Posts Tagged guitar
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.
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
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
What the Playstation 3 taught me about playing guitar
Posted by Jed in Technique And Practice on September 29th, 2009
Like many of you, I just discovered that we can buy a Playstation 3 for $299.99. Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles.
This caught my attention. Sweet action-packed excitement in full 1080p glory. Not to mention it can read Blu Rays.
When this historically low price came out, I told a friend that I might have to finally get one. Why not? It’s a historically low price.
A couple weeks passed and I still didn’t get one. Maybe I was waiting for some magical leprechaun to drop an extra 300 bucks in my money clip, or maybe I was waiting for the price to drop another hundred bucks.
My friend recently asked me if I had bought one. After telling him that I hadn’t, he asked why. “It just doesn’t seem worth the money, I guess.”
“Did you ever buy games systems when you were younger?” This seemed like a random question to me, but I went with it.
“Not really. I never spent much money on games systems. I was always buying guitar pedals. I guess playing guitar just seemed more fun.”
My friend laughed, “And that’s why you can play like Lincoln Brewster and the rest of us can’t.” (This is not to say that I am the only one in the world who can play like Lincoln or that I can even really be put on the same level of playing as Lincoln. I can personally say that I know five people who can mimic his playing well, and I am acquainted with two who could really give him a run for his money. It is just that my friend and I were with a select group of people, many of whom couldn’t play guitar, none of which had a chance of sounding like Lincoln Brewster.)
The Attitudes That Automatically Improve Your Playing
There are two mentalities my friend illustrated in that discussion that can turn you (and me and anyone else who may be reading) into a really good and proficient guitarist. I have seen time and again that when these attitudes are adopted players start to improve by leaps and bounds.
Attitude #1: Love picking up the guitar.
This is elemental yet profound. When picking up the guitar is more fascinating than picking up an Xbox controller, improvement will happen.
I have a theory: We don’t just get better at things we do often, we get better at things we love to do. When we really enjoy playing guitar our mind is more relaxed, open to new things, and more alert to what it is experiencing.
If we don’t enjoy playing guitar then we never get past feeling like it is a chore. All of our energy is taken up thinking how much we don’t like doing what we are doing.
Attitude #2: Love pushing the limits.
When you do pick up the guitar, find excitement in pushing yourself. Stay relaxed, but don’t be afraid to sound bad while trying something new and more challenging.
This is sort of like the gamer who plays a Tony Hawk game. Every time he plays the game, he polishes some old tricks then attempts some new ones. The little Tony Hawk icon falls with a bone-crushing splatter, but that doesn’t stop our gamer (his bones are fine).
In seconds, the gamer has revaluated how to perform the trick and is trying it again. This process for the gamer is fun and exciting.
When we adopt this attitude it makes making progress fun and accelerates our playing.
Love Conquers All
When we love picking up the guitar more than the Playstation controller, not only will we enjoy practicing, but practicing will become more productive.
“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
How To Keep Your Guitar Parts Fresh
Posted by Jed in Uncategorized on June 25th, 2009
Fresh Chips are good. So are fresh guitar parts.
When things are fresh, things are good. When things are stale: not so good.
We can have a similar challenge when keeping our guitar parts fresh and new. If we only play on Sundays things can stay fresh, but then you throw in youth group, college ministry, the two prayer meetings a week (shout-out to all my Furnace friends), things get old fast.
-Change Guitars
There is nothing like changing instruments to help change your perspective on a song. Different guitars have different personalities. That different personality can be the first spark to a firestorm of inspiration.
I have noticed in my own playing that I tend to play differently depending on the guitar I have in my hands. My playing is dependent upon the personality of the instrument.
Use that to your advantage. If things are getting stale, freshen them up by borrowing a guitar from a friend, or taking that 80’s Fender out of your closet that you haven’t played in forever.
-Treat Effects like an Instrument (Your guitar isn’t the only instrument you have.)
It can be very easy for us to take a guitar part and just attach an effect on to it. This isn’t a “creative” way of looking at things. Effects are not just something to tack on to the guitar. They should fundamentally change the way you play. Don’t just play the guitar, play the effect.
Believe it or not you do this already. Think about how you play clean tones versus how you play overdriven or distorted tones. You play the guitar very differently. You use different voicings. You play differently based on the effect you use.
Now expand this way of thinking to all your other effects. Delay, phaser, whammy, octave…the list goes on. All of these effects are little gold mines of new ways of playing, waiting to be unlocked with a fresh perspective.
