Blog
Tips, tutorials, and ideas for worship musicians. Chord theory, leading teams, stage setup, and more.
Worship Leading Is a Calling, Not a Performance
There is a big difference between performing for a crowd and leading people into the presence of God. Understanding that difference changes everything about how you approach the role.
Read article →I Was Playing Chords I Did Not Know the Names Of. Now I Do.
I played guitar for five years before I could reliably name every chord I was playing. I learned by ear and by feel, which meant I had shapes without labels. The day that changed is a story about a rehearsal, a confused keyboardist, and a tool that finally connected the dots.
Before We Had a Piano, This Is How We Found Our Starting Note
When our church was still meeting in a rented space without a piano, we had a recurring problem: how do you find the right starting pitch for a song when no pitched instrument is available? A pitch pipe was the answer, and it is still something we use today.
I Spent Three Years Not Knowing Where Notes Were on the Fretboard. Here Is How I Fixed That.
For the first three years I played guitar, I knew chord shapes and that was it. I could not tell you what note my ring finger was on. Then one rehearsal made it clear that staying in my comfort zone was costing the team. Here is how I finally learned the fretboard.
How Chord Substitutions Made Our Worship Sound Fuller Without Adding More Musicians
Our team was three people and a drummer and we kept feeling like something was missing harmonically. We tried adding more instruments but the room did not have space for them. The answer turned out to be chord substitutions, and it did not cost us anything extra.
Why We Put Key Signatures on Every Song Chart We Print for Rehearsal
We used to print chord charts with just the chords and the lyrics. Then we had a rehearsal where three musicians were all in different keys because nobody had written the key at the top. That Sunday we started a rule we have kept ever since.
Numbers on a Metronome Did Not Help Me Feel the Song. This Did.
I could set a metronome to 74 BPM and play perfectly in time. But when I tried to describe that tempo to another musician, the number meant nothing to them. Here is how learning tempo feel language changed the way our team communicates about pace.
Our Keys Player Asked Me for Chord Charts. I Did Not Know How to Write Them.
I had been writing chord charts for guitar players for years. When a piano player joined our team and asked for her own charts, I handed her a guitar chart and she looked at it politely and said nothing. It took me a while to understand the problem.
How Understanding Intervals Helped Me Harmonize Vocals Without Guessing
For years I added backing vocals by ear and instinct. Sometimes they were beautiful. Sometimes they clashed and I could not explain why. Learning about intervals gave me a framework that made harmonizing intentional rather than hopeful.
We Added Vocal Harmonies to Three Songs and the Congregation Noticed
We had been a single-lead-vocalist team for two years. When we finally worked out proper harmony parts for three songs in one setlist, something in the room changed during the service. Here is how we built those harmonies and what we heard from the congregation afterward.
Every Chord in a Key Is Already Decided for You. We Just Did Not Know That.
For years I learned which chords sounded good together purely by experimentation. Some combinations worked and some did not, and I had no idea why. The day I understood diatonic chords was the day a whole lot of music that had seemed mysterious became completely clear.