The following is an excerpt from my book, Advice for the Modern Worship Musician.

Let’s look at the word foundation itself. It’s really important that you understand what a foundation truly is, what it does, and why it’s so important because that’s what the rhythm section truly is at its basest form: a foundation. So, what is a foundation? Let me paint you a picture:

Imagine that you are walking into a building. Take a look around for a moment. What do you see? Or more importantly, what’s the first thing you notice? If you walk into someone’s house, you might notice pictures on the walls, the color of those walls, the specific pieces of furniture that surround you… Notice that what really catches your attention is the “stuff,” or things right in front of you in the “spotlight,” so to speak. But ask yourself this, What are those things standing on? What is right there underneath them so that they can even be noticed in the first place? That’s right; a foundation.

Now here’s an interesting dichotomy: you didn’t notice the foundation at first, did you? Be honest, unless you lay concrete or tile for a living I bet foundation isn’t even a word in your general vocabulary. But here’s the coolest part: that foundation was there the whole time. You were walking right over it and you never noticed it was even there. All because the foundation was doing its job. Cool stuff, huh?

Even more interesting is this: there’s only one way you would notice the foundation unless you were looking for it, and that’s if there’s something very wrong with it. Imagine walking into that same building and seeing a huge crack running through the foundation. All of a sudden, the walls are bent inwards, the picture frames are swinging at an angle, and that expensive flat screen TV is teetering, almost ready to fall to the floor. Now you really notice the foundation by the fact that it’s not doing what it’s supposed to do. Isn’t it interesting that you don’t even notice the foundation when it is doing its job (in fact, you almost expect it to be working), but you can’t stop noticing it once it’s broken?

Such is the plight and the responsibility of the rhythm section. No one really notices you are doing your job when you’re doing it right, and rightly so, because the firm foundation you are laying down gives the rest of the ensemble room to stand (and stand strong at that). When the rhythm section is playing well, everyone notices how great the guitars sound, how clear the vocals are, and so forth. But if your rhythm section is a weak foundation for the band, suddenly no one can hear the song correctly. It sounds weird, for some reason (your listener may not know why), and it is because there is a crack in the foundation of the band. The average person may not have the musical knowledge to know that the bass and drums are the ones responsible for the music sounding so bad, but they’ll know something is up.