-Rip something off of Sigur Ros
If you are having a hard time thinking of something fresh and new, do what we all do: Steal it from someone else. Sigur Ros is a band from Iceland that is doing some really exciting things on guitar (Be warned: I think the band’s latest album cover features rear nudity), but they are not the only ones . Even if you aren’t a U2 fan, the Edge is always doing something worth looking at. There is inspiration out there, it’s just a matter of finding it.
-Change Stings
This is one of the most overlooked ways of keeping parts fresh. If there was one way to turn stale chips into fresh crunchy snacks, it is this. Changing strings will make the same old “Mighty To Save” lick sound better than you thought it could. It takes some work, but the reward is worth it.
If you have to play the same licks over and over again, at least make them sound as good as they can.
-Grab Inspiration from the imagery in the song
This can be fun, tricky, and demanding of your imagination. You will have to pay attention to lyrics, catch some imagery or mood from the lyrics and translate it into a guitar part.
This can be difficult, but is the ultimate example of great musicianship. A mournful bend during the second verse of “Blessed Be Your Name,” a thunderous swell when “Indescribable” refers to lightning– use your instrument to make the lyrics pop in people’s minds so the truth of those lyrics becomes more real and less cliché.
Getting Bored? Good
Before you find something new, things have to feel old. If everything you played felt fresh all the time, you would never feel the urge to push for something new and exciting. Embrace your boredom. You might be about to unlock something really exciting.
Keep sharp.
-Jed
3 Pedals You Should Know About (But Not Necessarily Buy Right Now)
Posted by Jed in Uncategorized on May 29th, 2009
There is nothing so intoxicating to a guitar player as effects pedals. Sometimes I’m amazed at their hypnotic hold on me. I will be looking at ProGuitarShopDemos on Youtube for a lot longer than I care to admit (if you haven’t discovered this Youtube channel then check it out).
Pedals really are fascinating little devices. They can give an arsenal of sounds that makes the electric guitar such an intriguing instrument. These pedals add to that arsenal. Some of these pedals are a little more practical than others, but I’ll let you decide that.
1. Tap-Tempo Tremolo.
Let’s face it, delay is a standard. Without a good delay pedal, it is pretty hard to call yourself a WorshipGuitarist. Some of you even have two delays on your board (and I salute you).
But you want to go beyond the standard. Tremolo is the way to go. It can give your guitar parts that dash of color to take your sound to the next level. In the past I have always been a little queasy about tremolos because it was so hard to match the tempo with the beat of the song. Not any more.
Here are a couple of tap-tempo tremolos.
Best used with delay.
2. Switch or Controller or True Bypass Loop Pedals
I’m not actually sure what these pedals are called but they are cool. These pedals are for all of you who have “too many” pedals (as if that were possible). You use all of them. In fact it is really entertaining watching you use all of them. It is sort of like a tap-dance going from your clean/delay sound to your lead sound.
That tap-dance is exactly what these pedals eliminate. You take the rest of your pedals and loop them into the controller pedal which allows you to create ‘patches’ using your trusty effects boxes. The sounds that took you four stomps to create will now only take one.
I don’t know if he realizes that the point of these things is to make your pedalboard less messy. Oh well. Here is one by Rivera.
3. Wah Probe
And now for something completely different. Just watch.
That’s cool.
Let me know what you think about these pedals in the comments and if you know of any other really great pedals tell us about those too.
-Jed
3 Ways To Lead Worship From Guitar
Posted by Jed in Uncategorized on May 13th, 2009
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.
-Jed
What To Do With A Rival Guitar Player
Posted by Jed in Uncategorized on May 5th, 2009
Your probably thinking, “Jed, that picture is dumb.” To which I say “Yes, you are right. Is the guy in the center wearing eye shadow?” Unfortunately, it was the best pic I could find to illustrate the problem of rivalries among musicians.
Most of the time this isn’t a problem (guitar player rivalries, that is, finding a good pic for your blog is quite an ordeal), but at some point of time we will have to deal with this if you haven’t already. Your worship ministry gets another guitarist. Something else happens: a rivalry. Maybe just in your mind or maybe just in theirs, but either way you are constantly sizing them up and you feel they are doing the same.
It doesn’t take you long before you start thinking “maybe this isn’t healthy?” After all we are called to love one another and what is happening between you two doesn’t seem to be love.
You always know something is up when interactions with the ‘Opposition’ become awkward, uncomfortably short or even hostile. Something has to change. Here are some thinking patterns to help you through this and to get past it.
Playing guitar is a position of service, not ownership. This is the point that is very true and will have everyone nodding their heads to the computer screen but doesn’t really make anyone feel better. That’s okay; it’s still true.
If you are a lone guitar player in your worship ministry it is very easy to start thinking your position of playing electric guitar (or acoustic) is your right, not your privilege. Obviously the opposite is true. Your ultimate motivation for playing guitar for your church is to fill a gap when needed, to serve when it is called upon. If you are playing because it is your position and your right than you have lost spirit of service necessary for worship ministry.
