Beautiful Jesus by Marshall

My Beautiful Jesus was not as beautiful as it could have been this Sunday. Huh? Kristian Stanfill's worship song by the same name has a great gruitar lick under-pinning the song for the first 2 verses. It's tricky to practice let along play live and when you fat finger a note the whole congregation knows...

I spent some time learning the 'good enough' version myself but there were a couple of fingerings that are very tough to nail live and even harder for me to play unless I am sitting down - which looks a little strange on stage.

What to do? Check out Marshall Frimoth's youtube video which is note for note dead-on with the recorded version. Spend some time learning this part and amaze your worship band friends.

STOMP

Last night at rehearsal was the first time I had to put my patches to the live performance test. Here's a short list of what worked/not worked:

Worked:

1. I arrange my patches left to right (A-D) clean progressing to dirty.

• A = clean sound with a bit o delay
• B = Bluesy sound that is good for plucky parts and rhythm, some distortion. breaks up a bit when I hit it hard. This is my most versatile patch and it lives on the B switch for any bank. It's the run to home to mama patch.
• C = Power Chord patch. Over-driven, compressed and no delay. I like to have this serve a percussive role in the mix.
• D = lead patch. overdrive and delay. I have a chorus element ready to go but usually have it "off" by default. If I want it I can hit the mod switch.

2. I also spent a time adjusting the patches so their volume level is consistent. The trick here is to identify the quietest patch (a variation of StreetsHaveNoName in my case). I crank the volume on this to 10 and then turn down my other patches to match the volume level. Now I can switch patches with confidence and not worry about adjusting my guitar's volume.

The less I can think about tech the better when playing.

Did Not Work

1. I left the patch list at home so I had to 'remember' what I'd come up with on the spot. doh!
2. A couple of patches were way too loud despite my attempts to sync. I believe what happened is that they were consistent levels on my computer but I failed to sync the XT.
3. I need to ensure that a patch I need for a song is not stuck on another bank set. I had one patch on 30D that I needed on my 31 series.
   

• Advice = Copy the patches to multiple banks so you can have a bank for each song. Don't worry about 'losing' some great patch. Save it on your computer and some reserve bank.
  

Double Trouble

As I was practicing my parts last night for a worship band rehearsal I wrestled with the dilemma we guitar players face as we need to figure out ways to sound like we are playing 3-4 guitar parts simultaneously. Case in point is a rocking tune called 'Happy Day' by Tim Hughes.

Originally uploaded by Mr. TRON

There is a typical riff part that works of a Csus chord on the 5th fret and the second and third guitars are playing driving power chords. What to do? Do we give up the identifiable riff for the weighty chords that will give the song body and punch? I face this all the time and truth be told I don't have a simple blog answer.

Here are some mitigating factors:

1. If there is an acoustic guitar player, ask them if they would be willing to join you as a partner in electric crime for the multi-guitar songs. (this can be tough to switch guitars mid-service, gives the FOH people headaches, and makes managing patches more difficult)
2. The synth player may also turn out to be a closet rhythm guitarist. I don't mean strap on a guitar I mean fire up some patches that can mimic either the riff part or the power chords. I'm surprised at how well this can work.
3. If 1 and 2 are not options I would then go for the divide and conquer strategy of playing the riff in instrumental sections of the song and going to the power chords in the choruses.
   
4. Talk to your worship leader and start a guitar army with another player. multiple electric guitars on stage is a scary thought but I'm quite sure that God can handle it. The challenge at that point is to ensure that you and the second electric player:
   
1. Play your parts together without the band. (Avoid playing over each other, BLEND)
2. Find patches that go well together. Example the riff patch could utilize some chorus and delay and have more high-end to the sound - while the second power chord part is more straight up overdrive without much reverb, or other effects. The sum of these parts is definitely greater than the whole if you don't let the effects gum it up.

Off the Charts

Christmas Music Stand 2005
Originally uploaded by joy-z

In what would Jesus Play Ben commented that:

"worship players needs to be like a mirror, reflecting peoples gazes up to God"

amen brother. My question is how do we reflect UP to God if our heads are buried in our music charts? The answers is we can't so we need a way to internalize a lot of music into our frazzled brains in about a week's time.

That's a tall order but if you follow my 3 step plan you will become rich in song memorization and be the proud owner of a complete set of Ginsu knives.

1. Guitarists and bassists: Make your own charts. This one act will glue most of the song in your head. The key is to have the least amount of ink on the page. I often end up with a couple of versions of the chart, the early ones have quite a bit of ink on them, later charts get even simpler.
   
