there are people in here who might not have heard Satriani before, and that there are people in here who think that Jonny Buckland is the best guitarist in the world in their opinion - after all, it IS a Coldplay forum! - and you coming on here trying to compare what, in guitar playing terms, is chalk and cheese, is - to be honest - a little bit pointless, and makes you look like you've drank a bottle of wine made from sour grapes. ;) Oh...and John Petrucci of Dream Theater is the best guitarist on the G3 tour!! :lol: