Praise and Worship musicians... I need your input

[Exploiter8]

Talk about working in mysterious ways! Now...Start having FUN again!

X8

 

[mkandolf]

Looks like another need met!

I like the house amp idea too. Our church has house amps for players although many of us bring our own gear. I'm the only bassist that currently does, just love my tube sound!

 

[MNAirHead]

I've done both..

OVERALL the paid gigs have a bit more respect and expectations. I like that folks needing practice time aren't doing it on my time.

I know some of the thumpers will be offended.. when God grants us talents, one of them may be the talent to help someone practice.


My primary one is paid...
All of the other guys are Music School grads.. practice is 45-60 minutes.. The pay is modest... church is cool.. high expectations..

VOLUNTEER gigs.
Quite sincerely these don't receive the same attention to detail. I may "fake" through a bit more.. be less likely to rearrange other practices etc. I'll take these in the event that I get to be around hotter players or learn something new.

There are a few of these that I randomly sit in with - not something I'd commit to.

=====

Am I totally sold out to the cash - abosolutely not - I've been offered 6x more to jump to a megamega church - my wife would not be as happy.

The church cash is being saved for gear and my daughter's college -- helps my wife wake me up at 4 a.m. to crash material.

Tim

PS -75-100/service is not out of the question for most church gigs... more if the expectations are higher.

 

[timbledum]

The whole idea of getting paid to play is extremely foreign to me. Is it an american thing? Sure our worship pastor gets paid but he works in the office full time. I would feel wrong if I knew that people were in the band that wouldn't be there if they weren't being paid. None of us do it except for God.

 

[T. Alan Smith]

The first few years I played at my current church I brought a spare amp of mine and just left it there too, with the understanding that other bassists could use it on weekends I had "off". It did need a couple of repairs during that time which my church graciously paid for... but if I had been on the hook to repair damage someone else caused to my gear I wouldn't have been too happy. IME it really works out best for everyone (players, sound guys and the church) if the church just provides one amp, that it owns, for everyone to use.

I was the only bass guitarist and everyone else was afraid to touch my stuff, but yeah, I would be hesitant to have let others play my nice gear...w/o me around, of course.
Actually, there was a period where I went direct as the church had a nice Yorkville wedge they didn't know what to do with, so I brought a DI & cables and was set that way. After some time tho, I missed having a rig by me.

 

[tycobb73]

Since I'm in business for myself and income is a bit unpredictable (I'm actually at a slow time at the moment) I play in leau of offering. But they have a nice house setup so all I bring is my bass. I don't like their amp and sometimes I wish I just broight my own but in the end its not worth the trouble to me or the soundmen.

 

[Bassman7PM]

I play for a pretty large church with a bunch of awesome musicians and the only one who gets paid is the Music Director who is on staff and to me that makes sense. We have two Wednesday night services, one on Saturday night and three back to back on Sundays. The only service I don't normally play is the one on Saturday with the exception of major productions. We have about 6 guitar players, 4 drummers, 2 acoustic, percussionist, full horn section, WL on first keys, organist, second keys and me on bass (we're praying for another bass player so I can get a break . )Your question is one that comes up every now and then for the musicians at my church but the consensus is that we are called to use our gifts and talents to serve the Lord and His Body of Believers and thats compensation enough. Some of us have been offered nice bucks to play for other churches but we like what we do and where we do it. Our church is big on doing major productions and we get to play in settings that are nothing short of Broadway or major rock concert setups. I've met other musicians who've expressed an interest in joining the band but the minute they find out the we're not financially compensated they turn away, so in a way I view not getting paid to play as a weeding out process where only those with a heart to "serve" will rise to the top and it also helps keep our egos in check.

I had the same issue you have with carrying a boat load of equipment to church every week but I believe my dedication was rewarded. After having a discussing with the WL she texted me asking me my preference in amps/cabs and to my surprise they bought an Ampeg SVT4pro/410HLF for me plus my own Aviom station.

Yes, there are times when it feels like a chore especially playing an average of 5 services a week plus rehearsals, but when I see the altar call responses its all worth it. That my 2 cents.