History Main / ArtisticLicenseMusic

* Jim from ''Series/TheAndyGriffithShow''. In his first appearance, he's a talented but struggling street performer playing a dirty archtop acoustic. His playing is clearly overdubbed over with an electric guitar (Andy, who plays a flattop Martin D18, isn't). While it wasn't uncommon for archtops of the era to include electric guitar pickups, Jim's guitar didn't, nor did he have an amplifier plugged into his instrument. Then after joining a touring rock band, he returns in a later episode, this time with a Fender Jaguar (a proper electric, and in fact Fender's top-of-the-line model at the time before it would be forever overshadowed by the Stratocaster). He's seen performing for the Taylors with his Jaguar, but still without an amp.

** Robbie Ray, like Music/BillyRayCyrus, is left-handed, and plays left-handed guitars. However, he has multiple Stratocasters often seen in the background that are right-handed. [[note]] However it is not unusual for left-handed guitarists to own right handed guitars.[[/note]]

* A unique sort of Artistic License comes up in ''{{Film/UHF}}'', which threw in the music video for "Money for Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies*". Mark Knopfler of Music/DireStraits only allowed the parody on the condition that he would play the lead guitar. Music/WeirdAlYankovic's usual guitarist, Jim West, had worked hard on perfectly imitating Knopfler's original performance; Knopfler himself did not. This is why, unusually for a Weird Al parody, the guitar part sounds quite different from the original song, especially noticeable in the opening riff.[[note]] It has been said that nobody plays that riff exactly like the recording, even Mark Knopfler. [[/note]]

** Robbie Ray, like Music/BillyRayCyrus, is left-handed, and plays left-handed guitars. However, he has multiple Stratocasters often seen in the background that are right-handed.

* In ''Film/GhostWorld'', the actor portraying the guitarist/singer of Blueshammer has never played guitar in his life.

* Creator/BruceCampbell recorded a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg6bZSM48vU&feature=related commercial for Old Spice]] where he's playing "[[Music/DuranDuran Hungry Like the Wolf]]" on a piano. About twenty seconds in, he lifts both his hands off the keys to point at his audience, while the piano keeps playing.

* In ''Series/HannahMontana'', Robbie Ray, like Music/BillyRayCyrus, is left-handed, and plays left-handed guitars. However, he has multiple Stratocasters often seen in the background that are right-handed.

* In ''Series/LegendsofTomorrow'', when Music/ElvisPresley plays in the church, the actor Luke Bilyk plays some unusual chords that are not what's being heard.

* In ''[[WesternAnimation/FrostyReturns Frosty Returns]]'', when Frosty reveals himself at the winter carnival, right before he sings “Let There Be Snow” he requests a trumpet player to give him a B-flat. But the trumpet player actually plays a G instead. Plus the song is really in G major.

* 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. The guitar tone heard would likewise have been basically impossible to produce using the guitar and amplifier shown. The guitar he borrowed from the band in 1955, did not exist until 1958. The specific version shown did not exist until years later.

When a author/artist/filmmaker/game designer/etc. tries to create a work featuring musical instruments or music as a plot point and they are not an experienced musician themselves, they will usually lack the knowledge necessary to correctly depict that instrument or how that instrument functions. To people not familiar with music, it doesn't bother them, likely because it's not relevant to the plot, but to musicians it's obvious. It also mostly applies to instrumental music, because not everyone knows the technical skills and what it looks like to play an instrument, and instruments can be easily substituted in on the soundtrack because of the uniformity of sound. Guitars sound much more like each other than voices do.

Generally a musical inaccuracy trope. When a author/artist/filmmaker/game designer/etc. tries to create a work featuring musical instruments or music as a plot point and they are not an experienced musician themselves, they will usually lack the knowledge necessary to correctly depict that instrument or how that instrument functions. To people not familiar with music, it doesn't bother them, likely because it's not relevant to the plot, but to musicians it's obvious. It also mostly applies to instrumental music, because not everyone knows the technical skills and what it looks like to play an instrument, and instruments can be easily substituted in on the soundtrack because of the uniformity of sound. Guitars sound much more like each other than voices do.

* 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 the director wouldn't let him mime his guitar part in the video, but he still wanted to be depicted playing ''something'', so this was the compromise.

