Archive for theworshipguitarist perspective
Merry Christmas…& Happy Counting!!
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I love it when the Christmas music comes out for the church services. It reminds me why I pursued a degree in music. It also makes me appreciate my college Musicianship Instructor (Robert L. Becker) all the more. The first day of class he declared “I am going to teach you what you need to know so that your butt doesn’t get thrown out of a session”. He forgot to also mention church service rehearsals. My thanks to Mr. Becker for delivering me from the old guitarist joke, “How do you get a guitar player to be quiet…put music in front of him “….(ba-doom-pshhh).
I also love getting to play the old Christmas songs because then I get to squeeze 6 to 8 chords into a 4/4 measure. You’ll never see that in a Tomlin/Baloche/Wickham worship set…. although, you will always see that in a Houghton worship set any & every Sunday of the year (Thanks for keeping us on our toes Israel).
Above is a version of “We Three Kings” that absolutely rocked (even though it had a 3/8 feel)! This was from this year’s Saddleback Church Christmas play, The Gift.
As many of you prepare for Christmas services this year, remember to give your gift of excellence to your Audience of One…. and in doing so, your congregations will be blessed!
Merry Christmas & Happy Counting!!
Just Being Obedient
Posted by: | CommentsThe Lord spoke to me this morning and told me to record this song for a friend of ours who is fighting a tremendous fight of faith.
Great Is Thy Faithfulness 11-25-10
Ricardo Sanchez At Saddleback Church
Posted by: | CommentsLast month at Saddleback Church, I had the opportunity and honor to play guitar for guest artist and worship leader, Ricardo Sanchez.
One of the songs we played was Ricardo’s “Power Of The Cross”.
This wonderful song has many layers both musically and lyrically. I enjoyed listening to this song just as much as I enjoyed playing it with him.
My favorite line in the song is;
“Nothing is missing, Nothing is broken, Now it is finished, His blood has spoken.”
“Power Of The Cross” is an incredible proclamation of the complete
redemption we have through Jesus’ sacrifice for us.
Thank you Ricardo for getting up in the middle of the night to write this tune.
Welcome To The Andrae´ Crouch School Of “Pay Attention!”
Posted by: | CommentsAndrae´ Crouch’s 1995 European Tour began with an appearance on German TV.
At this point in the set, Andrae´ would start singing from his amazing repertoire of past hits. Of course the band, nor the singers knew which song he was going to start singing. We just had to be ready for anything. When I first started doing Gospel dates, L.A. drummer, friend and mentor Billy Hill told me, “Always watch the director because you never know what is going to happen.”
At 1:17 in this video, Andrae´ tells Rickey Grundy “C’mon” (take a solo). At 1:56, he then tells me to “C’mon”. Not only was this the first performance of the tour, but it was my first performance with Andrae´ Crouch. Being that this was one of the impromptu songs, I can’t say I was entirely ready for “C’mon” but I knew what to do if the occasion arose. I didn’t respond with my first note until 2:01.
This pause in my response at that first show was just enough to receive a little “ribbing” from Andrae´throughout the tour.
The picture below shows Andrae´s perspective of my “pause” (that’s him holding my guitar saying “Who…me!”).
Word to the wise worship guitarist..always be ready for “C’mon”.
Tuning The Guitar Down A Whole Step
Posted by: | CommentsI absolutely love to tune down a whole step (especially my Les Paul). A Les Paul does really well with alternate tunings. For some reason, the intonation stays pretty much in tact (maybe somebody out there can explain the science behind this Les Paul phenomenon).
Another great aspect of tuning down is hearing (and feeling) your guitar and amp “growl”.
You “metal” players get to experience the “growl” thing on a regular basis by dropping your low E to a C.
Tuning down does things to your tone that pedals just can’t produce. Having a little more “slink” in the strings ain’t so bad either.
I recently had the opportunity to tune down when we (The Saddleback Church Orchestra) performed the Miley Cyrus song, “The Climb”.
This song had more of a “Nashville” drop tuning, open chord vibe.
As you can see, it’s always a pleasure to play with the Saddleback Church Orchestra.
Happy New Year!
Posted by: | CommentsGuitar 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 True Significance Of What We Do
Posted by: | CommentsEvery year for the past 29 years, Pastor Rick Warren does a “spiritual survey” of the attendees at the Saddleback Christmas Services. At tonight’s Saddleback service, Pastor Tom Holladay announced that 937 people had made the decision to ask Jesus into their lives during the Christmas Services.
Saddleback Church Christmas Services 2008 – Flexibility Required
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This Christmas season, Saddleback Church in Lake Forest CA (my church home) has asked me to do worship guitar duty for 13 Christmas services. So far, I have played 6 of the 13 services.
The reason for so many services is so that the congregation can bring friends, family and neighbors to a Christmas service where they will hear the Christmas message and be given the opportunity to make a decision for Christ.
Flexibility is key to being a musician at Saddleback Church.
Even after 6 services, there have been quite a few changes: changed song keys, omitting measures for the sake of time, switching songs, adding songs and rearranging songs, etc.
Between the services, I frequently make patch changes on my Mesa Boogie Triaxis Preamp in trying to refine the tones for each song.
I’m switching between two guitars for this program, my Gibson Les Paul Standard (1959 Reissue made in 1992) and my custom TR Guitars Custom Strat. Although, I may be playing acoustic guitar on one of the upcoming services. Like I said, you have to be flexible.
As in the past couple of years, Saddleback’s Christmas Service will be broadcast on the Fox News Channel on Christmas day. If you have a chance, please tune in. Pastor Rick Warren has prepared a great message.
It is my hope that all of you have a wonderful Christmas Season as you prepare for your upcoming services, fulfilling your destiny to significantly play guitar in the service of our Lord Jesus Christ, with skill and excellence.
Merry Christmas!
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!
