If you can spare 5 minutes for some musical pleasure, press play and sit back and enjoy.
If you’re itching to “get to the point” then move the cursor straight to the 1 minute 15 second mark and start there?. and enjoy Eric “Slowhand” Clapton’s guitar solo:
I have no doubt that Eric Clapton can shred guitar as blisteringly fast as almost anyone else. But there’s a reason they call him “Slowhand.”
Just because you can play a million miles an hour doesn’t mean you should. Doesn’t mean that makes for the most satisfying musical experience.
What I’d like you to listen to in this video is the s-p-a-c-e between the notes. Never too much, never too little. Sometimes fast, sometimes slow. Just the right pace, the right notes hypnotically strung together. The song rolls forward unstoppably like a steamroller.
Eric Clapton has no need to prove anything to anybody. He’s got the mojo and everyone knows it.
That’s the mark of a master artist.
It’s also the mark of a prevailing business strategist. Because business isn’t just money and goods. Business is art, too.
Yes, of course there is an element of relentless determination, but it’s quiet determination. It’s not frenetic. It’s not about running as fast as you can as hard as you can every minute of the day.
It’s about hearing the space between the notes, and making every note count.
There is a sense of deliberate precision and measured intent to everything you do. You don’t slavishly react to everything that shows up in the email box. There’s a lot of things you say no to.
You set aside time to think and plan. Like John Reese says, your most productive time isn’t spent in front of your computer. It’s spent in a quiet corner with a yellow pad of paper and an evolving plan.
And every move, every tactic, every strategy begins to have a sense of purpose and definition. People begin to take notice as they see that you plan your work and work your plan and nothing deters you. In time you engineer your own transformation from “business guy” or “business gal” to respected artist and master.
Bonus for music geeks: My blog post today was inspired by watching percussionist Gavin Harrison (a true master in his own right) at Porcupine Tree’s Chicago show this past Friday night. It was “space between the notes” par excellence. In this interview, Gavin explains the difference between creating art and rehearsing technique.
If you’re on the path to business artistry you’ll see parallels between the art of marketing and everything he says about music.
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About the Author
Perry Marshall has launched two revolutions in sales and marketing. In Pay-Per-Click advertising, he pioneered best practices and wrote the world's best selling book on Google advertising. And he's driven the 80/20 Principle deeper than any other author, creating a new movement in business.
He is referenced across the Internet and by Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, INC and Forbes Magazine.
33 Comments on “The Space Between the Notes”
Perry I love your work…I agree Clapton is an unparallelled genius and it’s great to see his technical wizardry spreading *virally* online to new fans. Thanx for the lessons.
Hmmm. That’s what my cello teacher used to say – back in the day when I was learning to play. ‘Make every note a pearl, and every rest a diamond.’
Used to drive me crazy, but, as it happens, he was right.
Thanks Perry!
Clapton is a true technician on the guitar and a heck of a song writer to boot. He has mastered his instrument. But there are more “soulful” guitarists who nail not only the spaces between, but also bend and color the notes as they come out. Have you ever seen the “duel” between Clapton and Robbie Robertson on The Last Waltz? Both absolutely amazing guitarists with completely different styles. It’s cool.
Hey Perry,
Yeah pretty cool stuff indeed! If people that have mastered the ‘less is more’ in music fascinate you, you should definitely check out Jeff Beck’s “Live at Ronnie Scott’s”. For several reasons. Not only that the music is great – the DVD also contains interviews with his band mates – this video is a must for any aspiring drummer. Serious. Vinnie (Colaiuta) is a study in itself.
And of course Eric also has a guest appearance!
M
I shall check it out!
Just watched it. GREAT show!
Wow… Maybe I AM on the right track :-) This is exactly what I’ve been saying for years. Business IS an art form. The very tag line on my blog reads “integrating design, art and business into internet marketing and social media practices”. I’ve worked in the entertainment industry for 22 years and you NAILED IT.
Perry I love reading your stuff because you are on a different intellectual plain than most in the industry.
I have recently started in this arena and determined to succeed writing the riff of a hit song and the guitar solo of my life ;-)
b
Just a comment on the music: Eric might be “slowhand”, but there’s not much space between the notes with this band. It’s clogged solid with sound, and Eric is playing as fast as I’ve probably heard him. (I haven’t really listened to him since his bluesy glory days.)
