Posts Tagged Worship Leader
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
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
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
How to Become Your Worship Leader’s Favorite Musician
Posted by Jed in Uncategorized on April 3rd, 2009
Have you ever thought about what it would take to be your worship leader’s favorite musician? Unfortunately, many guitarists never do, but it can be a great mental exercise for us as guitar players and servants. When we do, we start thinking outside ourselves. When we start thinking outside ourselves we encounter paradigm shifts. When we have paradigm shifts, we start to grow. Here are some pointers to help get you started.
1. Always be on time. It communicates that you take the worship ministry seriously. If you take it seriously, your worship leader will take you seriously.
2. Ask yourself the question: “How can I make the ministry better in my worship leader’s eyes.” This will mean you will have to pay attention to your worship leader’s vision for the ministry, both in musical style and in worship expression. Sometimes we can think that by latching on to someone else’s vision we forfeit our own ideas. That is completely wrong. By latching on to our worship leader’s vision we give our own ideas more credibility.
3. Always tune up.
4. Come to rehearsal knowing your parts. Don’t treat rehearsal time as a time to learn your parts. Know them already. Your worship leader will love you for it.
5. Play for the song. Don’t play for a friend. Honestly look at what makes the song work and what it needs rather than what would impress someone you know in the audience.
6. Have good-sounding gear. Gear matters. I cringe whenever I hear someone refer to a well known player like John Mayer and attribute all of his good sounds to his hands. People completely look over the fact that he plays a $10,000 amp. Tone is in the hands, but it is certainly not all of it. If you don’t think your “hands sound good” than give yourself an advantage by surrounding yourself with high quality gear. If you have “good-sounding hands” then just think how much better you will sound when you have a good amp, instrument and pedals.
7. It is worth repeating: Always tune up. Have a quick, convenient way to tune (in other words, buy a pedal tuner) so you can easily tune during a song without interrupting the flow of the song.
8. Don’t just play the song, lead worship. You are not just a guitar player. You have a part in leading worship. Your role is beyond just playing a song like on the CD; your role is to inspire your congregation to worship. You can’t lead where you don’t go. Are you yourself worshiping? If you are not and simply settling for providing a live backing track then you are not doing everything you can do to serve your church well. In addition, you are missing what God has in store for you during worship.
The goal is to be the person your worship leader never has to worry about. When your worship leader sees you on the list of musicians playing this week he or she should feel a little better knowing you are on the team. That is the secret to becoming your worship leader’s favorite musician.
Oh, and one more thing: sound good.
-Jed