Archive for theworshipguitarist experience
Guitar Solos In Worship
Posted by: | CommentsOn occasion, I get to do guitar solos in worship services. Many times, I am prompted to do the solo during the song by means of a “pointed finger” with just seconds before I need to start. For some worship guitarists, this could be a moment of great expression or a moment of extreme terror.
A guitar solo can be compared to giving a speech. The first thing you need is a “vocabulary” to pull from. This could be in the form of scales, arpeggios, or patterns from your favorite “licks”.
The next important ingredient is “Passion” (or like my guitar teacher Billy Cabrera used to call it…”soul”.)
Learning how to combine Vocabulary with Passion is the recipe for a great speech. It is also the recipe for a great guitar solo.
If anything, favor Passion over Vocabulary because one note played with a lot of “soul” says more than a lot of correct notes without any heart.
And of course, if I get the chance to do this with seconds to spare, I will rifle off my guitar solo prayer which goes “Lord, help me to do this!!”
The Saddleback Church Git-Cam
Posted by: | Comments
Saddleback Cameraman Phil Bettencourt set me up with a Git-Cam at a recent service.
USB Ground Loop Noise Eliminated!
Posted by: | CommentsHappy New Year Everyone!,
If you play the electric guitar, sooner or later you will have to deal with ground loop noise. As your guitar rig grows, so does the potential for unwanted noises & hums in your system. The upside to having noise problems is learning how to deal with them. I’ve found that dealing with noise problems requires more imagination & creativity than technical knowledge.
As for ground loops, the rule of thumb is, do not have multiple grounding sources (i.e- Don’t plug your amp into one wall socket and your pedal board into another wall socket – plug them into the same power source with the same ground.)
If you have noise coming from an individual pedal, chances are the pedal is not receiving the correct amperage. The voltage might be fine but your power supply may not have enough amperage.
Another noise problem can arise when a line cable is too close to a power source.
Gear companies design their equipment to “see” grounding sources in vastly different ways. That usually leaves us asking the Heavenly Father for guidance in putting “quiet” rigs together.
Today, I was working on eliminating a ground loop noise coming from a USB cable plugged into a Mac G5 and a Korg X50 keyboard. The noise sounded like digital jibber-jabber combined with a high pitched whine.
When I unplugged the USB cable, the noise disappeared. I needed the Korg X50 on the USB port for MIDI and patch editing purposes. Unplugging the USB cable to track keyboard parts was not an option.
After looking at different internet sites, forums and blogs, I took a shot at a creative solution. I had to sacrifice 2 USB cables but, the problem was eventually solved.
In the middle of the USB cable, I stripped away a section of the rubber coating to expose a 1/2 inch of the braided shielding. I then cut the shielding entirely away exposing the 4 wires in the middle. I made sure the shield was completely disconnected by testing for contact (continuity) on the opposite metal ends of the cable. I then proceeded to cut the “black” wire that supplies a ground source through the USB cable via pin #4.
After the surgery, I plugged the altered USB cable between the Korg X50 and the Mac and “voila”, no more high pitched jibber-jabber.
Another ground loop bites the dust!
Classical Guitar; The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly
Posted by: | CommentsA couple of weeks ago, Ernie Rettino (of Psalty Fame) had given me a last minute call to play Classical Guitar at the Saddleback Church Traditions Venue. The musical selections of this service typically consist of Hymns and Sacred Music. I was to play at the end of the service during the offering.
I had created a somewhat simple arrangement of “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” for this particular service.
Playing classical guitar is the ultimate workout for any guitarist. If you play Rock, Jazz, Country, Blues, etc, having a classical repetior will definitely improve your playing. My wife always noted that my electric guitar playing sounded better after practicing my classical guitar.
I began playing classical guitar at age 18 upon entering U.C. Irvine’s Music Program. Basically, I was really horrible at it. My right hand fingers could never find the strings (because they were shaking so much) and my left hand would get cramps. I just sounded really bad!
One day while destroying a classical tune in a group guitar class, fellow guitar student Kirsten Weymar (an incredible flamenco guitarist) told me “just listen to yourself”. Boy, that was an eye opening statement! I had gotten so bogged down with my technical issues that I had forgotten about making music. With that simple suggestion, I had improved greatly but, I still had some lingering issues.
Through the years, I would occasionally do a “classical” date at a wedding, dinner party, senior citizen’s home, etc. No matter what classical guitar date I did, I would always get a little more nervous than normal. I could play (electric guitar) in front of thousands at a weekend Saddleback Church service without any mental anguish whatsoever. Put me in front of a couple of folks with a classical guitar, and the sweat starts flowing. My best classical performances are usually in my living-room with only God listening!
I think my nervousness is due to the fact that there is no band to hide behind. When playing classical guitar, you are the entire band; Melody, Harmony & Rhythm. Any slight mistake seems to be magnified a thousandfold.