* A unique sort of Artistic License comes up in ''{{Film/UHF}}'', which threw in the music video for "Money for Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies*". Mark Knopfler of Music/DireStraits only allowed the parody on the condition that he would play the lead guitar. Music/WeirdAlYankovic's usual guitarist, Jim West, had worked hard on perfectly imitating Knopfler's original performance; Knopfler himself did not. This is why, unusually for a Weird Al parody, the guitar part sounds quite different from the original song, especially noticeable in the opening riff.

* 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. The guitar tone heard would likewise have been basically impossible to produce using the guitar and amplifier shown.

This trope is much more likely to come into play if music is not the focus of the story, but a character is merely given an instrument to look cool. See ThePowerOfRock, InstrumentOfMurder, and MusicalAssassin where this can also become a problem because the instrument is more of a weapon than an instrument.

* On ''WesternAnimation/TheBeatles'' cartoon, this goes through the wringer due to its low budgets. As Music/{{John|Lennon}}, Music/{{Paul|McCartney}} and Music/{{George|Harrison}} play their stringed instruments, there are no guitar picks used. The strings and frets aren't even seen on many longs shots. In any recorded song where one Beatle is singing with overdubs, all four of them are shown singing ("Mr. Moonlight" is especially egregious--John's opening is coming out of Paul).

* On ''WesternAnimation/TheBeatles'' cartoon, this goes through the wringer due to its low budgets. As Music/{{John|Lennon}}, JMusic/{{Paul|McCartney}} and Music/{{George|Harrison}} play their stringed instruments, there are no guitar picks used. The strings and frets aren't even seen on many longs shots. In any recorded song where one Beatle is singing with overdubs, all four of them are shown singing ("Mr. Moonlight" is especially egregious--John's opening is coming out of Paul).

* On ''WesternAnimation/TheBeatles'' cartoon, this goes through the wringer due to its low budgets. As John, Paul and George play their stringed instruments, there are no guitar picks used. The strings and frets aren't even seen on many longs shots. In any recorded song where one Beatle is singing with overdubs, all four of them are shown singing ("Mr. Moonlight" is especially egregious--John's opening is coming out of Paul).

-->'''Jonah:''' That fiddle player in the back is the real talent. I mean, how's he getting all these sounds from one instrument?\\

* A unique sort of Artistic License comes up in ''{{Film/UHF}}'', which threw in the music video for "Money for Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies*". Mark Knopfler of Music/DireStraits only allowed the parody on the condition that he would play the lead guitar. Weird Al's usual guitarist, Jim West, had worked hard on perfectly imitating Knopfler's original performance; Knopfler himself did not. This is why, unusually for a Weird Al parody, the guitar part sounds quite different from the original song, especially noticeable in the opening riff.

* Creator/BruceCampbell recorded a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg6bZSM48vU&feature=related commercial for Old Spice]] where he's playing "Hungry Like the Wolf" on a piano. About twenty seconds in, he lifts both his hands off the keys to point at his audience, while the piano keeps playing.

Generally a musical inaccuracy trope. When a author/artist/filmmaker/game designer/etc. tries to create a work featuring musical instruments and they are not an experienced musician themselves, they will usually lack the knowledge necessary to correctly depict that instrument or how that instrument functions. To people not familiar with music, it doesn't bother them, likely because it's not relevant to the plot, but to musicians it's obvious. It also mostly applies to instrumental music, because not everyone knows the technical skills and what it looks like to play an instrument, and instruments can be easily substituted in on the soundtrack because of the uniformity of sound. Guitars sound much more like each other than voices do.

Generally a musical inaccuracy trope. To people not familiar with music, it doesn't bother them, likely because it's not relevant to the plot, but to musicians it's obvious. It also mostly applies to instrumental music, because not everyone knows the technical skills and what it looks like to play an instrument, and instruments can be easily substituted in on the soundtrack because of the uniformity of sound. Guitars sound much more like each other than voices do.

** Having an electric guitar sound like it's plugged into an amp when it clearly isn't.

See also MusicGenreDissonance. ImpracticalMusicalInstrumentSkills can overlap when it involves playing techniques that are impossible in real life. AllGuitarsAreStratocasters overlaps when instruments are portrayed with SmallReferencePools, which can create technical errors or anachronisms.

* ''VideoGame/{{Onmyoji}}'':