2. Break down the song into sections. Most worship songs rely on repetition. Just remember how to play the verse, chorus and the bridge and combine them together during the service. Breaking out of the chart is not nearly as scary as it seems all you really need are the mileposts.
1. A typical chart would include the following sections:
• Intro, Verse1, Chorus 1, Verse 2, Chorus2, Bridge, Chorus3 -5, Outtro
• If the song requires switching patches note this on the chart as well.
  
3. Practice the song to the CD using your simple chart at home and in rehearsal.
   

This is what works for me. When my act is really together I simply make a one page list of songs using 64 point bold type that I set on the floor by my effects pedals. I usually write in the patch name that I am using as well on each song.

The Speed of Sound

Amp Peavey.
Originally uploaded by fakestar

Some things frustrate me more than others. One near the top is the sound of guitars in sanctuaries. Especially electric guitars.

There are as many sounds that can come out of a guitar as their are broken 1/4" instrument cables. that said there are some basics that from my experience elude most players and FOH sound people. There is nothing like the feel of a creamy, crunchy guitar filling in the dynamic middle of a great mix. nothing. Unfortunately that's what most congregations hear from the guitars in many services I've experienced. nothing.

this post hopes to spark a revolution in how we all think about this slightly dangerous instrument and its over-driven partners in crime.

Here's the chain. In the posts and comments ahead I hope to see this labyrinth of forces navigated and understood by all who play a role in delivering a creamy, nuanced guitar vibe to the ears and hopefully hearts of worshippers.

Milestones along the way include:

1. guitar - pickups - single coils, humbuckers, passive, active, split, parallel,....
2. stomp box - there are countless forums online about this topic. To get a glimpse of how deep this art is check out a study of the Edge's delay.
   
3. amps - my personal crusade is to bless every worship service with the warm goo that emerges only from a nice tube driven amp
4. pods and multi-effect units - I call this out since in many ways they are used as hybrids of stomp boxes and amps
5. cabinets - closed back, combos, silent cabinets
6. mics and mic placement on amps
7. mixing the guitar sound with FOH sound
8. monitoring - floor monitors, the amp itself, how to accurately feel what you are delivering FOH.

Enough Already

Here's the way it work in our church. We get a song list, charts and mp3s in advance of the first rehearsal. There are also brief notes about each song (e.g. "we are playing this in C not Bb like the mp3...") . Each musician goes off and 'practices' (sometimes not) their part by themselves. We then get together on Tuesday nights for the first rehearsal and it's usually pretty rough. Thursday night we have another rehearsal in the sanctuary with the FOH sound guys and lights, video etc. this is where the tech team gets to go through the lighting, video and other cues. The music is getting better but there are a lot of moving parts that are coming together for the first time. Sunday morning we have our final rehearsal.

What I hope is evident is that there is little time for musicians to work on how their parts interact with each other. Its a lot to expect that the musicians will have yet another rehearsal to integrate their parts. What to do?

What I found to be a most bang for the buck option is for each musician to avoid the following traps when rehearsing:

1. Spend more time listening to the mp3 - don't play what you think you hear. listen for YOUR part.
2. Make notes on your chart about when to play and more importantly when NOT to play
3. Avoid over-playing your part. this is the biggest problem with most worship bands. Everybody is banging away at a 10 on their instrument because this is how they have been rehearsing it (by themselves). Now that the band is together its not your job to carry the whole song.
4. Pace your playing to ride the dynamics of the song. Sometimes the band pulls back, slows down, stops playing altogether.
   
5. Practice the song to the mp3 as much as possible during the week or at least play to a metronome. One of the musical elements that needs the most improvement in most worship bands is their collective sense of rhythm. To be a rock and not to roll is a shame.
   

Don't Quit Your Day Job

Originally uploaded by manyfires

It struck me the other day that a bit of context would help with this blog. I believe I am somewhat typical of a worship player. There is the marriage, the kids, the 2 pet birds, the 1.5 dogs, the dozen or so half-finished projects around the house, the movies of the kids that have not been edited, the friends I haven't called back, and , and and.... I'm sure your list is just as long.

Yet if I won the lottery I'm sure I would end up spending my time and money on various musical pursuits. Whether music fits on my calendar or not it is a big part of who I am. So I find myself neglecting other pursuits to rehearse, to chart, to talk about guitars, amps, effects, to record small projects, and, and and...

Its with this context that I think about this blog. How does your average player who's day job is not music, play worship music that is good, that inspires, that doesn't distract the congregation, that is musical? If you are REALLY dedicated to worship there are far better blogs for you that I encourage you to check out. worship matters has tons of great content. But most of the blogs I find are written by worship leaders or other paid music staff. My take on worship is simply that my take. A guy with a day job, who loves music and loves serving my church and my God.

In the posts ahead I will focus on how to get the most out of the time you spend thinking, rehearsing, and playing.