History Main / ArtisticLicenseMusic

* In ''Series/CrazyExGirlfriend'', when Valencia strums the guitar and sings "Women Gotta Stick Together", there's a straight Type 1: Gabrielle Ruiz's right arm keeps perfect time but her left-hand fingers hold the same chord shape throughout the song. Averted in Greg's song "What'll It Be", where even if Santino Fontana didn't play the opening piano break on the recording, he mimed it perfectly.

* Among the many [[SoBadItsGood hilariously bad parts]] in Music/{{Journey}}'s infamous "Separate Ways" video is the [[https://youtu.be/LatorN4P9aA?t=183 instrumental bridge]], where between the acceptable break of a drum kit made of barrels and the guitarist doing his job well, the bassist only taps his instrument, and the keyboardist does a dismissive "slap" [[CameraAbuse towards the camera]], hitting all the keys along the way.

* Billy Squier's PerformanceVideo for "The Stroke" has him occasionally miming harmonica during instrumental sections, despite there not being a harmonica anywhere in the song. According to ''Series/PopUpVideo'', this was because he wasn't miming his guitar part in the video, but still wanted to be depicted playing ''something''.

* In the film ''Film/AmazingGrace'', there's a scene where William Wilberforce sings [[AmazingFreakingGrace the title song]] in a pub, using the familiar tune we all know. In fact, that tune wasn't paired with the text [[NewerThanTheyThink until the 19th century]], a couple hundred years after the events in the film. The original melody that would have been sung in Wilberforce's time is lost to history, so that's probably a {{justified}} case.

* While it is less obvious, in the climactic scene of ''Film/BackToTheFuture'', Marty is clearly not playing the guitar. it becomes painfully obvious during the solo. Years later, Michael J Fox really did learn Johnny B. Goode and performed it at an event.

** In ''[[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S10E02TheGirlInGoldBoots The Girl in Gold Boots]]'', when Critter sings and plays guitar, with an invisible harmonica accompanying: "I love the way you play the harmonica with your ass." The SOL crew get in on the act themselves in one host segment: Mike plays a sad acoustic guitar song until Crow interrupts to say he made nachos. Mike rushes off to grab some, and the song keeps playing without him.

* Mostly averted by Ralph Macchio in ''Crossroads (1986)'', due to the fact that Steve Fuckin' Vai (who plays the Devil's guitarist) coached him through it. But sharp-eyed guitarists can see several instances where he's off during the guitar showdown with said virtuoso.

* Mostly averted by Ralph Macchio in ''Crossroads (1986)'', due to the fact that Steve Fuckin' Vai (who plays the Devil) coached him through it. But sharp-eyed guitarists can see several instances where he's off during the guitar showdown with said Devil.

** Arbitrarily scaling musical instruments up or down in size and then having those scaled models sound just like normal-size instruments. In reality, the pitch of most instruments is proportional to their size. A gigantic guitar would't just be a very loud guitar; the notes that the strings could create would be of different pitches, because the strings would be of different length. (And if the instrument is too large or small, the resultant notes would be at pitches inaudible to the human ear.)

See also MusicGenreDissonance. ImpracticalMusicalInstrumentSkills can overlap when it involves playing techniques that are impossible in real life.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "Naughty Nautical Neighbors", Squidward's "Solitude in E Minor" is not in E minor. It is impossible to tell what key it is in, as there are only two notes (C and F, respectively). And when [=SpongeBob=] asks Squidward to "give him an A", he plays A sharp/B flat. In addition, [=SpongeBob=] claims the instrument he plays is a "bassinet", when really, it's a ''double bass''.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "Naughty Nautical Neighbors", Squidward's "Solitude in E Minor" is not in E minor. It is impossible to tell what key it is in, as there are only two notes (C and F, respectively). And when [=SpongeBob=] asks Squidward to "give him an A", he plays A sharp/B flat.

** Fletcher's treatment of Andrew is not something that a jazz teacher in a real school would inflict on a student, because the teacher would know perfectly well that he could get fired for it. [[spoiler:[[RealityEnsues This comes to bite him in the ass later on.]]]]

* ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'': Kaede Akamatsu, the Ultimate Pianist, is forced to play "Der Flohwalzer". The majority of the piece is played with black keys, but Kaede only presses white keys that are nowhere close to the keys used to play the piece.

* ''[[VideoGame/{{Onmyoji}} Onmyōji]]'':

[[folder:Visual Novel]]

[[folder:Theatre]]
* In performances of ''Theatre/YoureAGoodManCharlieBrown'', Schroeder's miniature piano is obviously fake, and an orchestra piano is what's actually playing; some of the notes aren't even possible on a piano the size of his. Toy pianos like Schroeder's generally can't play accidentals (sharps and flats). It's even pointed out in one [[ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}} comic strip]] that the black keys are just painted on. In ''A Charlie Brown Christmas'', his toy piano is versatile enough to sound like a classical piano and a pipe organ (RuleOfFunny is in full effect for the scene in question).
* The sound of Roger's acoustic guitar in ''Theatre/{{RENT}}'' is obviously an electric guitar being played offstage; he doesn't even strum the strings.
[[/folder]]

See also MusicGenreDissonance.

* Numerous music videos by Music/{{Queen}}, such as the videos for "Bohemian Rhapsody and "Somebody to Love", feature bassist John Deacon singing backing vocals with the rest of the band. However, in reality he was the only member of the band who did not sing on their studio albums, though he occasionally sang backing vocals in live performances.

* Numerous music videos by Music/Queen feature bassist John Deacon singing backing vocals with the rest of the band. However, in reality he was the only member of the band who did not sing on their studio albums, though he occasionally sang backing vocals in live performances.

* ''WesternAnimation/Shrek2'' has an example that takes liberties with the key of the music - during the scene where Shrek and his friends are StormingTheCastle with Mongo the giant gingerbread man, the Fairy Godmother sings "I Need a Hero" by Music/BonnieTyler. She asks for it to be played in C minor, and while this may have been the case in-universe, to viewers and listeners it is actually played in G minor.

* Clifford [=DeVoe=] from ''Series/TheFlash'' is supposed to be a genius in every field, including music, but he still gets hit with this a few times.