The Praise and Worship Band Bassists Club Part 17

[bassman314]

Originally Posted by SoVeryTired

A great set today - only two songs at the start and one for the offering, as we had a preach by Louie Giglio on DVD that was 10 minutes longer than our normal preaching slot, so the music had to make way a little. I was a little concerned, as the worship leader, about trying to really go anywhere with two songs - sometimes it can seem like you need three just to warm the congregation up for the fourth song! But during the week I read this very fitting reposted blog entry from my friend Carlos Whittaker and had an amazing worship time:

God can't show up in TWO songs!!!

On the subject of song transitions... we don't have sheet music to turn over but we do have the occasional capo change or pedal stomping between songs, along with some songs not having a natural transition between them. Our keys player is great at being able to play a brief interlude that gets us to the right key. Sometimes that's enough to get us to the start of the next song. Sometimes the worship leader may briefly say something. This morning I read Psalm 28 as part of my daily readings and verse 7 stuck out to me, so I memorised it. While the keys moved us from the big crashing ending of Holding Nothing Back in A to the gentle intro of Forever Reign in C, I spoke the verse out - when you're not great at public speaking it's good to have some powerful words from scripture instead of your own words!

I read that blog and I agree whole-heartedly.

I love the folk who say worship is only defined by "X". "X" could be (but not limited to):
- Must have atleast X number of songs before and after the message
- Worship music must be contemporary and must look like a cross between a rock concert and revival meeting
- Worship must be led by a male guitar player in his 20's or at most 30's, who has limited (if any) real theological training.
- insert reason here.

It... annoys... me. I use annoy, because stronger language might get me a warning.

I grew up in a traditional Presbyterian church. The craziest we ever got was Taize music... Which is AWESOME... I started getting into CCM in college worship environments.

The pure traditionalists who say CCM is "of the devil" or other monikers are ignoring the fact that every hymn that they sing was new at some point. Every anthem had a point at which it did not exist in history. They are ignoring that the Spirit is moving in the youth of the world, and it doesn't have to look like "How We've Done It".

The pure Contemporary folk slap 3,500 plus years of excellent, quality worship in the face, and risk ignoring both church tradition, as well as orthodox theology by claiming that only THEY know how to worship.

There is a balance. We must keep the good, regardless of how old or new it is, and prune the bad.

God will show up on God's terms. Nothing we do changes that.

[nutdog]

Originally Posted by steve_rolfeca

#?%+!!!

Is this Bible code?

[steve_rolfeca]

Originally Posted by Crazy_Climer

...I can say it's very liberating, to not have your nose in a book. This allows the director to "play" the choir/orchestra/band as they see fit at the moment, in tone, tempo, volume, and such.

Go watch a real orchestra sometime. Dozens of musicians, each with a book in front of them, and yet each one totally and utterly in submission to the conductor, and ready to follow wherever he leads them.

Real freedom has nothing to do with either having a chart in front of you, or not having a chart. It comes from being prepared enough, and skilled enough, that you can go wherever the music takes you.

I've experienced that kind of freedom in bands with extensive written charts, and in jazz trios where there were no fixed arrangements. Merely memorizing a part from a CD has nothing to do with it.

[steve_rolfeca]

Originally Posted by steve_rolfeca

...Dozens of musicians, each with a book in front of them, and yet each one totally and utterly in submission to the conductor, and ready to follow wherever he leads them.

Wow. I just realized that if you substitute millions for dozens, that's actually a pretty good analogy for life with Christ...

[mdjuszyn]

Originally Posted by bassman314

The craziest we ever got was Taize music... Which is AWESOME...

We use some Taize in our service every week during the "Prayers of the People." We sing the verse multiple times and then play the chord progression quietly behind the spoken prayers and then come in with the vocals at the end to tie it all together. We are currently alternating between one called "The Lord is My Light" and one called "O Lord Hear My Prayer". Very contemplative stuff, very flexible arrangement-wise and very powerful. The congregation really likes it.

[mdjuszyn]

Originally Posted by steve_rolfeca

Go watch a real orchestra sometime. Dozens of musicians, each with a book in front of them, and yet each one totally and utterly in submission to the conductor, and ready to follow wherever he leads them.

Real freedom has nothing to do with either having a chart in front of you, or not having a chart. It comes from being prepared enough, and skilled enough, that you can go wherever the music takes you.

