What I Learned from a Ben Rector Concert

I would make a terrible hipster. I find out about things wayyy too long after they become all cool and mainstream. Also I think kale is really hard to eat so I think that automatically disqualifies me from becoming anything of the hipster sort.

Take Ben Rector, for example. All throughout college, my friends would start freaking out and getting all hype anytime he came to Athens or Atlanta to play a show. He was a super star in the eyes of my peers.

Me? I was like, “Meh. He’s probs ok. Doubt he’s all that good though.”

It wasn’t until last summer that I finally gave ol’ Ben a try. I plugged in the aux chord in my car as I drove to my internship each morning and listened to what was his latest album at the time. I was blown away. I loved his music. It was the jam. Relatable. Authentic. Honest. Upbeat. Exciting. Just good stuff.

I saw him live in Atlanta a few weeks ago. About halfway through the concert, the stage went silent. Except for the piano. It rang out a few notes and the crowd went ballistic. No joke. It was deafening. I was like, “What in the world is going on?? What song is this?”

And that’s where my lack of hipsterness came back to bite me. He was playing his most popular song, you see. The one that’s sold the most on iTunes and has been streamed on Pandora over 100 million times. I didn’t know it because I never listened to his earlier albums that he put out before he was “mainstream.”  I missed out on the magic of singing along. The song, called “When a Heart Breaks,” is amazing.

The next day I was picking around on my guitar and it only took me a few minutes to figure it out. Me! Someone who is not a guitarist. Like I literally know maybe 7 or 8 chord shapes and have a capo. The Internet tells me the rest. I’m a guitar player at its most basic level, and even I figured out the song nearly completely on my own.

It was that simple. His most popular song contains one of the most basic chord progressions ever. A few days later, I was home at my house in Atlanta and it took me 30 seconds to figure out the basics of the song on piano. I’m even worse at playing the piano.

How does that happen? An artist’s biggest hit is built around a structure so simple.

It got me thinking: Simplicity doesn’t mean easy. It just means simple.

I could never write a song like that. And you wouldn’t want to hear me try. Simple is good, but by no means easy. I think that makes it pretty awesome.

Steve Jobs said, “Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.”

A friend and I were talking about the Beatles the other day. Same thing. Some of their biggest hits were based off 4 simple chords. The biggest rock group in history!  Simple but profound.

Here’s why I think simplicity is awesome.

1) Simplicity creates space for the really important things. 

When Jeremy Pruitt (our defensive coordinator) first came to Athens a couple years ago, he said, “We’re gonna try to simplify things for our players. We just want to make a few simple calls and let our guys go out there and play football and make plays.”  Guess what? Our defense has significantly improved in many areas since he took over. Ever watched the Oregon Ducks’ offense? They average a staggeringly low 21.8 seconds between each play. They go lighting fast. But how? By sticking to simplicity. They make the play calls simple and easy to read from the sidelines. When things are simple and clear, you have more energy and a better framework to focus on what really matters.

2) Simplicity captures the core. 

When you simplify something, it proves that you really understand it. That’s the magic of Twitter. You’ve only got 140 characters to say stuff. Of course, you can always be that guy and type 47 tweets in a row, but then you’ll look like you’re on a rant. We all know that guy. I usually “mute” that guy. Don’t be that guy. Capture the core of the idea- the really important stuff. Not only will you understand it more fully, you’ll avoid getting muted and/or blocked. Boil it down to the essence of what you’re trying to say.

3) Simplicity sticks.  

I’m reading a book right now called “Made to Stick.” The book outlines six common elements of ideas that spread. The first element is “Simplicity.” For your idea to “stick,” it has to be clear and easy to remember. Why do 3-minute pop radio songs work?  They’re simple, catchy, and easy to remember. Ever been like, “Ah!  I can’t get this song outta my head?” They stick, and so they’re powerful. If you wanna talk more about this idea of simplicity, then feel free to call me maybe. Good luck focusing for the rest of the day. (I’m sorry. That was cruel.)

How can you simplify things?