Playing rests

[zontar]

I've heard music defined as "sounds & silences arranged to be considered as music"

You could quibble with part of that--but the main idea is that music is made of sounds & silences.

I don't like a lot of rests, I like to play--but sometimes that's what's best for the song--so I that's what I do.

 

[BassChuck]

Rests are important. I always amazes me that a good number of the 'classical' etudes (Dotzauer, Simandl, etc) are just a page of notes, sometimes all the same duration. While that is useful and a great trip to learning the instrument, having rests takes the whole experience to a different level.
I know this from years of teaching, that the long notes and the rest are where people mess up when reading SN. When jamming, remembering not to play (keeping the line simple) at times is the telling difference between the good player and the great player.

 

[Russell L]

The rest is yet to come.

 

[OogieWaWa]

It's unnerving when you try to respect the more subtle rests, and the drummer just fills in over them anyway. Ours thinks "space" is bad. Unless it's a real noticeable full band "hook," and then he does it.

Those rests and note duration to me define the rhythmic portion of our dual-purpose existence. So I just maintain my responsibility and work to ignore what he does; still sounds good, yet not the same.