The greatest instrument Brian Wilson ever played: “From the time I was a little kid”
Brian Wilson will forever be known as one of the few pop musicians who lived and breathed music.
With every fibre of his being, Wilson was always thinking about how things could be turned into songs and how to document his feelings in his compositions, and listening to any Beach Boys record, you can practically hear the shape of his heart. A lot of those songs came from within, but he knew that some of the best players were the ones who helped turn everything into a reality.
A lot of what made Pet Sounds so iconic all came from Wilson’s beautiful mind, but what The Wrecking Crew did for him was beyond comparison. Hal Blaine was among the greatest drummers on the planet, but knowing how to play the song as he did is what made the opening snare crack of ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’ so satisfying, as well as the massive percussion stabs in the middle of ‘I’m Waiting for the Day’.
For the most part, Wilson practically saw the entire Wrecking Crew as one of the instruments in the band half the time. He could sit there and illustrate what he wanted everything to sound like, but no matter how many times he tried to arrange everything, he knew that it would be much more satisfying to get everyone in the room together and see when someone needed to drop out or when the bass needed to be boosted.
And for someone who was on the bottom of most Beach Boys records holding down the bass, it’s no surprise that he would eventually single out Carol Kaye for what she did for the instrument. She helped bring the sound of ‘Good Vibrations’ to life, but when talking about the greatest musical moments of his life, Wilson knew to keep it in the family when it came to the musical touchstones.
There had already been Carl and Dennis in the band, but even though his father Murray was a bit of a scoundrel behind the scenes, Wilson did have a fondness for going back to that piano. There’s an old adage that some instruments have songs in them, and when listening to that piano, all Wilson heard were the memories of writing the songs that touched everyone’s heart back in the day.
It certainly wasn’t the most expensive piano in the world or anything, but the mark it left on Wilson was invaluable, saying, “I was definitely born to sing, to be an artist. I mean, from the time I was a little kid, I was banging away on that piano we had in the living room. That was the piano that I wrote ‘Surfer Girl’ and ‘Be True to Your School’ on. That was the greatest piano I ever played.”
And it’s not like the world hasn’t thanked Wilson for stepping behind that piano back in the day. Those formative years of sitting in front of that keyboard and playing tunes may have been fun for a while, but judging by how many times he’s tapped into his creative consciousness and become lost behind his piano, there was a certain magic that came from Wilson playing those keys when he first began.
There are certainly other artists that have managed to fork over a hefty amount of money for the greatest equipment available, but Wilson knew that nothing could beat instruments that have the mojo in them. Because even if you recreated every single piece of equipment that went into making that piano back in the day, there’s no telling whether it would have moved Wilson’s heart in the same way.
