Rhythm Maps by Ottmar Liebert

Rhythm is the Map
Melody is the Road

In July of 2025, the idea for a new project grew in my mind. It centered around the idea that there are infinite ways to cross a landscape and, similarly, there are myriad ways to wrap a melody around a rhythm. Given the same recorded guitar rhythms, and structure, how will what two guitarists create differ in the end? I asked Stephen Duros to join me for this experiment and he agreed. We each added our own melodies, counter lines, and additional rhythmic elements.
Copyright depends on the melody, not the rhythm, which is why so many songs use the exact same chord progressions! Therefore, this project will be released as two separate albums, one by Stephen Duros and the other, by me. In some cases, you won’t be able to tell that we used the same map because our pieces sound so different.
Both of us gave rhythm guitars to this project. The song titles are different but the codes behind the titles are the same for both of us. For example, Night Route (Map SD02), uses the map from Stephen Duros that has the number 02. On Stephen’s Rhythm Maps album you will also find a track that includes this information (Map SD02) although the title itself, and the music, will be different.
Imagine the map of a landscape, with railroad tracks, roads, bridges, even bike paths and foot trails. There are so many different ways to cross that landscape. Slowly or quickly, with intricate steps and many changes of direction, or forging straight ahead, or perhaps ambling along and enjoying the view. Let’s look at this landscape again. I think I know which way I want to go. You can choose a way you like. Let’s meet at the destination and compare the paths we forged. Two guitarists walking the same terrain.
Link to Rhythm Maps by Stephen Duros on Bandcamp: https://stephenduros.bandcamp.com/album/rhythm-maps

ottmarliebert.com