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"Up beat" songs for church.

#22
I get where you are coming from....a couple of things you have to keep in mind though is to make sure you pick songs that:

1) Fit the message of the day (Sermon)
2) Allow the congregation to sing along and participate

Several of us have songs we have recommended BUT they would be more "congregation sit back and listen " vs participate (Like Shake) so we DON"T do those in church...we save them for the couple times per year we do concerts.

We do a lot of Tomlin, Maher, etc...but also some stuff by groups like the "Parachute Band" and the Newsboys which tend to rock a bit more...BUT people can still participate in the singing.

Something else to check out is (Seriously) the latest VBS offerings...they usually take some good old fashioned hymns and rock them up a bit.

I would recommend listening to KLOVE or a local (or satellite) Christian radio station and making a list of songs you like....print out the lyrics and give them to your pastor and/or music leader to see if they like the message (and forward MP3s to see if they think the tunes will fit)...

Good luck...continue praising and rocking the bottom!
 
#23
FilterFunk said:
True. I'm just hoping this thread doesn't get too far off topic.
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I guess the problem becomes we could all name songs all day long but it still depends upon the elders at the OP's church if a song will be on their list, and how far they allowed to go in style. Part of the reason we often post our set list over on the club thread is that we get to see how leaders are constructing a set. At my particular church we had tended to start fast and slow by the fifth song assuming something didn't hit with the congregation on a particular week so we stayed on the song and improvised off of the basic changes.
 
#24
How about the song "Jesus Christ Superstar"?

I've heard some really good renditions of that............by bands in clubs believe it or not.....

I'm just posting this video to show how it can be changed up to more lively....

You can do all sorts of things with this song...

 
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#25
It's a tightrope for sure.

1) You want to JAM! I don't just mean on the bass. You want to get excited about the service, the music, and the reason behind it all.

2) You are there to lead the congregation to a place they weren't before they showed up. So their participation is a must. You aren't performing for them. You are praising with them.

It's tough to do both. Unfortunately, the better the jam, the more musically and vocally complex the song is. That doesn't lend itself to crowd participation. I wish I had more answers. This is something pretty much all P&W bands and leaders struggle with. I have literally seen musical differences of opinions split churches in two. Hopefully you guys are able to kick it up a notch without stirring up too much trouble.
 
#26
Thanks to all for your suggestions. Yeah, it's a tightrope for sure. Believe me, I know why I'm there and it sure ain't about me. I love serving, I love that I'm able to use my talent for Him and I love praising our Lord in song.

But......and I really hate saying this.....it does get a bit boring when most of the songs you play are of a slower tempo and when all you pretty much play is dddd-eeee-ffffffff. Sure I'll try to change things up a bit within those songs but that's when you really have to be careful. You can't get too off course because you'll stick out (in a bad way) and starts sounding like your toe stepping and I don't want to do that.

But I'm going to give a good listen to everything that's been suggested along with some further digging of my own. We're going to have a big meeting on March 1st with all the musicians and techs and I want to get a good sized list of song suggestions to present for that meeting.

Again, I love playing there. Just want to throw some real fun in the mix. Fun, happy, joyous. Let's get some grooves going!!
 
#28
I don't admit to being overly-religious......But I once used to go to church regularly and the songs they played there were constructed in such a fashion that they had zero impact of any kind on me other than I had a tendency to "nod off" during the performance. They were songs that were played slow and the melody and chords always seemed to be assembled to make sure not to emotionally excite or resonate within the mind.

On the other hand watching the Doobie Bros. play "Jesus Is Just Allright" evokes a much stronger connection spiritually. Maybe a little over-the-top for some stoic members of the congregation....but it works on me....
 
#30
ZenG said:
I don't admit to being overly-religious......But I once used to go to church regularly and the songs they played there were constructed in such a fashion that they had zero impact of any kind on me other than I had a tendency to "nod off" during the performance. They were songs that were played slow and the melody and chords always seemed to be assembled to make sure not to emotionally excite or resonate within the mind.

On the other hand watching the Doobie Bros. play "Jesus Is Just Allright" evokes a much stronger connection spiritually. Maybe a little over-the-top for some stoic members of the congregation....but it works on me....
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I know totally what you mean. Truth be know that it was at the beginning of December when I was contemplating leaving for a while. There were a few things factored into this with some of it being about the music. It just wasn't fun and as I mentioned in my opening post, this is why our drummer is leaving. When you mentioned songs with zero impact I remembered something else he said. He bought the latest Hillsong CD (I haven't heard it) and said how disappointed he was with it. Said every song was pretty much the same, no grooves, the drums played that world beat, the bass went d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d. He said he was expecting to be uplifted and just the opposite happened. It's almost like that's the "formula" these days which is why I want to find those alternatives and I suspect the congregation is tired of the same formula.

A sad truth be know about our church is that we've lost a LOT of younger people lately. People in their teens and twenties have moved elsewhere. Is that all because of the music? No, but I suspect it's part reason.
 
#31
Richland!! How's it going? I'm home today, got snowed in because I couldn't even make it to the end of the block!

Great suggestions. LOVED the Decemberadio song and I actually did play "I Am Free" once on one of the other teams.
 
#34
hrodbert696 said:
To make my initial suggestion easier to track down - we did this one a few months ago and it was a really good choice, easy for the congregation to participate in.



Like I say, kinda a P&W Mumford and Sons.
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Also Burn Like A Star (Rend Collective) is really fun on my upright (can be played on electric to of course)

Fields of Grace (Big Daddy Weave) is a good tune. (I add funky fills to up the ante)

All bow down (Chris Tomlin) has a killer bass groove
 
#36
.. depending on the talent/abiity level of the worship team ...

I Am Not Forgotten ... almost guaranteed not to ' sound the same' ... just modify for your instr and vox available


I will often consider it my job to make sure all the songs dont sound the same for worship... syncopated lines maybe replacing peddling straight roots, maybe leaving more breaks and even adding a little more interesting fills now then on some songs .... generally a lot can be done with dynamics/breaks (entire group) within the song to make each a bit more distinct ...

Bass lines dont need to be boring, but then there is the importance of playing within the context of the song, especially during worship ...


Your right (plucking) hand can add a lot, often it can get people clapping and more into the tune ... but don't forget, the lyrics, and more importantly the spirit/ability to enter into worship is the reason we are there ... not the beat, or any individual performance .. we are called to focus on leading worship in song, not to be the focus of the song, or for the song to be the focus...

JMHO's ...
 
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