Archive for category Advice
The Elements Of A Great Worship Guitarist
What separates the good worship guitarist from the great worship guitarist? The mastery of not just musicianship and technique, but also character and attitude. Here are some elements of a great worship guitarist.
Humility: This doesn’t mean a lack of confidence, or worse, false humility. This does mean you can take constructive criticism well. It means you are not afraid to admit your shortcomings. You know you have a lot to learn and you can learn from anyone. Furthermore, you are not personally offended when someone says to turn your volume down (I pray it doesn’t happen to you). Your primary motivation is to serve your worship ministry and church, not to showcase your own talent and amazing tone.
Dependability: From getting to practice on time to knowing your parts, your worship leader needs to be confident in every aspect of your playing and habits. This means you show up on time, your gear works, you consistently sound good, and you know your part. When a worship leader is looking at a set list for a worship service, they will feel the pressure of any “unknown factors” or “X Factors.” To be a great worship guitarist you must remove yourself from this list of X Factors. Starting now, create a reputation of being dependable and giving your worship ministry consistent quality not just in music, but also in attitude and habits.
Musicianship: Know where you fit in the grand scheme of things and in the grand scheme of things we’re not all that. A great worship guitarist knows how the guitar needs to work in worship music. Guitar isn’t everything. Use your guitar to complement the worship service and don’t let your ego convince you it should be more showcased than needed.
Technique: You may not be able to play Van Halen’s “Eruption” but that’s okay. What you can do is play the licks, riffs and signature solos that your worship leader throws at you. Maybe your need some time to practice it, look it up on youtube, find tab, etc., but when it comes to rehearsal time you can play the riff evenly, smoothly and clearly.
There are two things we can take away from this: First, a great guitarist in secular music looks a lot different from a great guitarist in worship ministry. Second, you are probably closer to being a “great worship guitarist” than you think.
Keep sharp,
-Jed
P.S. This isn’t a complete list. If you think of some other elements, please share with us in the comments.
5 Pathways To Inspired Guitar Playing
I’m sure you have been there before. That place where it feels like everything you play seems to have a musty smell, like a room with closed windows, closed doors and no air flow. Like it gets hard to breath in a stuffy room, it gets hard to stand our own playing. We need a gust of fresh air; we need inspiration.
If you feel or have ever felt this way, here are some ideas to help you get through it.
1. Change your core tone. Are you used to the signature Vox sparkle? Try the bite of a Marshall-sounding pedal. Changing your core tone can jolt you out of creative ruts and shock your mind into thinking differently about what you play. This is gutsy and will push you out of your comfort zone, but if you treat it with the mentality of “What can I play to make this tone work?” you are bound to find new creative avenues.
2. Think outside the box, but then think inside it again. You are trying to find a way to give musical life to that worship song everyone knows your church has sung too many times. Everyone that is, except for the worship leader. You start to think “outside the box” and you stumble upon the Tom Morello-like use of your toggle switch and wah pedal. Definitely some inspiration to be found here. Now the trick is to find a musical application for your environment; take what inspired you from outside of the box and get it to work inside of the box. What works for “Bulls on Parade” doesn’t always work for “How Great is Our God.” By taking inspiration from outside of standard worship guitar playing and adapting it to fit your congregation’s sensibilities, you will probably find something more original and more “you” than if you were to just stay “out of the box.”
3. Listen to the silence. That sounds deeper than I mean it to. Pay attention to the other instruments and what they are playing. Listen to what you don’t play. What we don’t play is just as important as what we do play. You may find that there are some things you are playing that you don’t need to.
4. Borrow a friend’s guitar. A different guitar can start cranking the creative gears. If you’re a Les Paul player, find a Strat. If you’re a Tele player, find a Gretsch. Changing the instrument changes the feel, features, and tone; this may inspire a breath of fresh playing.