Have a listen to Warren Haynes (Gov’t Mule and Allman Bros) who has lots of feeling and can be very restrained, sometimes holding a single note for several bars. Also listen to Chris Whitley (who I just now noticed that Bill mentioned above) who alone could convey bucket-loads of emotion and power that most musicians would need a whole band to convey, and often with only a few notes (though I’m sure he was able fit more notes into a bar than Eric could).
Thanks for sharing, and listening, Perry!
I just love this analogy. Jeff Hamilton is another great drummer. Master of the brushes. I admire the guys who play on a small kit and make it count. Less is more. I certainly see the carry over in marketing and in life. Thanks a million, Perry.
This was an AWESOME post Perry…
I’m a musician and this theory, this thought
can be directly correlated to business, just
like you say it!
Trying to play all the notes all the time every
single waking moment will destroy your business.
Breathe… Relax… Enjoy the process… and your
business will explode on it’s own.
Very creative post Perry, thx for the value!
Brian Fanale
http://BrianFanale.com
Hi Perry,
Really enjoyed this topic since it hits home for me.
I’m often reminded of something I heard Harlen Kilstein say last year about moving your customer through your sales process elegantly.
I think less than 10% do that.
I agree that’s the most shredded solo from Clapton I’ve heard him do.
I also love Jeff Beck’s playing because he puts notes precisely where no one else would dare & he leaves space where everyone else’s ego would panic them into playing pointless notes.
Can also add Yes’ Trevor Rabin into that mix of brilliant listeners who play guitar.
Thanks for creating the space for this conversation~
Michael
SO many lessons – I nearly scrolled over the last interview but as amazing as the Eric clip was the second clip had all the lessons – Simple and Elegant vs Fast and Furious and using your thoughts to play drums WOW!! None of the drummers I knew ever did that :-) and yep in business the magic sure does happen between the gaps and I’m going to focus more on the gaps now. Thanks so much for this post Perry – you always provide such great value but this has been my personal favourite and that guy on Hammond B3 made my day! Another great lesson – a solid gifted team behind you in business brings out the real thing. Do you know who was in the band?
I only know Clapton’s drummer, who’s Steve Gadd. Gavin talks about him in some of his Youtube interviews. Gadd is the #1 session drummer in the Western world, I think – played with Steeli Dan, Ray Charles, Paul Simon, Buddy Rich’s band, Rickie Lee Jones, George Benson, big long list. http://www.drstevegadd.com/discography.htm
Maybe a corollary to this is the not to use too many notes. I have been listening to the late genius Chris Whitley on dobro, and how he milks each note for all it’s worth – with no backup band needed.
When I was younger, I was all over the place on guitar. And as I got older I started concentrating more on each note. Bending it, varying the timber, pitch and volume. There is really an extraordinary range of sounds that can come from just one spot on the fretboard. And working on each note that way really brings the listener into the music, whereas just flying around the fretboard will have non-musicians saying “Wow, what a great player.” Though the sound will disappear from their thoughts a second after they hear it.
All those different notes are like marketing techniques, where beginners jump from one to another and try to throw the whole arsenal at each project. Better to choose one, and keep working at it to what new twists you can give it.
Eric Clapton has surrounded himself with other world-class musicians and that is part of our challenge as well. Getting good isn’t good enough. We gotta get good in a context of others, otherwise we get drained, detained and restrained until there’s nothing left of us. Finding the right group at the right time is a big part of success.
Loved Gavin’s interview, thanks for sharing.
He says the same about Jansen (Japan, one of my favourite 80’s bands) that I’ve always felt about Bill Bruford – “he puts notes where no-one else thinks of”.
Perry I hold you in high esteem… and yet you’ve moved up a notch simply by acknowledging your awareness of Porcupine Tree.
Thanx for the lessons.
PT is one of my faves. Brilliant compositions, and Gav is truly a world-class musician. Good teacher too, as it turns out!
Well, I would agree with the point of your blog post. But upon viewing the video I must say that this is probably the most ‘shredding’ rip-it-up solos I’ve heard from Clapton. He’s freakin’ screamin’ on here and I didn’t find much space between all of those notes. Damn.
Confession: There were some more laid back versions on Youtube but none of them had an “embed” link that was allowed. So this one, from a guitar fest, was the best I could do. Still 1/3 the speed of other guys I like, like say John Petrucci.
I still like JJ Cale’s version the best:) Miles Davis is another “space between the notes” kinda player that really showed the beauty in the “less is more” approach.
Perry,
You have such a knack of finding gems in the sand pit.
The interview with Gavin has such a punchline! Wow!
Musicians should listen to their own music!
So obvious really but do we all do it?
I mean, who proof reads every comment they make?
