Things I've learned playing at church

[nutdog]

Hah... as you might expect from seeing where I live, we had just the opposite problem. A bunch of older, white midwesterners trying to play fusion/gospel and most of the time failing pretty badly at it.

The retired piano teachers who comprised our stable of piano and keyboard players made it particularly painful at times.

You should should hear our funk when the resident 80's hair metal guitarist sits in. 10,000 effects in the rack and somehow every patch has lush chorus.

 

[K-Frog]

Wow! Most of you guys seem to know what you're playing before you show up?
You guys are spoiled!

Otoh, it's hard to fit in new song when you don't practice much as a P&W band.

Our practices feel like a long sound check, and we might work on a new song a couple times before we do it.

That goes for all 4 WLs and bands (of which I am the bass player for all)

So far, as a P&W bassist for 25+ years exclusively, I can relate to every post.

 

[capnsandwich]

Wow! Most of you guys seem to know what you're playing before you show up?
You guys are spoiled!

Otoh, it's hard to fit in new song when you don't practice much as a P&W band.

Our practices feel like a long sound check, and we might work on a new song a couple times before we do it.

That goes for all 4 WLs and bands (of which I am the bass player for all)

So far, as a P&W bassist for 25+ years exclusively, I can relate to every post.

Dude, seriously though, I can relate to not knowing what you're playing until the service. My old church was so disorganized that we had a practice once every other month and I wouldn't know the set list until I saw the song up on the screen. Oh, and no chord charts either. The singers and WL got chord charts but the drummer and I did not. Luckily, I have a good ear and know most of the stuff.

As far as playing urban gospel goes, our old church did some of it. We had a mixed congregation so we played a lot of Latino music and gospel stuff. The drummer and I could hang but the WL on guitar and the singers struggled. It would become a bass and drums only song sometimes. The others would simply drop out and let us drive the song. It was awkward but the entire experience has made me a better musician.

 

[jaywa]

As far as playing urban gospel goes, our old church did some of it. We had a mixed congregation so we played a lot of Latino music and gospel stuff. The drummer and I could hang but the WL on guitar and the singers struggled. It would become a bass and drums only song sometimes. The others would simply drop out and let us drive the song.

At least they were aware and humble enough to drop out. That put you ahead of the game, believe me.

 

[mikegug]

Dude, seriously though, I can relate to not knowing what you're playing until the service. My old church was so disorganized that we had a practice once every other month and I wouldn't know the set list until I saw the song up on the screen. Oh, and no chord charts either. The singers and WL got chord charts but the drummer and I did not. Luckily, I have a good ear and know most of the stuff.

As far as playing urban gospel goes, our old church did some of it. We had a mixed congregation so we played a lot of Latino music and gospel stuff. The drummer and I could hang but the WL on guitar and the singers struggled. It would become a bass and drums only song sometimes. The others would simply drop out and let us drive the song. It was awkward but the entire experience has made me a better musician.

Bad musical situations, it seems, can often (not always) lead to you becoming a better musician. You gotta suck it up and deal with it, but it does often allow you to grow musically or leadership-wise. Both sometimes.

 

[capnsandwich]

Bad musical situations, it seems, can often (not always) lead to you becoming a better musician. You gotta suck it up and deal with it, but it does often allow you to grow musically or leadership-wise. Both sometimes.

I did grow musically but not leadership-wise at all. In fact every time I tried to show them a better way to play something or even harmonize better, they got defensive and took offense saying stuff like, "We're not like you" and "You've been playing a lot longer than us so it's easy for you." I wasn't asking them to play Flight of the Bumblebee or anything. I was just suggesting maybe harmonizing and not singing in certain parts.

So glad I'm out of that church!

 

[Chainsaw Willie]

...The other thing that bothers me is the fact that regardless of who's leading, they always slow the songs down. Even if a song is slow to begin with, it gets slowed down. I told them that by doing this they're creating a certain "wobble" in the rhythm. Everybody playing knows it's too slow and what happens is that everyone is concentrating so much on keeping it slow that the dynamics suffer. I said "we're trying to lift people up and some of these songs come across as a downright drag."...

I have noticed this from the member-of-the-congregation point of view. Worship leaders take decent worship tunes and turn them into lulabies! It is hard to worship when you are bored, or having trouble keeping an artificially slow tempo. Slowing the song makes it awkward and boring. I have seen this in a number of churches, and I find really kill the worship mood.

 

[klokker]

I play in a bar band, and then I play for an addiction and recovery service at the local mega-church on Friday nights.....its at a small chapel, maybe they get 100-150 people for the service.