Two Types Of Bad Competition
There are two types of unhealthy competition that can develop in this type of situation.
1. The “I will beat you at all cost” competition.
This one almost always manifests itself as passive aggressiveness in churches. It is when one of you wants nothing more than to prove yourself better than the other person so much that it eats away at you.
Here are some questions to ask yourself if you are suffering from this condition.
-Do you give them advice when they ask?
-Do you ask them for advice?
-Are you willing to share your “secrets” with them?
-Are you happy for them when they succeed or grow?
If you answer no to any of these, take an honest look at yourself to see if you are the cause of an unhealthy rivalry.
2. The “There is no competition” competition.
This is the competition-phobic response to competition. It is when one of you just tries to ignore or avoid any and all types of comparison between you and the other guitar player(s). Your playing and your attitude should improve when another guitar player comes on the scene because you should be learning from them. Ask yourself these questions:
-Do you two ever have conversations that lead to one of you two playing a little differently?
-Are you ever motivated to get better because of them?
-Are you motivated to improve your tone?
If the answer is no to any of these, start looking for things they are doing well, things you can pick up on and learn from.
The Good Kind Of Competition: Iron Sharpens Iron.
Proverbs 27:17 says “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” Having two or more guitar players in your worship ministry should motivate healthy growth from both of you. Your relationship becomes about both of you growing rather than trying to beat the other person.
If you are not motivated to get better or learning from what they are doing then you need to work on creating a relationship that sharpens each other. If you are simply trying to become sharper simply to cut another person down then that needs to stop right now.
They are not your enemy, they are your partners in crime (sort of). Together you can create a stronger, better quality worship ministry.
-Jed
Why Your Worship Ministry Matters to Your Church
Posted by Jed in Uncategorized on April 21st, 2009
I remember when I first started serving my church’s worship ministry. I had been playing guitar for almost two years and had just gotten my hands on a brand new Carvin SC-90. Church needed an electric guitarist and I had a knack for putting in nice little touches in songs.
I also had a knack for putting huge horrible waste baskets in songs, but that’s another post.
Serving in the worship ministry brought me a lot of fulfillment. When Sunday morning came, I wouldn’t be hitting snooze button, like I did the rest of the week. I would often think of a famous John Piper quote: “God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in him.”
That’s the way I felt. I felt most satisfied in God when I was helping leading people in worshiping Him.
I would occasionally have the opportunity to play at other churches or other worship events outside of the Sunday morning service at my church. Every once in a while I would witness something I didn’t possess myself: a higher sense of urgency. This baffled me at first. I would see people operating as if there were more at stake.
All I knew was glorifying God and enjoying Him. What more was at stake?
You may have noticed this yourself. Now and then you come across a worship band, ministry or team that seems to be operating at a different level than you are. And it demands the question: WHY?
The key is motivation. When we answer the question of what is motivating that person we can answer why they are operating at another level than we are. When we have deeper motivation it can lead to deeper service and a greater sense of urgency.
There is a famous story in Acts that serves as a great illustration.
Acts 16:16 starts the story of Paul and Silas minding their own business on their way to a place of prayer. On the way they get heckled in the street by a demon-possessed woman shouting at them and mocking them.
Paul is at the end of his rope and casts the demon from her. He then realizes that this is not the best way to make friends. A mob forms and drags Paul and Silas to the local authorities. The authorities have them beaten and thrown in a damp prison cell.
And there they are–cold from the prison cell, humiliated from the public mocking, and probably still bleeding from their wounds. And around midnight they do what many of us do when we are up against a wall, alone, with nowhere to go.
They worship.
The two of them start singing hymns to God and will I bet you $10 right now that they were a little flat and a little pitchy. If Simon Cowell heard them he would not be impressed, but the other prisoners didn’t mind, they just listened.
An astounding thing happens. An earthquake rumbles through the place shaking the foundations of the prison, breaking the chains and opening the doors that held them captive.
I propose that where there is worship there is rescue.
We have all experienced it. We have been stretched too thin throughout the week and when we come to worship God we find divine comfort. We have experience renewed hope when we thought all hope was lost. We get convicted of sin and it becomes evident to us that we need to get rid of something in our lives.
This is all forms of God’s rescue during worship.
The reason we need a high sense of urgency when it comes to worship ministry is because there are people who will be walking through you church doors this Sunday who desperately need that rescue.
Serving a worship ministry is much deeper than just our own enjoyment, even though that needs to be there. It is about providing people an atmosphere where they can meet God, the One who rescues.
-Jed