Has this ever happened to you?

[jaybones]

I stumbled upon The Needle and the Damage Done this way. Trying to write a song that sounded like Needle, and ended up figuring out most of it.

The C part where you skip some strings and do some hammer ons was what I came up with. Was playing it for my buddy, jamming, and he said "Sweet, when did you learn The Needle and the Damage Done?"

I said "No, I wrote this."

He pulled out his CD's and put it on. It was exactly the same, and I figured out the rest by ear.

Gave me a lack of confidence for a while, every time I thought I'd come up with something new, I would immediately wonder if I wasn't copying someone else, at least subconsciously.

Sort of Sam Smith and Tom Petty. Smith allegedly came up with the same progression as I Won't Back Down for his song Stay With Me.

And I believe Jimi said every melody has already been written. I just have to reach out and grab them.

[Brucebubs]

I was doodling in open E one day, came up with a couple of chords that sounded OK.
My wife in the next room called out instructions like, 'Now go up a bit, now down a bit, do that one again, then back down again.'
Pretty soon I ended up with a strange but clearly recognizable version of 'Blackbird' by The Beatles.

[zmf]

I've reinvented "Won't you come home Bill Bailey" twice, with different tempos, and "Everybody's looking for something" once.