he bass guitar is the groove section of the worship team. I wouldn’t go as far as to say, “It’s all about that bass,” but a well-played bass guitar will get the congregation grooving better than any other instrument on the stage.
The acoustic guitar is the quintessential worship music instrument—perfect for stages, prayer closets, and campfires around the world! It is hard to imagine the typical worship team existing without an acoustic guitar, and rightly so.
A good song is like a good pie. Each slice represents a different piece of the song’s instrumentation.
Worshipers, worship leaders, musicians, it is time to remove the obstructive crutch!
Being a Worship Leader, or a member of the Worship Team, typically means that you will be on stage, in plain view of the congregation, as you exercise the privilege of leading them into an awareness of the presence of God. Whether you like it or not, they are looking at your outward appearance.
One of the most common questions that I am asked by musicians is, “How do I get better?” This question is typically coupled with a statement like, “I’ve plateaued…” or, “I don’t know how to grow from here…” My advice to people who ask this question is always the same. I’ll admit that it is a bit counter-intuitive, but it works.
The American rock band REO Speedwagon released an album in the late 1970s called You Can Tune a Piano, but You Can’t Tuna Fish. I don’t know why, but that is really funny to me. When it comes to making great music that is compelling and engaging, one of the most important and foundational tools is the tuner. If even one band member is playing out of tune, it is a real problem for everyone.
There is an old saying that goes like this: “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.” This principle is worth considering when it comes to leading our people in worship.
When it comes to our regular worship meetings, we should absolutely come hungry for God to move in our midst. But we should NOT be coming starved.
We are gathered together… to be together. Let’s embrace this truth. Let’s celebrate this truth! Our corporate worship times serve as the one—and probably the only—time of the week that our people have to worship our Father together, corporately, many people as one body.
Too many times I have seen a sort of “War of the Roses” play out in a church worship team setting. Often there is a battle between the House of Worship Leader and the House of Audio Department for the undisputed claim to the throne. This is a pointless battle!
It is biblical to find your satisfaction in God alone, but it is also biblical to encourage one another.
For years I operated as a worship leader who did not quite understand the dynamic of Musicians and Vocalists being so different from one another. I could sense the difference in my gut, but I didn’t have the clarity to actually name it and act accordingly.
The metronome is one of the simplest, most helpful, and often most underutilized tools of the trade for musicians…
For the past several weeks we have talked about becoming a musical ninja. We outlined the different parameters for musical beat, discovered how to know what notes and chords are in each key, how those chords within a key can be represented by numbers, and even what notes make up each individual chord. Now it is time to put all of that knowledge together…
Where exactly do chords come from? Find out exactly where chords come from in today’s #WeeklyWorshipThought