If I'm playing in the bar band and I or someone in the band really screws up, we'll all say, "geez (I guess that's short for Jesus) dude, that SUCKED. In the praise band you have to approach things in a little more careful way, at least in mine. Sometimes a kind of niceness creeps in that is really annoying.

Having said that, you can learn a lot in a praise band, especially how to not get caught up in all the drama. And really.......its great to be around a group of people who don't have to get loaded to have a good time.

 

[ToneMonkey]

I'm always a little amused when some young adult with a freshly minted keyboard and choir vocal music degree from some Bible college thinks they know how to play in what is essentially a rock and roll band. I've heard the darndest things over the years.

I suppose the 20-something kid with no degree -AND- no experience (except perhaps for Rock Band or Guitar Hero) is even worse.

But I have for the most part lived to tell about it (28 years and counting). That which does not kill me, only makes me stronger.

All I can do is what I can, and allow others to bear the accountability for what they do.

 

[mikegug]

I did grow musically but not leadership-wise at all. In fact every time I tried to show them a better way to play something or even harmonize better, they got defensive and took offense saying stuff like, "We're not like you" and "You've been playing a lot longer than us so it's easy for you." I wasn't asking them to play Flight of the Bumblebee or anything. ...

HAHA! Well... You got the experience (as bad as it may have been) so you are the wiser.

 

[billgwx]

Worship leaders take decent worship tunes and turn them into lulabies! It is hard to worship when you are bored, or having trouble keeping an artificially slow tempo. Slowing the song makes it awkward and boring. I have seen this in a number of churches, and I find really kill the worship mood.

+1 to that...biggest problem with my P&W team, followed by singers being too tentative and not coming in strongly on the one, and leaders not giving clear enough start counts, which prevents me as anchor from coming in strongly on the one! Drummers & I often conspire to push the beat to combat the lullaby effect...sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't...frustrating but there's always the next song.

 

[throughthefire]

Worship leaders take decent worship tunes and turn them into lulabies!

Not on our team! The BL often reminds us, 'We're a guitar band. Let's play guitar'.

The pastors have more than once commented about how loud such a small (5) number of people can get..

Pete.

 

[HereIGoAgain]

I have noticed this from the member-of-the-congregation point of view. Worship leaders take decent worship tunes and turn them into lulabies! It is hard to worship when you are bored, or having trouble keeping an artificially slow tempo. Slowing the song makes it awkward and boring. I have seen this in a number of churches, and I find really kill the worship mood.

How often do you hear "We've got to keep this low-key" or "Worship with your heart, not your instrument"? I've found that when I hear those things or anything in the same vein, it's in the best interest of all parties for that phase of the conversation to end. The more and more I think and learn, the more and more I feel that worship music needs to be powerful and motivating.

 

[jaywa]

It's to the point now where I can sit-in with (or watch from the congregation) a P&W band in pretty much any church around here, and by the time they get through the first chorus of the first tune I can tell you which players have a bar-band background and which ones haven't played anywhere but churches their whole lives.

Same goes for church sound techs.

 

[marmadaddy]

Unfortunately, the lesson learned at my church was to stay away from the people involved with the band. The politics surrounding it all is just crazy.

 

[gnjpowell]

The BEST post(s) I've read here in a long time! We usually don't get the song list till Wed pm, reh on Thu pm. Sometimes no reh at all, just a quick run-through Sun am. Why do the services usually go soooooooo much better Vs the rehearsals even when reh is pretty rough?

 

[Tunaman]

Things I've learned

When the keyboards lead & the drummer is unsure of where the keys are going, I'm screwed !

 

[Jhengsman]

The BEST post(s) I've read here in a long time! We usually don't get the song list till Wed pm, reh on Thu pm. Sometimes no reh at all, just a quick run-through Sun am. Why do the services usually go soooooooo much better Vs the rehearsals even when reh is pretty rough?

The audience normally wants to like you. In rehersal you have the standard of a professional recording to live up to with little feedback

 

[mikegug]

Why do the services usually go soooooooo much better Vs the rehearsals even when reh is pretty rough?

I've heard rehearsals 1 hour before curtain that would curl your toes back to your ankles, they were so bad. And then when the band played, it's like they took extra-strength talent pills during the break.

And I told them that! LOL!!

 

[jmbjandfam]

It's to the point now where I can sit-in with (or watch from the congregation) a P&W band in pretty much any church around here, and by the time they get through the first chorus of the first tune I can tell you which players have a bar-band background and which ones haven't played anywhere but churches their whole lives.

Same goes for church sound techs.

Hmmm, I wonder if you mean that's a good thing or a bad thing?