Happy Accidentals
Sometimes Wrong Notes Are the Right Ones
There are so many structures and rules in music theory we are expected to adhere to that our songs and compositions can become almost too technical or predictable. Anyone who had formal music training was required to do scale exercises. Tirelessly, running their fingers over a sequence of notes to achieve precision and speed for those particular musical scales. These exercises strengthen muscle memory and solidify musical concepts in our brains but can also limit our creative potential.
There is No Sonic Law
There are no music police unless, of course, you are Sting. You cannot be arrested for missing a rest note and coming in too early. Sometimes, being out of turn can take a composition in a new musical direction that was unintentional. It can lead to a bridge you didn’t think your chorus needed or a sick solo. Don’t be afraid to break the laws of sound because if nobody had in history, we would only have classical chamber music and not the numberless genres we have today. These musical pioneers created something new and unheard of through mistakes or experimentation.
Rollover Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven, one of the most esteemed composers and pianists to ever have lived, became increasingly deaf over his lifetime. In his late period, when he had lost most of his hearing, he still composed six symphonies and five piano sonatas. At the premiere of his Ninth Symphony in 1824, Beethoven had to be turned around to face the audience. He was unaware of the applause due to his deafness. Beethoven is an example of someone who worked around a limitation and still created beautiful music. Imagine all the mistakes he made while transcribing those symphonies and sonatas, all while mostly deafened.
Overdrive a Hard Bargain
A Western Swing guitarist named Junior Barnard was one of the first players who accidentally discovered overdrive through his aggressive plucking style and pushing tube and valve amps past their limit. Around 1947, Leo Fender, founder of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, installed an additional pickup to Barnard’s Epiphone Emperor guitar. The added pickup allowed him to play through two amplifiers simultaneously and achieve an even grittier sound that others wanted to imitate. A few years later, in 1951, distortion and the birth of rock and roll by Ike Turner’s Kings of Rhythm was again accidental. On the way to the recording session of “Rocket 88” with Sam Phillips, it is rumored guitarist Willie Kizart’s amp was damaged when it fell from the trunk of the car while the band was changing a flat tire. The amplifier was stuffed with waded newspapers to hold the speaker cone in place, which resulted in the distorted sound that producer Sam Phillips became fascinated with and wanted to keep on the record.
Wah Happened?
The iconic Cry Baby wah pedal was another accidental invention in music. It was discovered by Brad Plukett while working on a more affordable version of the 1966 Vox Super Beatle amplifier. Plunkett was trying to replace the expensive mid-range boost switch with a cheaper potentiometer knob from an organ. Plunkett turned the knob while a guitarist tested it, and thus the Cry Baby was born. Countless artists have used it now to good effect. One example is the whale effect on the song “Echoes” by Pink Floyd. It was serendipitously stumbled upon when David Gilmour’s roadie accidentally plugged his guitar into the output of the pedal and the input into the amp.
Improve Improv
If you’re not a person who can think on your feet, you should strive to improve your improvisational skills. Sometimes, what comes from the top of your head also comes straight from your heart. In the Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers song, “Even the Losers,” Tom Petty did just that. Despite not knowing what to sing for the chorus, Petty decided to go ahead and record the song anyway. The lyric suddenly came to him by what he claimed was “divine intervention.” Sometimes, necessity is the mother of invention. “Sweet Child o’ Mine” is another song born from improvisation. Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash and drummer Steven Adler were jamming before a rehearsal one day. Slash jokingly played a circus-inspired riff. Unknown to them, singer Axl Rose was above the practice room, busy writing lyrics to go along with it. What was supposed to be a little warm-up exercise became a number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100.
Take Five and Learn from Your Mistakes
Obviously, not all mistakes in music end up being good, but we can still use them as learning experiences. Jazz legend Miles Davis said, “Do not fear mistakes. There are none.” He meant that mistakes are an inevitable part of music and not to be feared because they aren’t mistakes if we learn something from them. Jimmy Hendrix once said, “I’ve been imitated so well I’ve heard people copy my mistakes.” What legendary guitarist Jimmy Hendrix clearly thought were mistakes, others considered pure genius and wanted to imitate. Sometimes, sheer brilliance can come from mistakes, but brilliant people use them to their advantage and improve upon them. On that note, don’t be afraid to go out and have some happy little accidentals.
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