Which internet marketers buy and use their own product?
and worst of all – How many affiliate marketers recommend products they haven’t used, or even looked at?
Thanks Perry for the amazing revelation. I’m getting offline right now and going to buy a yellow pad :D
Great reminder. Sometimes we are rushing around too much to take the time to appreciate the space between the notes. This is a knack that I believe takes time and experience to develop. In the beginning, as Gavin Harrison points out, we are learning the techniques and are brains are on hold while we master those. But the time comes when we need to engage our brain and add our own personality and unique spin, rather than simply repeat and bore both ourselves and those we are reaching out to.
Gavin’s video reminded me of a quote of Orville Wright’s
“Isn’t it astonishing that all these secrets have been preserved for so many years just so that we could discover them!”
Their competitors had all focused on brute force to make an airplane fly – the Wright’s were about finesse and the “s-p-a-c-e-b-e-t-w-e-e-n-t-h-e-t-e-s-t-i-n-g”
Ahhhh, just what was needed for a Monday morning Perry.
This is where Zen intersects with tangible results.
More ‘Space Between The Notes’ Hall Of Fame members:
B B King
Stewart Copeland
Jimmy Cobb Band: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x91QlOB4iZ0
David Gilmour circa 2006: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=David+Gilmour+Royal+Albert+Hall+Sun+Numb
David simply has no co-ordination for playing fast, and B.B. claims he doesn’t know a single chord… masters of their niches & their art, all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cqh54rSzheg
Even slower then. 40 years or so ago.
A lot of good stuff in that second video.
-Keep your brain active. Once you have the fundamentals, work on your brain.
-Simple innovation is the most effective and striking.
-Inexperienced practitioners misuse the fundamentals. They understand each in isolation, but not how they integrate to achieve their full potential.
-“How can I get other emotions from this instrument?”
In what other ways can I use my everyday tools to achieve different or more appropriate results?
-The most important thing is to hit the sweet spot. Focus on that, rather than extraneous details that whisper.
-“You can have powerful effect with no technique.”
Match the right “list” to the right “offer” and you can write in broken English and have a success. A grand strategy that can be executed by sloppy technicians wins (McDonalds).
-Your goal is a unique message about your product delivered with a simple elegance. What is simple elegance? Conveying your message with full effect immediately with no thought required by the receiver.
If you’re not getting this kind of stuff from watching these videos, you’re wasting your time.
Perry,
Another way I look at this is that the BEST internet marketing home businesses aren’t necessarily the big flashy stuff. You know…trying to reach “guru-hood.”
It’s the quiet, unassuming businesses that are as simple, automatic, repetitive and consistent as it can be that generate just as consistent incomes.
But of course everyone has different goals. Some people want to change the world and affect thousands of lives. To do that sometimes, you DO NEED to reach guruhood.
But…
Slow is sometimes better than fast.
Quiet is sometimes better than loud.
Simple is sometimes better than complex.
Short is sometimes better than long.
“Just enough” is sometimes better than too much.
Thanks for reminding us all of this.
All the best.
David Frey
Is it just me, or does Eric look somewhat similar to Ken McCarthy in this slightly blurry video footage? :-)
Has Ken been hiding a secret life from us??? :-)
Eran
This is interesting. I can add to the music analogy.
As it turns out, I finally got bored with rock, with blues, country, etc. All that stuff I was immersed in during the 70s, 80s, 90s.
Now, I’m immersed in electronica.
It’s *extremely* rich. But it’s different. Frankly, too different for most people my age (late 40s).
It turns out that really good trance DJs (trance is a genre of electronica, relatively high energy dance music) can control a dance floor way better than *any* live band I’ve ever heard. Good DJs can build the tension incredibly high, then *pow* release it instantly. What’s cool about it is that when you can count the beat, you can anticipate the release. It’s pretty incredible.
It’s that fast/slow thing.
It’s knowing how to pace and lead.
It’s almost like really good sales copy that brings the reader through ebbs and flows, so that by the time the offer rolls around, people are lining up to buy.
Thanks Perry for posting. Eric is one of the great ones. The whole piece is worth listening to. That is an outstanding group backing him up.
John Deck
Wow!
What a great post and great lesson
And it doesn’t even apply JUST to business either!
I find that your life should be “art” — taking the time to breathe deep, enjoy the little stuff, the connections with everyone … from the clerk at the counter when you’re buying coffee … to your lover in bed … hope that’s not “too much info” but you get the point.
Great reminder Perry — really enjoy the posts like this :)
Best,
Caleb