5. Copy someone. This will seem a little contradictory at first, but it is about education through imitation. Find a guitar player you know who sounds better you. Try to capture the essence of that guitar player. Here’s the beauty of this: you won’t get there. You won’t be able to capture their playing; instead, you will have found inspiration to add to your own playing.
Creative slumps are never fun–they also never last forever. Keep fighting through it and you will get through it.
Keep sharp,
-Jed
3 Ways To Lead Worship From The Guitar
For those who are new to worshipwithguitar.com, this is a post that was first posted last year. Hope it is helpful.
You have probably figured it out by now: Playing guitar isn’t enough. More is needed than just a guitar part. You are not there to just provide a backing track. You are there to lead your congregation into genuine worship of the Risen Savior.
We have a lot to think about when playing guitar and you might be afraid to add some more things to the plate. Don’t worry. These are small yet very effective things you can do to help lead your church into worship.
1. Smile. This is the biggest thing especially for us electric guitarists. We have a lot to think about when we play. We are always thinking about the settings on our pedals, which strings the pick should be hitting, what fret our hand is on, and, of course, what part is coming up next in the song and what tap-dance we will have to perform to get the right pedals turned on and the wrong pedals turned off. We have quite a job on our hands…and feet.
Because of this we can often look like zombies. Our faces look like we don’t care about what we are doing and why we are there. Of course, this isn’t true. We are concentrating. We have to. But if we learn to smile while managing everything, we keep ourselves from being just a manikin with a Fender. We become worship leaders. We enjoy what we are doing. We enjoy why we are doing it. By smiling we communicate that enjoyment and inspire it in others.
2. Look at the congregation. Don’t ignore them. A worship leader (that’s you) who ignores their church will end up with a church that ignores them. You are there to lead worship, not play a song and hope worship happens.
Engage them with your eyes. Let them know you haven’t forgotten they are there. Suck them in with your smile. Let them see you enjoying worship. You don’t have to make eye contact with an individual necessarily; you can look at them as a whole. But don’t be afraid to make eye contact with a stranger and give them a smile every once in a while. By engaging them in this small yet very effective way, you will inspire your church to also enjoy worship.
3. Think about your guitar parts like a worship leader. Sometimes we can think so much like a guitar player we forget to think like a musician. We can get so wrapped up in a new pedal that we use it all the time. Or we just love the way power chords sound so we use them during songs like “Here I Am To Worship.” What happens is we take away from the song instead of adding to it.
Design your guitar parts to complement or even enhance the song. When this is done well, your instrument begins to lead worship as well.
Jesus is alive; therefore, you be alive when you worship Him and others will follow.
Keep sharp,
-Jed
Conquer The Fear Of Leading Worship With Just An Acoustic
Despite what music videos and worship DVDs may suggest, there will not always be a full band behind the worship leader. This can be a scary thought. It puts us out there, alone with nothing to hide behind.
Whether it is a living room setting or a small retreat, worship with an acoustic guitar is inevitable. As a guitar player who is known for playing worship music, there is a good chance you will be asked to lead it.
Don’t shy away from it. Embrace it. There is something special and precious about leading worship with one instrument and a group of passionate and unprofessional believers. When you get the opportunity, take it. Here are some helpful tips to make you more at ease about leading worship with just an acoustic guitar.
1. Dynamics Are Everything. The acoustic guitar is an incredibly dynamic instrument. Without drums or other instruments helping you out, you need to use every ounce of the dynamic capabilities of your acoustic guitar. The key to making dynamics work in worship is not so much by making the louder parts louder, but by making the quieter parts quieter. When you make the quiet parts quieter, the loud parts will have more emotional impact for you and the people worshiping.
(a) Strum with the wrist, not the forearm. This will improve the contrast of quiet and loud.
(b) Remember your voice. People connect with voices even more than they connect with guitar. I know, it’s weird. People will respond to the dynamics of your voice just as much if not more so than to the dynamics of your guitar. Don’t over do it, but don’t ignore it either.
