I agree with TBman and Bob Womack that there's no point in worrying about similar chord progressions. This is something you can't copyright - if you could, than "Louie Louie" and "Wild Thing" would not both exist, and nobody could legally write anything on the basic I IV V progression.
But what Lonnie described isn't quite the same, and it's been known to happen to a few respected recording artists too. Spending more time making your own music and less time listening to others on the radio can make this possible.
Even without that concern, there are still melodies which I KNOW I've heard before (maybe a B-side or album track from my father's turntable as a kid) and may never find the source. So I'm as much interested in satisfying my curiosity as playing safe.
Google found a sight called "Tune Finder" which can look up tunes by title or author, but has an option which I think can find the above information from a "perl pattern" which represents the tune. I don't know how difficult the "perl" language is to learn, nor if it's worth the trouble for this site, and then if this is what it seems to be, then why it wouldn't be made easier to use. Perhaps it's absurd to expect information on all songs which ever were recorded to be linked on one site, but then how many of them don't eventually get owned and catalogued by Polygram anyway? And if this site is what it seems to be, I just can't believe that tone-recognition is too high tech for a modern website (which I doubt this one is). Anyway, there must be a reason if what I want isn't out there.
Thanks for sharing your stories. Oh, by the way, I had such an experience happen way back when my noodling produced an EDCB progression, four beats in between with specific pentatonic notes on the second, third, and fourth beat, and I thought it was great until my dorm mate told me it was by a punk-edged girl-group called "The Bangles". Most young men don't knowingly aspire to imitate girl groups already past their prime, therefore it was awkward, but still I'll give credit where it's due.
Dave
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