Sting is thankful to The Beatles for opening the “floodgates for songwriters to have an attempt at writing songs”.
The Every Breath You Take singer’s touring guitarist Dominic Miller has released a songbook of 14 of the Fab Four’s tracks for classical guitar titled The Beatles arranged by Dominic Miller: Guitar Solo Songbook.
Miller has revealed that he and Sting, 74, have often discussed the music and career of The Beatles, and the former Police frontman believes that the compositions of Sir Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Sir Ringo Starr paved the way for British musicians who followed, like himself.
In an interview with Rick Beato on his YouTube channel, Miller said: “As Sting has often said, actually – and we talk about this sometimes – is that the Beatles, by doing those songs and coming up with those compositions, they kind of gave a license for everyone else to have a go.
“These guys from Liverpool, if they can do it, everyone should try, and so it opened the floodgates for a lot of songwriters to have an attempt at writing songs, which had never really happened before in England, like pop songs – verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge.”
From creating his songbook, Miller is convinced that The Beatles are one of the few acts whose music still sounds good when played badly.
He said: “So there’s a neighbour of ours about three or four doors down who’s probably a piano teacher, and they’re teaching this kid to play Bach, but it’s the most beautiful thing I could ever hear. So I look forward to that moment when they have their lesson, and I hear Bach played badly with no real tempo, but that’s the most beautiful thing that you can hear.
“And I think it’s the same for The Beatles. If someone were to play Michelle or Yesterday badly, the magic would still come through. So that was the biggest discovery for me – how indestructible this harmony is.
“Like Bach, I think the Beatles are one of the only composers that you can play badly, and it still sounds good.”