2. Change your strings.
3. Carefully design transitions. Transitions are some of the most crucial moments in worship. To keep momentum, transitions must be smooth and seamless. Use keys that are related to each other. I like to travel down the road of keys by playing a song in the fifth of the key I’m going to be playing in. So if I’m in B I’ll go to E (B is the 5th of E), A going to D, G going to C and so on.
Don’t be afraid to stay in the same key during the whole set. You may get tired of playing the same chords but there is a good chance that the majority of people you are leading worship for may not even know what a key is. They do, however, know what a good transition feels like. Don’t be afraid to stay in the same key for the sake of transitions.
4. Analog Delay. I have recently been experimenting with the MXR Carbon Copy on an acoustic. It a simple analog delay that you can buy just about anywhere. I got mine at Best Buy. This warm delay is as a pad-like layer underneath your acoustic. If you’re playing through a PA, it will give your tone an added depth, yet it is subtle enough that many people will hardly notice it.
5. Mind your pick. The material of your pick plays a huge role in the sound of your acoustic. Pick carefully (no pun intended). Experiment with different textures and materials and how they react with your strings. Then once you have found a magic pick, be picky about your pick (that pun was completely intended).
Keep sharp,
-Jed
Does Tone Really Come From The Hands?
Posted by Jed in Advice, Gear, Technique And Practice on January 18th, 2010
I have heard this phrase since I was a teenager first learning how to play a D and G chord. People would talk about the great Stevie Ray Vaugh or Jimi Hendrix and how their tones moved there souls and it came from there magical hands.
“It’s all in the hands” repeated in my brain. So instead of buying a tube amp I would practice scales. Instead of getting a Tube Screamer I stuck with the Boss Super-Overdrive. Instead of looking into better guitar manufacturers I kept looking at my fingers and wondered why they sounded horrible.
I was in shredder mode. And that was the last thing my church needed. What my church needed was someone who could just play the solo for “God of Wonders” as it was written with a good quality tone (i.e. gear) behind it.
Back to the Greats and their Magical Hands. Sure Stevie Ray’s sound is amazing if you are a Texas blues player who loves gauge 14 strings, but I’m not. Sure Jimi’s tone was amazing for it’s time, but I’m pretty sure if I rolled into my church with a Marshal Stack cranked to ten, no, eleven and a Fuzzface, people would give me a weird stare (or grimace…or look of complete anguish).
Do you remember that scene from John Mayer’s concert DVD where he is playing on a bluff overlooking LA?
When I first saw this I couldn’t believe his tone, neither could my buddy who said “Man that guy’s tone is amazing. How do I get my hands to sound like that?” It was a rhetorical question so I didn’t draw attention to Johnny’s Signature head that goes for $8500.00. Even the Greats use great gear.
I think the core message the phrase, “tone comes from the hands” is trying to convey is that technique makes good gear sound great.
Any guitar rig is just going to sound better in the hands of a seasoned player who listens to Eric Johnson and Joe Bonamassa than it will given to a teenager whose idea of a good guitar player is Billie Joe Armstrong. But I would also bet that the seasoned player will sound better playing through a Dumble ODS-100 than a Marshall JVM.
Now tone without technique is useless so please don’t misunderstand me. There must be a solid foundation of technique and skill to support any guitar rig; however, don’t tell yourself that just because you are not a virtuoso that you don’t need or deserve good gear. If you can play the riff to “Hosanna” smoothly to a metronome and you play in front of your church then you and your congregation deserve the best gear you can get your hands on.
Does tone really come from the hands? I guess it’s true, but don’t let that be an excuse from getting good gear. If the “Greats” need it, you do too.
Love you guys, keep sharp,
-Jed
What To Do When Nothing Seems To Feel Right In Practice
Have you ever showed up to rehearsal and nothing seemed to jell? It is frustrating. No matter what you do, switch guitars, tweak EQ, change voicings, you can never seem to get things to mesh right.