The one major survival tactic I have for playing the classical guitar is do not mess up on the melody. You can flub on a bass note or an internal harmony voicing but the melody is sacred ground.
Well, I went on to play my arrangement of “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” (with nervousness in tact) and all I can say is that the melody was there! Mission Accomplished! (In my opinion, it was a really safe performance)
“Great Is Thy Faithfulness” must have been the right song for the service because the Pastor had the congregation sing it as they exited. People even thanked me for playing!
God is faithful!
And The New Delay Pedal Is….
Posted by: | Comments
After doing some research and some serious listening, my new delay pedal is the TC Electronic ND-1 Nova Delay. This thing sounds absolutely three dimensional. Each repeat of your sound is more of an added layer rather than just a simple repeat.
As a rule of thumb, I sonically run my gear choices by my wife before a purchase is made. If she says it’s good, it’s usually really good. If she says it’s bad, it usually stinks. My wife was not home at the time I was listening to various delay pedals at www.proguitarshop.com, but, my daughter happened to be in the kitchen so I asked her what she thought of the different delay sounds.
When, it came down to choosing between two delay pedals, my daughter picked the sound of the TC Electronic ND-1. When my wife came home, she also made the same pick. The biblical rule of “two or more witnesses” works again!
I gave the TC Electronic Nova Delay a good run yesterday at four Saddleback Worship services. It was incredible!
If you purchase this pedal, the most important thing to do when you first plug it in is to calibrate the input signal. The TC Electronic ND-1 automatically adjusts itself to your guitar signal so it will give you the best signal to noise ratio for your particular setup. I run my pedals through the effects loop of my Fender DeVille so an input calibration was definitely in order for me.
So I went from having ambient delay by the Danelectro Dan-Echo to a three dimensional reshaping of sound by the TC Electronic ND-1.
By the way, just a little warning. The display on the TC ND-1 is absolutely blinding so sunglasses may be necessary when using this pedal.
Ready, Set, Stop
Posted by: | Comments
Last Sunday, I had the opportunity to do worshipguitarist duty at the Saddleback Church Corona Venue. Since I had not played there before, I was a little sketchy on where to park for load in. After an unsuccessful phone call and a little wandering around, I finally figured out where to unload, setup, and barely make the 7:30AM downbeat.
After quickly setting up, I hit my amp’s “on” switch and heard nothing. Thank God for long in ear monitor sound checks because that gave me enough time to troubleshoot the problem.
It turned out that my DanElectro DanEcho Delay Pedal had finally given up the ghost. When I purchased it from Ebay a few years back, it had always seemed a little quirky yet, I liked its funky delay tones.
One of the little quirks that this pedal had was a high pitched whine that I was able to make disappear with my Voodoo Labs Pedal Power Supply (SAG output). Fellow worshipguitarist John Scott Evans (on acoustic duty that morning) was watching me scramble to get my amp working and inquired about my sound issues.
When I informed him about my particular DanEcho, he told me that the whining sound was a sign that the pedal was on its way out and that I probably extended its life by giving it less power than it needed over the years.
The service still went well without the DanEcho. We played in a gymnasium so the delay tones were au natural.
Now I have this really cool looking paper weight.
On to the next Delay Pedal (It will not be a DanEcho!).
One Foot, Two Buttons
Posted by: | Comments
I love rehearsal time. Aside from working on the worship set for an upcoming weekend, rehearsal is also an opportunity for a worshipguitarist to perfect one’s pedal stomping skills. As we were rehearsing an uptempo praise tune with a guitar solo, I had experienced a little “foot glitch” going into the solo.
My Fender Deville was set to the “normal drive” setting (Red Channel Light – Yellow Drive Light). For the solo, I was going for the “More Drive” button on the footswitch (Red Drive Light). To my great dismay, I accidentally hit both buttons making the amp go extremely clean. Nothing like trying to do a rocked out solo with a clean sound. The sound freaked me out so bad that I started to go atonal during the solo. Multitasking is not one of my better traits. – (look for the correct sound and continuing with a solo.) I recovered with 4 bars left to make a somewhat coherent musical statement, although, it wasn’t enough to undo the damage.
Pastor Rick Muchow looked over at me and said, “Dave, do you need a capo?”
This weekend, I will be using my rack setup – there’s more room between the buttons on my MIDI controller.
And they say baseball is a game of inches.
Always Look Over The Music!
Posted by: | Comments
This example is the third page of a chart I was given at an early morning bible study. During the first read through, I noticed that the notes in the seventh measure sounded very odd when I played them.
The fact that it was very early in the morning and that I was wearing a new pair of glasses was no excuse for totally missing the bass clef at the top of the page. Remember to always look over the music.
