Contemporary Christian Bass

[TaylorJ]

This is what we do. The charts (lyrics with chord changes written over them) are posted on Wed/Thursday and we rehearse for about an hour before the service (4 songs usually). None of us are working pros but we prepare individually in advance and let it come together on Sunday morning.

Good information, thank you.

I guess maybe I’ll should have said it differently. I realize everyone has different time restraints on how much the can prepare for Sunday. If you are retired, you potentially have all day (and evening) on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. If you are working, married, and have kids (no practicing during the day and family obligations in the evening) your time is much more limited.

So let’s say you get the set list for the weekend. There are two new songs you have never played. The other two songs you know, but maybe the key is different and there is a slight arrangement change. The expectation is that you show up for practice on Sunday with all four songs memorized and you are ready to play them without making mistakes. No using music stands/chord charts/iPads during service. Just you, your bass, and a cable. Practice is basically a sound check and one time through the songs to make sure everyone is on the same page. How much time to you think you would need to feel comfortable meeting that expectation?

 

[JenderBazzFass]

The service, usually, starts at 9:00am. It means, the rehearsal must end around 8:30am.
You start rehearsing at around 7:30am on Sunday morning(?)
That's a true dedication.

Actually, we start at 7 and end by 8:30. That includes setup, sound check, rehearsal.

 

[JenderBazzFass]

Good information, thank you.

I guess maybe I’ll should have said it differently. I realize everyone has different time restraints on how much the can prepare for Sunday. If you are retired, you potentially have all day (and evening) on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. If you are working, married, and have kids (no practicing during the day and family obligations in the evening) your time is much more limited.

So let’s say you get the set list for the weekend. There are two new songs you have never played. The other two songs you know, but maybe the key is different and there is a slight arrangement change. The expectation is that you show up for practice on Sunday with all four songs memorized and you are ready to play them without making mistakes. No using music stands/chord charts/iPads during service. Just you, your bass, and a cable. Practice is basically a sound check and one time through the songs to make sure everyone is on the same page. How much time to you think you would need to feel comfortable meeting that expectation?

I’m not sure. There’s no expectation to have the song memorized. We read from the charts and I could probably just turn up and play from the charts without any preparation if I needed to sub. If it’s a new song we get a recording or a YouTube link for style cues but we just figure it out in rehearsal mostly. We have a group that can bring that together fairly well.

As it stands I spend an hour or two the last three nights of the week working on the material. I feel well prepared most of the time. Normal worship material today is not too difficult to figure out. If we end up with a hymn I’d probably just play the bass part as written.

I’m not retired, I work full time and have young kids, but I do the work in the evening after others are in bed. There’s a time commitment associated with worship that isn’t trivial, but isn’t unreasonable for me either. I’m happy to do it.

 

[BlazinJzZz]

If you don't feel comfortable play the songs with out charts, make a cheat sheet that you can leave in the floor. Nobody will see it.

 

[TaylorJ]

I’m not sure. There’s no expectation to have the song memorized. We read from the charts and I could probably just turn up and play from the charts without any preparation if I needed to sub. If it’s a new song we get a recording or a YouTube link for style cues but we just figure it out in rehearsal mostly. We have a group that can bring that together fairly well.

As it stands I spend an hour or two the last three nights of the week working on the material. I feel well prepared most of the time. Normal worship material today is not too difficult to figure out. If we end up with a hymn I’d probably just play the bass part as written.

I’m not retired, I work full time and have young kids, but I do the work in the evening after others are in bed. There’s a time commitment associated with worship that isn’t trivial, but isn’t unreasonable for me either. I’m happy to do it.

Interesting, so it sounds like you are able to use chord charts during service if you want to? Then yes, 3-6 hours of practice and the ability to use charts seems reasonable. If you were serving with a worship team that required you to have everything memorized, do you think you would still be prepared with 3-6 hours? Or, how much time do you think you would want? Or is that not something you would even do? Just curious.

 

[TaylorJ]

If you don't feel comfortable play the songs with out charts, make a cheat sheet that you can leave in the floor. Nobody will see it.

Ha ha, quite the opposite! The church I serve at seems to be moving in that direction. We had a set that I happened to know all the songs, and had played several times before with the WL. WL had been suggesting I go without charts, so I did. It was actually kind of amazing. I feel like it freed me up to worship, while playing, in a way I haven't been able to in the past. I guess I found out that following charts kind of distracts me from the moment?
I'm just trying to get an idea of what other bass players think a reasonable amount of time is? If the expectation is to have everything memorized and ready to go for service. Assuming you might need to learn a couple of new songs to you.

 

[JenderBazzFass]

Interesting, so it sounds like you are able to use chord charts during service if you want to? Then yes, 3-6 hours of practice and the ability to use charts seems reasonable. If you were serving with a worship team that required you to have everything memorized, do you think you would still be prepared with 3-6 hours? Or, how much time do you think you would want? Or is that not something you would even do? Just curious.

At both the churches where I've been associated with the worship team we used the same basic model, everyone reading charts. I don't think anyone in our pool of musicians plays from memory.

I have two thoughts about charts in terms of worship.

First, it's much kinder to the volunteers to set the expectation that it's fine to read. Doing that greatly reduces the time required to be adequately prepared, and its allows people serving on the team to be at their best. It also increases the pool of people who can serve beyond just those who can internalize music quickly over a 3 day period. We aren't paid professionals, we're just members serving on a volunteer team.

Second, if we didn't allow people to read, why would we be doing that? The only reason I can think of would be if we're seeing leading worship as a performance - and beyond that, a performance directed at the people in the seats. Both of those things are pointed entirely in the wrong direction.

When a person is sufficiently musically advanced and familiar with the material, they could work from a set list the way a traditional band would, with just the names of the songs and the key noted. A person with a high enough level of musicianship could do that, hear the changes, and be fine. I could do it for some songs.

That's wonderful in other settings, but in worship there's no prize for that. This isn't a talent show or a performance to impress humans, so I would be concerned about things going in that direction at my church. Why don't they want people to see music stands or iPads? Is the idea that it's more impressive to the humans gathered there if they don't? I don't see a good reason to outlaw reading and some good reasons not to.

 

[TaylorJ]

Interesting perspective. I'm not sure why they are moving in that direction, I've never asked any of the wl. I'd like to assume it's for a good reason, and not the things you mentioned above. Maybe I'll have a conversation with them at some point. From your comments above, it sounds like it would be difficult for most of your team to meet that requirement with the current system you have in place? Unless I misunderstood you? It's also possible this requirement will be too much for our volunteers as well?