4 Folk Musicians Who Discovered Their Signature Sound By Accident

As many music lessons as you can take, sometimes the most iconic sounds come about accidentally. For example, the guitar feedback sound now associated with rock 'n' roll was a consequence of technical error. Many other artists have taken advantage of issues with their instruments and amplifiers, and even Frankensteined their playing techniques in order to make the most of what they had available to them –– sometimes to industry-changing results. However, these happy accidents aren't exclusive to a single genre –– the funk legend Larry Graham accidentally revolutionized bass guitar – and these four folk artists also stumbled upon their beloved sounds by rolling with the punches. 

Not all of these accidental discoveries are necessarily bred from a genuine misstep. Some are simply a result of circumstance (physical limitations, the equipment available, or trying to learn a new instrument without formal training), yet ended up being more consequential than anybody could have imagined. What these artists prove more than anything is that all you really need to become an impactful musician is to try. And after they pioneered their signature sound, these artists influenced and inspired generations of others, proving there is no truly right way to play an instrument.

Legendary folk rock band the Byrds earned their first No. 1 hit for covering Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" in 1965, and frontman Roger McGuinn may be indebted to one cautious engineer for altering the sound of his 12-string guitar. 

Just a year before, McGuinn and the other Byrds had been inspired by the Beatles' movie "A Hard Day's Night," in which George Harrison plays a 12-string Rickenbacker guitar, and McGuinn immediately set out to buy his own. He reportedly practiced for eight hours a day, incorporating banjo plucking techniques, sliders, and multiple scales. However, that didn't detract from how "thuddy" the Rickenbacker could sound –– the long sustain that developed into his "jangle pop" sound was actually accidental.

The Byrds were recording in Columbia's Studio A, but house engineer Ray Gerhardt reportedly didn't have any experience recording rock 'n' roll. In an attempt to protect his amplifiers from blowing out, Gerhardt had implemented tube compressors on all of the equipment. The resulting sustain on the guitar sounded so good, they used two tube compressors on the original recording of "Mr. Tambourine Man." As they couldn't quite replicate the same sound on stage, Rickenbacker built McGuinn his own custom model with a built-in compressor. What started as a simple security caution not only solidified McGuinn's place in folk rock history, but also inspired Peter Buck of R.E.M., Mike Campbell, and Tom Petty.

Joni Mitchell's unique approach to tuning her guitar has some pretty tragic roots. There were several hardships the folk legend Mitchell faced during her childhood in Alberta, Canada, one of which was contracting polio when the artist was 9 years old, which weakened her left hand. And while she'd discovered a talent for singing, Mitchell was determined to learn the guitar, and so she opted for open tunings on the guitar to ease the work on her left hand. That way, she could play a full chord with one strum and reduce the effort needed to work the fretboard. 

She even developed her own tuning language, eliminating the need for perfect pitch or a tuner by turning the bass string into a compass. Using standard tuning as an example, rather than marking it as E-A-D-G-B-E, she would notate it as E-55545. If you played the corresponding frets number from the lowest string, those would be your guide to tune the rest. By experimenting and finding new and unconventional combinations (she has a catalog of at least 50), she essentially developed her own soundscape.

The result can be seen and heard in songs such as her live rendition of "California" from 1970 on the dulcimer with her unique strumming pattern. The result becomes the full and expansive sound of her playing, which can swing from twinkling to subdued depending on how she strums. A strategy originally bred from necessity evidently came to define the body of her work for the better.

The life and legacy of folk and blues legend Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten should never be forgotten, and her unique, self-taught style was developed entirely by circumstance. Born in 1895, life as a Black woman in North Carolina came with its own set of limitations –– including the financial and familial restraints on whether or not she could become a musician. At 8 years old, she would sneak into her brother's bedroom while he was out of the house to experiment with his banjo. However, her left-handedness was incompatible with her brother's right-handed instruments. Rather than trying to train herself to play the instrument, she came up with a fairly simple solution: she would play the instrument upside down. 

She eventually saved up her money to buy her own guitar when she was just 11 years old, and a year later, wrote one of her most lasting hits, "Freight Train." This reversed the order of the strings and led to alternative and unique finger placements. Because she learned to play in such a specific way (later dubbed "Cotton Style"), the two-finger plucking method born out of necessity became a defining feature of her musical sound. Although her musical career only truly took off in the late 1950s, that initial innovation was part of what has truly set her apart from any other musician.

The '60s folk revival icon Doc Watson may be remembered for his innovative guitar flatpicking, but his technique was born to mimic an entirely different instrument. An eye infection had left him blind before he was 1 year old, but his musically inclined family still encouraged Watson to learn stringed instruments. This gave him the basics needed to learn the guitar in the early '30s while attending Morehead School for the Blind, and small gigs around town earned him the status of local celebrity. He joined the Country Gentlemen band in 1953, and while there was no shortage of gigs available to them, they did find themselves running into a particular hurdle: They often lacked a reliable fiddle player to play popular dance tunes. 

At the time, the acoustic guitar was relegated to rhythm because the lead melodies required a certain speed and deliberate finger placements to avoid a fuzzy sound, which was better suited to the fiddle. However, rather than learning how to play the fiddle himself, Watson developed a new flat-picking style on the electric guitar to mimic the speed and melody of the missing instrument. Finding it also worked exceptionally well with the acoustic guitar, the result was not only monumental to country and bluegrass music overall, but also gave him the perfect foundation for his folk rock pivot in the '60s.