Reply to MF Classic Project

I've decided to customize my midi fighter classic! I'm not exactly sure what I want to do with it yet, I'm believeing of simply adding more buttons to it, so that I can have dedicated bank buttons similar to the MF3D. I'll look around for some other ideas, and if theres anything cool you guys want to see, just say so!

My first step is to break ground on actually digging in and physically modifying my Midi Fighter, and I believe the "pulsing LED" mod is a good start. The DJTT instructional video is simple and straightforward, but I have a question! Is there any reason that the resistor and the LED have to be wired in series? I would like to streamline my circuit board, and was wondering if I could solder my resistor on one side, and my LED to the other, effectively in parallel to the two points in the center of the board? Thanks for any input!