It‘s the rests what makes the groove!

Matthias recently published a blog post which really resonates with me. Starting from a musical point of view, he wrote about making space. Space is limited, so …

His initial example was about mixing music. Instead of making an instruments in a mix louder because it can't be heard sufficiently, it might be better to turn all the other ones a bit down. I would like to add that this approach is even more important when equalizers come into play to shape the sound of all the instruments (or voices). The audible frequency range is limited and every instrument needs to find its place within this range – and finally it’s place in the mix.

Perhaps you've had the opportunity to listen to individual tracks of a song mix. I am always amazed how limited they sound on their very own. Only when they're mixed together it’s that these puzzle pieces come together and produce a clear sound. If you would instead mix each instrument so that it sounds good on its own, the song would end up sounding muddy. If you are interested in music production, you will probably find plenty of videos on the web about this topic and a lot of great examples.

As Matthias states, this is true not only for music but also for other things in life.

Expressions such as “less is more” or “keep it simple” are well known. But taking it to an extrem is not what this is all about. Minimalism at any cost is not what is this about. It’s about removing all unnecessary things while keeping all the relevant stuff. But in the end it‘s probably a matter of taste, too.

I was fortunate enough to gain a very good musical education. As some of you know, I have a Bachelor degree in jazz/popular music. Back in the days at university we there was a big band. At one of their performances, it was my friend Johannes who played several solos with his incredible saxophone playing. After each song, the conductor (the very entertaining Ed Partyka) mentioned the soloists. And after Jo’s first solo he said something like: “Ladies and gentlemen, the man who performed this variety of notes on the saxophone – Johannes!” This made the audience laugh (in a friendly way), because the solo was indeed very virtuosic. But Johannes seized the opportunity and drastically reduced his second solo in one of the next songs. He played just a very few carefully selected notes and everybody knew that this was best response he could give and it was an amazing solo as well.

A few years later I saw Helge Schneider performing live with Jimmy Woode and Pete York. It was not one of his comedy shows but an awesome jazz concert. I remember him playing a one-finger-piano-solo in which he stretched his arm out as far as he could without falling off the piano stool. Every time when he moved his arm in slow motion back to the piano keys he pressed a single one with just one finger. It was amazing because the selection and the timing was incredible.

This is one of the many great musical advices my (bass) teacher gave me back then. And it instantly came to my mind while reading Matthias’ blog post. Especially a bass player, who teams up with the drummer to build the foundation of the band, needs to take care of the groove. The rhythm section is the part of the group which lets the soloist shine. And it‘s not about playing as many notes as possible …

So. True.

• Making Space (Matthias Ott)
• Ed Partyka (Wikipedia DE)
• Ralf Cetto (Wikipedia DE)