I've experienced that kind of freedom in bands with extensive written charts, and in jazz trios where there were no fixed arrangements. Merely memorizing a part from a CD has nothing to do with it.

Well said, I couldn't agree more with this statement.

[capnsandwich]

Hey guys, don't know if I shared this yet or not but my band needs some prayer. We're embarking on some new territory here. We're actually trying to get a city-wide revival going on in our city. We're going from church to church holding these special services and playing for them. The band leader really believes this is a calling from the Lord. He also believes this will become our main ministry in the future and we have a pretty big production behind the scenes. We have an entire stage set up and an entire production team to help us with sound and lights. All of this is FREE of charge, believe it or not.

Here's problem: the local church isn't what I call "united." There's a lot of division and bitterness between some churches. We're trying to breach these gaps and attempting to get people to lay down their animosity and come together to reach a city, state, country, and world.

We're getting ready to have our second show on Feb. 17th. Our first one went great. My prayer is that these services will catch on and we'll begin to see more open doors to play and even more bands coming out of this. Maybe we can spark a fire in some of these young people who are WL's and musicians at heart.

Here's a link to our website. Thanks for your support and hope to see you at a show one day.

[Jhengsman]

So I brought along the smaller notebook to hold the day's set in and it worked fine. The pastor did add a new song during soundcheck/rehersal. A simple I, IV,vi, V pattern but it was nice to have the backup chart there

[steve_rolfeca]

Originally Posted by capnsandwich

Hey guys, don't know if I shared this yet or not but my band needs some prayer. We're embarking on some new territory here. We're actually trying to get a city-wide revival going on in our city. We're going from church to church holding these special services and playing for them.

...Here's problem: the local church isn't what I call "united." There's a lot of division and bitterness between some churches. We're trying to breach these gaps and attempting to get people to lay down their animosity and come together to reach a city, state, country, and world.

Here's a link to our website.

Me too. Our team is holding monthly events in London, Ontario, Canada. We've decided to deal with the lack of unity in the church in a different way- by holding our non-denominational events at other venues.

Here's our website:

The Response Initiative | London Ontario

[dieselbass]

Capnasandwich, prayers for you and the team. God will bring it together!

did sound today & bass was on in ears. He wanted the full group where I prefer leader, their instrument & drums (simple mix) plus myself. What's y'all preference & why if you don't mind my asking.

great service and sermon today though. Will keep me energized through the week!

God Bless!

[mkandolf]

Originally Posted by Crazy_Climer

Are numbers still available or being assigned for this group? While I'm new to TalkBass, I eventually would like to start playing bass in our worship team, though am still too much of a rookie to do so. I'm a fairly regular vocalist in the worship team, though. The best part of being a vocalist is, it's easy to take your instrument along, and you get to be right in the heart of some awesome music!

Yep, I'm just scanning for number requests for the next couple weeks, welcome! Yours is 1084!

[sjphi26]

Originally Posted by dieselbass

did sound today & bass was on in ears. He wanted the full group where I prefer leader, their instrument & drums (simple mix) plus myself. What's y'all preference & why if you don't mind my asking.

I have a little bit of everything. Which is a LOT of things. 2 electrics, 1 acoustic, 6 drum mics (in 3 channels: kick, snare, and everything else), keys, click, occasionally a loop/sample from a laptop, 3 individual vocals, one background vocal (usually just one extra mic if it's even used at all) and myself!

Oh, and one "main mix" and one "ambient mic".

Wow, I didn't realize how much stuff that is until I typed it.

Luckily we have Avioms. Otherwise sound check would take 2 hours!

I've experimented with taking some channels out to focus more on the rhythm section, but I find it too empty that way. I also like to hear as close as I can get to what the congregation is hearing. Helps me feel more connected to them, I guess, although that sounds kind of silly.

[JMimbs]

Originally Posted by dieselbass

did sound today & bass was on in ears. He wanted the full group where I prefer leader, their instrument & drums (simple mix) plus myself. What's y'all preference & why if you don't mind my asking.

Honestly, I'm lucky in that I get away without monitors. I have an amp on stage and I just listen to the rest of the instruments. I can hear the vocals from their stage monitors, and that's about it! We do have Avioms, and there are times that I use mine, but honestly I hate having headphones/earbuds in and prefer to just hear the live sound. It works for us but I'd never recommend it to anyone else!

