ToneGym Hero: Mathias Horn

Guitarist and keyboardist, with a passion for sound, currently from somewhere near Frankfurt, Germany. Mathias Horn is this month's ToneGym Hero!

Who are you, and Where are you from?

Hello, my name is Mathias and I live close to Frankfurt, Germany.

I´m at the age of 46 and a happy father of two girls. Which makes me joyful and luckily I can live in a peaceful country.

To get my bills paid, I work as an information technology consultant in a mid-sized company.But my patience is all about music.

Sounds makes me happy and I always wonder why and where music has this impact on my being. 

I feel music is like the universe - you can never understand or grab it fully. But if you look at it, it is so overwhelming.

How did you get into music?

I started music at an early age. My older brother wanted to play piano and luckily my parents 

Supported this and bought a piano. So I was classically trained on the piano. Unfortunately as a child hard-working was not in my nature and so classical training didn't suit me very well. 

But luckily my parents found a teacher who was part of a jazz band and he showed me how to play piano freely and how to play all that pop/rock and jazz stuff

This was a whole new world for me. With that knowledge, I played more and more with other musicians, especially at our church. Because all of the other guys were so talented I got more and more discouraged at a young age and my self-doubt brought me to quit music.

Several years later, I was nearly 40 years old, and my patience for music came back. This experience was so strong that I nearly took every second of my free time to learn, practice, hear, and do some music. In that time my ears became more and more my main sense. This is till today.

What do you like to do for fun outside of working on music?

I like running. For me running helps me to get my mind clear and my body active. Often the best of my creativity comes when I'm running in a forest close to my little house. Of course, I love my family too, as I´m a family guy.

What's your most useless skill or talent?

I can tell you jokes no one laughs at ;-).

What inspires you to keep making music?

Sound! I love sound. That's why I make music. Sound is fascinating, so diverse, so overwhelming, so creative. I have no better words for it because it is hard to put it into words. But the feel, the voice, and the emotion with sounds are, why I love music.

If you could sit down to a session with any artist, who would it be?

Billie Eilish. Perhaps not because of her personality. I don't know her personally. But because of her creativity and the sound of her songs. I really like them.

Any habits you have before starting a session?

Not really. I usually do some ToneGym practice (currently route IV) to get in the mood to start being creative.

What have you been working on lately?

Composing. I want to be more into writing and composing my own songs. I want to learn how to speak the language of music more precisely.

If you could pick one, what would be the theme song of your life?

It is “Whole Heart” from hillsong united. Because the song is my companion in so many situations. I played live at the piano, and I produced it, as an audio engineer.

Often when you work so hard with one song, you start to get fed up. But not with this song, I still really like it and so it is the song of my life.

What's your favorite musical instrument?

Guitar. I can better play piano, but the guitar is more to my soul. Maybe it has something to do with your fingers being close to the vibrations of the strings. You really have all the way to manipulate the sound, more than on a piano.

What's your favorite ToneGym feature(And why)?

Route IV, because it helps you to find good chord progression. I usually start with a chord progression and Route IV trains my ears very well.

What does the future hold for Mathias Horn?

Hopefully more healthy days.