A Blog For Worship Leaders Who Lead Normal People In Normal Churches ||| RealWorldWorship.Org
I have a great love for the folks at Calvary:The Hill. If you live in the Seattle area and are looking for a church home then check them out.
One of their main worship leaders Riley Taylor recently put a post up at their blog about his struggles with music and worship leading that I think it worth your time to read.
Riley says:
I’ve been leading this song at church lately. Highly recommended…
I saw an article on the Worship Links blog about the legalities of secular music in the church. I thought it was a worthwhile topic and since they only talked about the legalities, I’ll try to cover the broader issue. More and more churches are playing “secular music” in their services. It’s happening both with the live band on stage, and in the background music. What was once unthinkable to many is now a common place in churches all across the Western World. What’s going on? Why is this happening? Should we be worried or is it no big deal?
Here’s a video of worship at my church a few weeks back. We had to change things up because it was VBS week, so the stage was totally stripped from it’s normal set up and we had a lot less room than we normally do. It was not a normal Sunday.
There’s a few reasons that I’m posting this:
Song writer and worship leader Jamie Harvill has some great thoughts on his blog about how to make your worship team better and how we can all be better players. There is also good advice on how to be a better “neighbor” to your fellow band members.
Continue reading “10 Tips To Make You A Better Worship Band”
In this series I try and address different aspects of the practical side of playing electric guitar in church music. This week we’ll talk about leading vs. backing with the Electric Guitar. How the two are similar, and how the two are completely different.
One Guitar. One Rig. Two Purposes.
My guitar rig is set up for versatility. I’ve talk a lot about this before in this series of articles. But I haven’t really touched on the versatility between leading the band and being in the band. What’s the difference. Is there a difference? And is it a big deal? Let’s talk about it.
Some great thoughts over at the Worship Links blog on leading worship with your acoustic guitar.
Continue reading “Leading Worship With Your Acoustic Guitar”
Are you trying to keep up with the Jones? The Jones that go to the “cool church” on the other side of the city. The Jones who go to the “artsy church” in the nearest urban center or college town? The Jones who go to the big, well known church in your tribe or denomination?
Well… Stop it. Stop it right now. Stop it right now, and here’s why…
Starting in the Summer of 2013 we will begin to review musical gear and sometimes worship albums.
WHY
Let’s be honest about two things:
1. Church bands tend to “overplay” and step over each other on a regular basis
2. Church bands are often a hodge podge of who’s available instead of who is needed.
What I’m going to suggest will hopefully unmuddy the waters sonically speaking and give structure to arranging and picking your church’s band for a worship service.
When I put a band together for a Sunday or Wednesday I first look at who is available. It’s all well and good to want a thick analog synth sound on a song but if all your keyboard players are on vacation, you’ll need to rethink your plans. Once I know who is available, I start to fill roles based on my “5 point band”. I admit that I don’t always do it consciously, because I’m so used to doing it. But it’s always there in the background of my mind. So here are the 5 points that I look for to put a band together. I’m going to write them in order of importance.
Real World Worship 