[Dave the Bass]

Originally Posted by dieselbass

Capnasandwich, prayers for you and the team. God will bring it together!

did sound today & bass was on in ears. He wanted the full group where I prefer leader, their instrument & drums (simple mix) plus myself. What's y'all preference & why if you don't mind my asking.

great service and sermon today though. Will keep me energized through the week!

God Bless!

I generally have my bass (or guitar) whichever I'm on for the week, then WL vocal, lead guitar(if it's not me), keys and rhythm guitar, then backup vocals. I don't usually put drums in my ears because I'm right next to them and behind the shield so I hear them just fine!

[Dave the Bass]

Originally Posted by nutdog

One thing cool I noticed tonight is being able to play the mp3 without downloading.

Also, the app on the ipad is nice. I've started using it instead of a music stand. So, it's all in one music, bible, and, since they just put in a presonus board, monitor mix controller.

Sounds like I just need to spend some more time with it, I guess. Thanks

[bassman314]

Originally Posted by mdjuszyn

We use some Taize in our service every week during the "Prayers of the People." We sing the verse multiple times and then play the chord progression quietly behind the spoken prayers and then come in with the vocals at the end to tie it all together. We are currently alternating between one called "The Lord is My Light" and one called "O Lord Hear My Prayer". Very contemplative stuff, very flexible arrangement-wise and very powerful. The congregation really likes it.

The whole Taize movement is pretty amazing. If you haven't, Google them to find the story.

Essentially, it boils down to a community that formed in France in the aftermath of WWII. The founders were some brothers who were also Catholic Monks, and essentially opened their doors to everyone and anyone, regardless of denomination, or even belief. Much of the original stuff was in Latin, because that (even among Protestants and non-believers, at the time) was a common language.

There is a local convent that does a Taize service here in the Bay Area the first Sunday of every month. It is incredibly prayerful.

[NoisyFroggy]

Originally Posted by mkandolf

Yep, I'm just scanning for number requests for the next couple weeks, welcome! Yours is 1084!

Oops, I thought I was #1084.
I guess Crazy_Climer is #1085?

Anyway, played worship yesterday morning for the first time with rounds (DR Nickels Low riders) and am really happy with these.

I used to play with chromes, which I love, but wanted a somewhat tighter B string.

I prefer mellower sounds, and play a 5 string stingray-like (vintage by Trev Wilkinson, don't think they are distributed in the US), so the chromes tamed the notorious stingray highs.

Now that the low riders have broken in, I just need to roll off some highs and I am good to go, still some thump, but way more growl and waaaaayyy more sustain , which comes handy in some P&W songs that have us play whole notes . And they are still smooth for rounds.

So far so good! ('still keepin the chromes on my fretless, though).

[capnsandwich]

Originally Posted by steve_rolfeca

Me too. Our team is holding monthly events in London, Ontario, Canada. We've decided to deal with the lack of unity in the church in a different way- by holding our non-denominational events at other venues.

Here's our website:

The Response Initiative | London Ontario

Yep, same here. Our first show was at a big mega-church here in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio. Our next show's at the same church we rehearse at. I'm also trying to get us into my church. It seats about 600. The band leader has big plans. He wants to fill arenas and big venues. We'll see but we have to start small.

[countbassiedad]

Not currently "gigging" at my church but am preparing myself to do so. Do I qualify for membership?

Thanks.

[invalidprotocol]

Originally Posted by NoisyFroggy

Oops, I thought I was #1084.
I guess Crazy_Climer is #1085?

Anyway, played worship yesterday morning for the first time with rounds (DR Nickels Low riders) and am really happy with these.

I used to play with chromes, which I love, but wanted a somewhat tighter B string.

I prefer mellower sounds, and play a 5 string stingray-like (vintage by Trev Wilkinson, don't think they are distributed in the US), so the chromes tamed the notorious stingray highs.

Now that the low riders have broken in, I just need to roll off some highs and I am good to go, still some thump, but way more growl and waaaaayyy more sustain , which comes handy in some P&W songs that have us play whole notes . And they are still smooth for rounds.

So far so good! ('still keepin the chromes on my fretless, though).

Your bass was decaying on whole notes using the chromes?