Worse of all, you can’t seem to get a handle on what is wrong.
When this happens, the best thing to do is to take a take a step back and take a look at the big picture. Often times the problem is that we are looking at the pedal and not seeing the pedalboard.
I like to run through a mental priority checklist to help give insight into the situation and to see if it is me or if there is something wrong.
God First. As Christians and churchgoers we can hear this a lot, but it is important not to let it become cliché. The objective and purpose of making music isn’t really music at all. The objective is to draw people closer to God, emotionally, spiritually, and intellectually. Worship music does this and our guitar playing and attitude has a pretty important part to play in this.
Application: Pride and ego are out of the picture. We show up to serve not to bless people with our presence, talent and really great tone (even though these are all blessings). Be willing to defer to leadership and other members of the worship team.
Song and Vocals Second. I wish this weren’t true, but Sunday morning music isn’t about our guitar playing. A lot of the music in modern worship music is guitar based.
Application: All musical elements, from stage volume, guitar solos and even delay, should be set to compliment and enhance the worship experience, not distract from it.
Tone Third. Tone should be as good as you can get it without compromising the previously mentioned priorities. The thing with tone is that it can be the difference between a good/average guitar part and a great guitar part. Good tone just makes everything we do better.
Application: Research and Experiment. Ask around on forums, in guitar shops (this will exclude Guitar Center), or with friends you have who just sound good. Searching youtube for clips of pedals or artist interviews is a great way to find tips.
Here is Andy Timmons talking about settings and sounds he uses for his BB Preamp:
Technique Fourth. If you can’t play the perfect Lincoln Brewster solo don’t worry. You can still be a very accomplished worship guitarist. Luckily for us, Hillsong and Passion riffs are quite a bit easier. You don’t have to be a virtuoso, but you do have to have solid technique.
The essential quality to master from a technical standpoint is good timing. You must be able to play a lick or riff evenly, smoothly and with expression. In other words, every note should be deliberate and have the proper dynamic (volume) applied to it.
The best way I know how to acquire this talent is through the use of the metronome. Sit in your little practice space with a metronome set to about 20 to 50 BPMs less than the original tempo of the song. Play it at that tempo until you can play it smoothly while being as relaxed as possible. Then start upping the tempo about 10 BPMs and repeat until you get to the original tempo.
Hope this helps you to keep things straight.
Keep things sharp.
-Jed
The Rehearsal Survival/Excel Guide
1.Be set up and ready to play by start time, even if no one else is. Doing this will communicate volumes about how seriously you take rehearsals. Do this, sound great, and you will be a well-trusted guitar player.
2. Listen to the music, know your parts.
3.Be ready for anything. Changes happen at the last minute. Be flexible and ready for the unexpected. Treat every surprise with a cheerful and optimistic heart and you will be a cherished guitar player.
4. Have your pedal board ready. Double check connections if you need to. Make sure set up will be easy for you. You should only have to plug in a couple cables and a power chord. This will minimize your set up time so you can focus on more important things…like tuning.
5. Tune before every song. Do this quietly without any sound coming out of your amp or PA.
6. Don’t play Metallica Riffs between songs. I may or may not know this from experience.
7. Have a Volume Plan of Attack. We have all heard it before: “Can you turn down?” You know it’s going to happen so come up with a strategy for dealing with volume without hurting your town. There are lots of options so be creative.
8. Prepare yourself to play what the songs needs, not necessarily what you first want to play. Put the needs of the song above your own. I just put a put a Proco Rat on my pedal board. For those who don’t know, the Rat spits out gain like a fire hose. I showed up to rehearsal with anticipation of testing it out just to find out that we had a pretty mellow set that Sunday. The new pedal got no playing time that weekend, but the songs got what they needed. As much as it hurts for me to say, the song takes priority over personal preference.
9. Play John Mayer Riffs, but only on occasion.
Stay sharp.
