Is this some song you've heard before?

This is one set of chords I thought of, and was wondering if it was directly a ripoff of another song:

G D A Bm (Strummed as barre chords)

G D A

G D A Bm

G D F#

Also:

C D B7 Em (open chords)

Is that second one anything anybody recognizes?

I've never understood questions like this. Depending on how these chords are played (rhythm, dynamics, etc.), they could sound like a million different songs. Quite possibly like something that's already been recorded. IMO it's pretty impossible to do this without something to listen to.

If this were really as important a question as some around here seem to want to make it, then Chuck Berry and Carl Perkins would have had to be considered plagiarists of the work of T-Bone Walker, Robert Johnson, and Willie Dixon. The chord progression a song is based on is the least considered factor when looking at whether or not a song is an original idea. What got George Harrison in trouble on "My Sweet Lord" wasn't the chords, it was the melody. If he had sung a different tune over the same chords, nobody would have ever thought anything of it.

I've been on this forum for about three days (usually I hang out in recording) and I still don't know what to make of it. It's the oddest thing. The forum is called "Songwriting" but everyone seems to think that term applies to lyrics or chord progressions. Huh?

I like the sticky where people post their MP3s. I'm just so amused and confused to read all the threads here, because to me a song is everything altogether. I guess I don't think of a song being a song until it is performed or recorded, you know?

So reading all these threads, I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone. For instance, folks ask for a critique of their lyrics without having the rest of the song there. It's like being on a carbuilding forum and everyone is saying "Is this bumper going to make my car the best car?" or "How about this new axle? Will that make my car better?" Well, sure those things can help, but what kind of car are you putting these parts into?

After being here the last few days, though, I am starting to think of the melody and lyrics as the most important part of a song. At least, it sounds like that's the case legally. Very interesting!

Yeah, I often think the same thing. What I tell myself is that people post their lyrics because they're having trouble and want suggestions. I don't know if that's true or not. Your point is absolutely valid.

that's the way I look at it. I understand where you're coming from mmmiddle, but it's like someone on the recording forum asking about mic technique. It's just a part of the whole but it can be addressed separately.

Good point. I'd like to see more critiques of songs I know so I have some basis for comparison, just because it seems to me that some songs I like have stupid lyrics, but they sound cool just because of the way they are arranged.