Help with getting started playing bass at a church

[VolverseLoco]

I'm really lost on this one. Been playing bass for 2.5 years now, alone, and want to play in a church band to start out playing with other people. What kind of church would have a band with a bass player? I don't want to just walk into church after church on a Sunday mornings to attend mass to find out they don't have a band. I don't care what the religion is, I just want to possibly play there. Can anyone list the type of churches/congregations I can research? What's one song I could learn that is church music? Then I will just walk into the church when its not going on and talk to someone.

 

[rknea]

The church I was going to about 15 years ago didn't have a bass player. I was on the worship weam as an occasional percussionist and vocalist, and approached the new worship leader and asked if she would rather have a full time percussionist or bass player. She opted for a bass player. I told her that if the church would purchase a bass amp, I would buy a bass and take lessons and be the full time bass player. It worked out great! Most worship teams usually ask that you be a member of that church and have gone there for at least a month or two, although there are a lot of exceptions to that "rule". As far as songs to learn...that's a broad question as it depends on the worship music being played at that church. I've played in churches that only used hymnals and others that did a LOT of Hillsong music, and everything in between. For me, it wasn't about "playing bass", but using the gifts I've been blessed with to bring others closer to God through music.

 

[KUNGfuSHERIFF]

You could use the phone and call...

 

[VolverseLoco]

I could use the phone and call. My problem is I have no idea what the types of churches I would need to call. I come from a catholic upbringing (only in grade school, a long time ago). There is absolutely no band in that type of church, so I would not call a catholic church, and I have no idea what the other types of churches are or which ones would have bands, especially with bass guitar. I guess I will start the old fashioned way, the phone. The other thing is, I look on YouTube for top 20 church songs. Some of that stuff is very musical, versus some things I read about church bass players that only play on 2 strings, root notes basically. So right there, there is a difference in the scope of church songs between churches that have live bands, and I don't know what type of churches would play the basic songs or the nicely produced more technical songs.

 

[Hammertime3]

Look for a church that plays old time gospel music. It's a lot easier to follow, mostly three chords, and it sounds better to my ear also. Little country churches, for example.

 

[Inara]

You also might get more responses on the electric bass side of the forum, unless I'm reading things wrong and you want to play double bass in a church? There's a worship bass club thread over there with lots of experienced church bassists who would probably have valuable advice.

 

[Inara]

Here's the worship bass club thread on the electric bass side: The Praise and Worship Band Bassists Club

 

[VolverseLoco]

Thank you kindly for the link. I thought I had posted in the misc forum, but now I see it is the Double Bass misc forum. Wrong one for me.

 

[Inara]

Thank you kindly for the link. I thought I had posted in the misc forum, but now I see it is the Double Bass misc forum. Wrong one for me.

No worries! It happens a fair amount, especially with the forums that have identical names on both the BG and DB side.

 

[Wfrance3]

Look in your community for a Church that has a "contemporary" or "Praise and Worship" service. You may also look in CL. I was in my local CL a couple months ago and a church was advertising for people to start a P&W Team (what you will find it is called also). The way I got my gig was my Church had a bassist who switched to guitar. I was running sound, because I just wanted to be involved, even tho at the time there was no actual spot for me. When the bassist switched and became a guitarist, that was my opening.

Good luck!

 

[chadhargis]

I play bass on the worship team at my church, and I don't mean to sound "judgey", but I think you may be going about this the wrong way.

Seek out a church that shares your values and beliefs. Attend several different churches. Does the worship set move you? Do you feel God moving in your heart when you're there? Once you find the right church, talk to the worship pastor and let them know you play bass and you'd like to audition.

I auditioned for a church I attended after I'd only been playing about a year. Here in Nashville, I had a LOT of competition and I was politely turned down. I continued singing in the choir at that church until some things changed that my wife and I didn't care much for, so we sought a new church home. I'd been playing about 2 years by this point, and I auditioned at my new church. They were thrilled to have me and I've been volunteering on the worship team ever since. Being in "Music City", it's not uncommon to have some high level pro players and singers on stage with me. I really have to prepare and spend hours a week practicing for the 15-20 minute worship set. But I do it to use my talents for God's service. It's so awesome to see people worship and see God move in them.

 

[Pimpernel Smith]

I played with a folk-centered group for over 40 years, at a R.C. church, if you can believe it. This was all from the reforms of " Vatican II". Several Protestant friends joined us from time to time. All music was approved, and used within copyrights. It was all very respectful pre-approved by the church. We had 1 or two very good guitarists, a fabulous mandolin player, and 10 singers, and one bass - me. We had about 250 attendees in the congregation each week until a new reactionary pastor arrived, put up statues and other ornaments, and closed us out, without a thank you.

Be tasteful, don't dominate, listen to the others, and try to play to make them sound better. Practice.

God really likes bass, just ask Bach.
.

 

[Danny O Danny]

You might have the best luck looking into "non-denominational" Christian churches. If you Google "non-denominational church las vegas" (without the quotes) you'll get a bunch of hits. A friend of mine is a pastor at The Crossing Church in Las Vegas. It's a "megachurch" that I'm sure has lots of musicians, but I've never personally been there. Non-denominational churches tend to play contemporary Christian worship music, which is sort of light-rock (guitar/bass/drums/keyboards/vocals) and well-suited to a novice bass player. I played in churches for about 30 years. Most churches look for musicians who are already part of their congregation, who share their values/beliefs, and who are known not to be flakey (before they let them up on stage). I have occasionally seen churches advertise for musicians on Craigslist, however.

