You're Just What I Needed

I've often said that the divide between pro and amateur musicians lies in the number of notes that they play. The part that may surprise you is that the amateur plays too many notes. Far too many notes. Stick with me for a minute...

A professional musician often knows exactly what is needed in the moment, and finds a way to add a tasty part in the spaces between everyone else's notes. An amateur feels like they need to be filling up every second with as much sound as possible.

A professional musician understands how the various rhythmic functions exist in the song and chooses to operate in 1, or maybe 2 of those parts (main rhythm part, second voice/answer melody, stabs, pads). An amateur musician will overplay the main rhythm part regardless of what else is happening in the moment.

A pro will add and respond dynamically to the musical moment. An amateur may be oblivious to any sense of dynamics.

In most forms of music, and ESPECIALLY church music...The main thing the song needs is the vocal. We should give the vocalist what they need, and not much more.

So the question becomes...How do we grow in this area?

1. Listen to what the song or the moment needs BEFORE jumping into it.

2. There's an old saying that says "When in doubt, double or lay out". This means that if you aren't sure how to add anything interesting into the piece, double a part someone else is playing. A good example of a way to do this is to add your guitar to match another guitarist in the chorus to add some extra volume.

3. If you are a guitarist and the piano is covering the main rhythm part, try adding a line at the end of phrases as a second voice. Perhaps echo the melody that was just sung.

4. If you are a pianist and the guitarist is carrying the main rhythm function, try playing big whole note phrases over the changes. Maybe open 5ths to add as a pad function.

5. Don't be scared to lay out all together!

Sometimes as musicians we fear that if we lay out, people will fell like we aren't talented or the listener will judge us for not playing on a piece of music. Lets take a look at what we said earlier...

"In most forms of music, and ESPECIALLY church music...The main thing the song needs is the vocal. We should give the vocalist what they need, and not much more."

I am going to share a video example of this. It happens to be one of my favorite songs in the world. Adele does an amazing job with it on the Letterman show. Notice how the keyboard gives her everything she needs. We would all agree that Adele's guitarist and drummer could certainly play well into this song, but they SIT OUT and create a beautiful musical moment by contributing SILENCE. Notice how they don't look weird or out of place by taceting on this piece. They simply give this moment the space it needs.

Lets take a moment and allow the music to create moments for people. The rests we play give greater impact to the notes we play.

Until next time, lead well!