Church players. What's expected?

[Bert Slide]

Sounds like you need to load up the sub par musicians in the church van and take a little trip down to Mississippi. I heard if you can find the right crossroads there is a guy there that can help you out.

[One Bad Monkey]

I understand your frustration. We have a keyboard player who is horribly inconsistent with tempos (will play one piece for the prelude and then when we play it for the congregation to sing along, it's in a VERY different tempo), doesn't listen to anyone but himself and then makes it seem like he's horribly busy to try and fix things. The MD and I have talked numerous times about this, so we know it's an issue.

When it comes down to it, I'm doing my job to the best of my ability and (hopefully) helping to elevate the word in the song for the congregation. In this particular setting, that's all I can really hope to accomplish. Beating myself up over a modest pianist doesn't do anything except make me dread going to church, when there are a number of good things about playing there.

[Jhengsman]

Originally Posted by Bert Slide

Sounds like you need to load up the sub par musicians in the church van and take a little trip down to Mississippi. I heard if you can find the right crossroads there is a guy there that can help you out.

Actually most churches that don't hire outside see it as their mission to grow, both in size and in the skills and commitments of their members. The charge is not to be the best but to do your best.

[therhodeo]

I've played in a lot of churches and different ministry settings and one thing I see constantly is lack of work ethic that is tied to the excuse of "its all about your heart". Thats not put up with at the church my wife and I attend now. If you care enough about the music ministry you will put in the effort or its not for you. Virtuosity is not expected. Being prepared up to your skill level absolutely is.

[Jhengsman]

Originally Posted by Raymeous

I don't play in church, but I have been stuck in the "good enough" cover bands often.

While in the military I found myself in several "good enough" cover bands that were neither enough, nor good. The fact of the matter is that whether at church or deployed, your pick of talented musicians, which is hard enough for "normal" bands, is made tougher still by the limited number of people to choose from.

I remember a Denzel movie where he was named the head football church of a school that was jus desegregated. He said something along the line that it was a public high school and that any young man who went out for the team was on the team as he saw that as his duty as an educator first.

Many ministries run the same way, if someone comes out space well be made for them while they gain experience and skill to move forward to first chair or potentially be part of a new church plant. Talent is secondary to the greater mission.

[Starflyer59]

I once saw a video of a very famous worship guy (they all look the same too me with their scruffy faces and plaid shirts and a taylor/gibson/martin acoustic guitar) the bass player is only expected to play root and 8th notes

Putting that aside, i came from a background when my mentor (the guy who taught me bass) used to be the most unpredictable worship leader (it was a pentecostal church) with sudden key changes, upbeat tempos or simply fuse another song into an existing one. While those experiences did shape my ears as a bass player, later on he moved to be a worship leader of a conservative church were to this day, i cannot stand their worship team as like the OP stated they dont pull in their weight during practices and even worse the people behind the soundboard has vendettas against bass players.


Nowadays i play bass at a mega-church with quite the pool of skilled players and pro's and that experience has humbled me inmensely. As everyone is prepared and usually we dont practice once and make a run of the songs and were good to go

[Jhengsman]

Originally Posted by Starflyer59

I once saw a video of a very famous worship guy (they all look the same too me with their scruffy faces and plaid shirts and a taylor/gibson/martin acoustic guitar) the bass player is only expected to play root and 8th notes

We were talking about that Paul Baloche video explaining what he wants from a new bassist in the club a few months ago. In his band development instructional DVDs and on the music he releases the bassist is not a straight 1/8 roots player.

[Phalex]

I'm doing 4 or 5 TSO songs for Christmas with the church band this year. I heard TSO on Christmas eve and was like "Heck yeah! Sign me up!".

I realize it's still several weeks away, but I have been riding the worship leader about posting exactly which TSO songs we will be doing. I'd like a month or so to prepare. As of this morning, nada.

[busmandan]

Originally Posted by nutdog

For example one morning the soundguy didn't unmute the bass during the service so I had no output. I didn't like it. I wrote him a note between services and left it on the board because I couldn't find him to tell him. In all capital letters, "DON'T MUTE THE BASS". I didn't see him again that day.

I had something similar happen. I noticed the bass was sounding extremely thin (when it could be heard at all, that is) through the huge EAW pa. I went back to board, found the bass channel, and discovered that someone had put a high-pass filter on the channel set at 180hz. I turned it off and waited for one of the volunteer soundmen to notice it. None of them ever did.

Back to the "heard at all" comment. Another time at practice I couldn't hear the bass in the PA at all, so I turned my amp off and asked the soundman how it sounded. "Great!" he said. I then told him my amp was off and that I was miming the song.

These incidents, in addition to internal power struggles within the organization led me to step away from the Praise Band entirely, never to return.

[dDaddybass]

I often wonder if it's because they don't understand how to eq the bass.