As far as songs to learn, if you go on Youtube and search for Hillsong or Vineyard or Matt Redman or Chris Tomlin you'll get plenty of examples. I've been out of it for a few years, so I don't know which particular songs are currently popular.

 

[gln1955]

There are ads nearly every week on Craigs List for churches looking for musicians, including bass. Typically non-paying.

 

[Dr. Love]

I agree that you should find a church you would want to be at even if you aren't playing. Out here most churches have bands/praise groups, at least at one service, even a lot of the Catholic ones. I've done many services on upright and electric over the years in multiple denominations. Most churches, especially smaller ones, are volunteer and usually need players and will accept most everyone as long as you don't distract from the service.

As far as learning songs, and there are three main categories most churches I've been to fall into: I'll call them Traditional, Contemporary, and Gospel. Traditional would be the hymnal stuff like Amazing Grace, etc., contemporary would be new "radio friendly" praise like Chris Tomlin and Hillsong, and Gospel would be guys like Kirk Franklin, Fred Hammond, etc. You can get started on youtube and from these names and find a ton of stuff.

 

[Versatek6]

Lilsten to your local CCM (Contemporary Christian Music) station - KSOS 90.5 FM - a lot. That should give you an idea of what is being played in your city. Get familiar with the genre, the songs, the performers, so you can have a well-informed discussion with the people you will be meeting.

Also look at the CCLI Top 100 list. Many of those can be found on YouTube.

Finally, do keep in mind that this is a ministry of the church, not just a band. You'd be part of the team leading the worship service.

Good luck in this step of your spiritual journey!

 

[MCS4]

Respectfully, I would not attempt to join the worship team for a church unless you are potentially interested in being a member of the church. I don't mean any offense by this, but a church is not going to want to have people participating in leading the congregation in worship (this is how churches view their praise bands) if they are not doing so for the purpose of sharing the church's values.

Practically speaking, you can generally find out about which churches have contemporary praise bands through word of mouth and Googling in your area (websites and other information on the churches tend to highlight these sorts of things that are there). You can then go to attend a service or two to see how the church services run, what type of music the band plays, and whether the whole process is something that you want to participate in.

My experience has been that, unless praise bands have a 100% set-in-stone lineup, they are more than happy to have people in the congregation join into the rotation and serve as temporary or permanent band members. I do not know if they would be very likely to consider allowing someone to jump in if they were not a member of the congregation or seem hesitant to go "all in" with the church, but that certainly may vary by organization.

Just my two cents as someone who participated in the praise bands for multiple churches in the past and did have points where I voluntarily stepped away because I was not sufficiently invested in the individual church and believed it was disingenuous to continue with that knowledge.

 

[juggahnaught]

Check Craigslist ads - sometimes, you can find opportunities there.

Start to network; get to know musicians and chips directors at different churches and tell them what you're looking to do. Depending on the church, this may be a good way to get a foot in the door.

People will say look for God in what you do and play - as a fellow Catholic, I know that ain't happening. Treat this like a job; network a lot in your area.

My experience as a bassist in a gospel church was interesting because I never grew up with their song arrangements. It was also impromptu - the congregation could break into song at any moment. (Black church, nice place.) I couldn't hang not because I wasn't a good musician, but because I didn't know the church, the culture (I'm black, still couldn't hang), and the norms. It's not just hymns - it's the little in-betweens, prayer vamps, following the flow of the congregation and the energy in the room, supporting the minister when the word hits him, etc. For this kind of church the music is the worship - you have to be able to speak through it and it through you, and that is less musicianship and more culture.

To avoid this I'd suggest finding a praise band situation where your set is very structured. You want to know what you will be playing and avoid surprises.

Good luck. If you can find it it'll be fun!

 

[Clark Dark]

Okay, you have eliminated Catholic churches from your list so next you should look into gospel bands on youtube and see what those bands are doing. When I played I was asked to learn Israel Houghton, Hezekiah Walker, Parachute band, Fred Hammond, Donnie McClurkin, just to name a few. I played urban contemporary essentially. Build your resume then approach a worship leader. Another thing that helps is when you go to rehearse remember that it is not practice time, it's putting the finishing touches on the set list.

 

[VolverseLoco]

Check Craigslist ads - sometimes, you can find opportunities there.

Start to network; get to know musicians and chips directors at different churches and tell them what you're looking to do. Depending on the church, this may be a good way to get a foot in the door.

People will say look for God in what you do and play - as a fellow Catholic, I know that ain't happening. Treat this like a job; network a lot in your area.

My experience as a bassist in a gospel church was interesting because I never grew up with their song arrangements. It was also impromptu - the congregation could break into song at any moment. (Black church, nice place.) I couldn't hang not because I wasn't a good musician, but because I didn't know the church, the culture (I'm black, still couldn't hang), and the norms. It's not just hymns - it's the little in-betweens, prayer vamps, following the flow of the congregation and the energy in the room, supporting the minister when the word hits him, etc. For this kind of church the music is the worship - you have to be able to speak through it and it through you, and that is less musicianship and more culture.

To avoid this I'd suggest finding a praise band situation where your set is very structured. You want to know what you will be playing and avoid surprises.

Good luck. If you can find it it'll be fun!

I hear ya, as a fellow catholic myself, I do hear you. Thank you!