-Jed
8 Ways to be the Worst Guitar Player Ever
Good guitar players are a dime a dozen in our churches these days. We need to change that. Here are some simple steps to become the worst guitar player your church has ever seen.
1.Don’t tune silently–there are a million ways to tune silently. If you are ambitious enough to really suck, don’t use any of them.
2.Put your capo a half step sharp–this always makes for great conversations after a worship service. Give everyone something to talk about. They will probably thank you and give you a key to the city for providing such a welcomed topic of discussion.
3.Use too much gain–nothing says “Praise Jesus” like the Metallica-like mid-scoop of the Boss MetalZone.
4.Don’t use enough gain– “I Am Free” sounds better with a Buddy Holly clean Strat sound.
5.Verses are meant for guitar solos–Your number one musical competitors are those well-intentioned people who hold microphones so that the congregation can sing along. They are your enemy. In order for us to reach new heights of suckiness, fight the vocals, never compliment them.
6.Insist you’re always right–even if you are a great player or even if you are right, there is nothing more annoying than the “my way or the highway” mentality. Master this, young Grasshopper, and you will reach your goal.
7.Be too loud–let’s face it, people want the soft piano intro for “I Can Only Imagine” drowned out with a huge E chord barreling through an amp turned to eleven. For best results, include power stance and a heavy dose of flanger effect.
7.Be too quiet–there is a volume sweet spot for every worship environment. Your job is to find it and get as far away from it as possible. Treat that sweet spot like the Swine Flu or road kill. If you are unfortunate enough to be anywhere near it, RUN.
8. Don’t ever use delay and don’t ever listen to The Edge–delay sounds too good and The Edge wouldn’t know bad tone if it hit him on the top of his beanie-capped head. Only listen to U2 when you want to know what not to do.
Stay Dull,
-Jed
“Can You Turn Down?” Simple Ways To Master Stage Volume
“Can you turn down?” has to be the four most irritating words we can hear as guitarist. It seems like no matter what we do, we either compromise our tone or become number two on our sound engineers most wanted list (second to the drummer).
Getting good tone at a manageable volume can be difficult and frustrating, but not impossible. Lucky for us there are some very useful tools in helping us to achieve this sometimes allusive goal.
GETTING GOOD TONE AT LOW VOLUME
Low Wattage Tube Amps
These little tanks of tone can produce a lot of sound. Both good tone and loud volume. Some of the best tone I have heard has been from little low wattage tube amps. Because they are using a low amount of wattage you will able to push the tubes more giving that great alive tube sound.
Attenuators
These handy little devices are placed in between the amp and the speaker and allow you to push your tubes without blasting a lot of volume through the speaker. Great for situations when you want great tone at lower volume.
KEEPING VOLUME UNDER CONTROL
Point the amp right at your face.
This sounds overly simple, but can make a big difference. If you are not playing at a church with an Aviom system and you use your amp as a monitor then pointing the speaker at your ears can go a long way towards allowing you to hear yourself clearly while minimizing the volume you need to use.
Enter the Amp Stand. You can get one at just about any music store (ironically enough, the Guitar Center closest to me never seems to have these in stock).
If you use it right you will be able to hear your glorious tone without inspiring any tension between you and the sound engineer.
A Box
For those of you who use Aviom systems, a sound dampening box that encloses the amp is one of the most effective ways to keep your amp’s volume in check. I know some people and churches that have built these for themselves and they work great (of course, they put space in the box for microphones).
AxeTrak
This thing is pretty cool. It is a fully enclosed speaker cabinet with a microphone built into it. It is not the most pretty thing on the market, but it works. Originally it was designed for people who wanted to record quality tube amps at low volumes, but it can also work great live. Take a look at Marc Seal demoing the AxeTrak
It was created by a guitarist named Jeff Harris who plays mainly for his church.
Solving this problem is worth the hassle. It will help provide a great mix for your congregation while giving them the best guitar tone possible.
Keep it up and keep sharp.
-Jed