Playing in Church

[Jumble Jumble]

So, NOT a religious thread, and please don't turn it into one.

In England, in Church, you get a pipe organ, and maybe a choir if you live in a posh area. That's it.

However, on the internet I see lots of American people who have a regular gig playing in Church. Firstly, this sounds brilliant, as pipe organ music is really quite niche. However, I have no idea what these gigs are actually like. So - educate me!

I mean - how loud do you play? Do you play through a PA or is an amp enough? Do you sing all the songs or is it backing for the entire congregation? Do you play the songs "straight", or can you blues/rock/alt/indie/country them up a bit? Do you tailor the style of the songs to the tastes of the congregation? Do you get to do guitar solos? How far can you take "being a band" vs. "being accompaniment"? Can/do you use lots of effects? Distortion?

Sorry, lot of questions. I've just never seen it done and I find the concept intriguing.

 

[alterbridgefan]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXWFJVrxMgU
Our leader at the stone.

For a while it was Chris Tomlin and Todd Agnew, as well as Jimmy Mcneal.

Joining a new worship band next year, as a lead guitarist. I will get solos, but I always try not to hog the spotlight in any way. Usually during a solo the group leader continues to sing, as well as the congregation, to avoid idolization. I can use effects, in fact we rarely play clean without a chorus, delay, reverb, etc.

Usually alt rock style, and we go through a P.A. so things mix right.

Always fun.

 

[swarfrat]

It's all over the map, from 'is it on?' to Michael J Fox. Straight arrangements designed for congregational singing to stuff so complicated that it's really more spectator than participatory.  Loud doesn't bother me, and I do love screaming guitar, but a lot of the trendier churches with high production bands tend to be dark, and my arms get short when the lights go down (near focus distance and aging eyes). 

I personally favor fairly straight arrangements due to MVI or Mass Vocal Inertia. One person can improvise skips and jumps and wild vibrato all he wants. A skillful duet can still improvise. A quartet usually needs to stick to rehearsed stuff... by the time you get to a sports arena, you're pretty much limited to nothing more complex than 'We Will Rock You'.

I'm not playing in one at the moment, but the past several  months / year,  I've been working on fairly straight arrangements of classic hymns on electric guitar. They tend to get short shrift whenever a guitar is on stage, as a lot of them have some funky harmonizations that sound odd to modern ears,  odd meters, and guitar chords tend to have a bunch of fifths stacked up under odd fingers that are difficult to move when needed. But it's been a tremendous amount of fun. Essentially, I've been playing diad voiced chord melody, in P4 tuning, working out stuff from memory. There's some classic regal anthems that just work beautifully with raucous ringing guitar. And even some of the odd meters can be fun - especially when you realize you're doing hammer ons and pinch harmonics in 3/4 - there's something you're not likely to hear at the music store on Saturday.

 

[Tonar8352]

I have played in church's since 1972 and it runs the gamete from acoustic guitars only because electric guitars are for the the  :evil4:, to using a marshal half-stack at youth events like a full on rock show.

Now days most the big churches have some of the finest sound systems money can buy, the amps are isolated, drums are behind a plexiglass isolation wall, and most everyone on stage is using in-ear monitors.  I use to play at a big church,a 2400 seat auditorium before they went to in-ear monitors and I used either a Mesa Studio .22 or a vintage Princeton Reverb pointed right at my face with the back facing the audience wrapped in plexiglass to prevent sound from bleeding toward the front of the stage and then my JBL monitor sat right next to that. They now have all the amps under the stage.

I switched to a smaller church with a 250 seat capacity and the worst stage for sound I have ever played on but we deal with it pretty well.  My amp is in an isolation room and I use either a vintage Fender Super Reverb or Deluxe Reverb and they are cranked at volumes that you get great tone from vintage Fenders which is actually too loud for many clubs and definitely louder then they ever let me turn it up at the big church. The amp has a great microphone that gets pretty good reproduction which I hear out of a JBL floor monitor. I have my own monitor mixer so I get only what I want to hear which is mostly myself and a healthy mix of the drummer. I also have a Leslie 145 with a Uncle Spot standalone reverb in front of it on the stage. The Leslie sets  behind the Grand Piano and facing the back of the Leslie 122 used for the Hammond organ. That blocks the sound going directly into the audience's face. The bass amp is on stage about 15 yards behind me so I hear him pretty good. I use all different kinds of distortion, tube screamer, fuzz, boost pedals depending on the song. I have a DD2 digital delay and a Fulltone Tube Tape Echo for delays.

We play mostly Contemporary Christian Worship songs mixed in with traditional stuff.
They cut me loose and I play leads in most songs and playing slide on Amazing Grace is a blast!

 

[line6man]

I spent a lot of time at church when I was a kid, because my family was/is deeply religious. The church I went to was known for their loud and energetic music. Wild guitar playing was fine, as long as no one was trying to draw attention to themselves instead of focusing on God. Depending on who was playing on a Sunday morning, there would either be a guy alternating acoustic and electric rhythm, or there could also be a lead guitarist. The volume of the music would vary depending on the mood, however. If the song was meant to be exciting, they would turn up the PA system fairly loud. During times of prayer, the music would be soft. The mood and volume would change during offerings, depending on whether the pastor wanting "cheerful giving," or a more solemn and traditional event.

I do believe that the music played has a strong effect on the way people feel in a church. I consistently noted that softer music with the right lyrical themes would put the whole church in a weird, trance-like state, where everyone was sort of crying and calling out to God. Conversely, loud, energetic music would get everyone jumping all over the place "filled with the holy spirit." Not to bash religion, but I'm inclined to believe that it was the music and the atmosphere it created, that caused this. (Then again, I don't know if it was just the church I went to, or if this is common to many houses of worship.)

 

[m4rk0]

I thought you worshipped Lucifer!?  :icon_scratch: :dontknow:

 

[JimBeed]

Adding to line6man's comment, Having had my dad being a organ player for various churches, NOT religious in the slightest just loved organ music and playing. Hell if i could get his passion for that for bass playing i'd be alot further on. But thats a new thread  :doh:.

Back on topic, Must admit the organ music did always make it seem pretty doom and gloomy, apart from the more upbeat songs.

The american idea of worship bands is interesting, Unfortunately not all that feesable in most churches in england that are actual old churches not built in the last however many years. So a bit of a bugger logistics wise to bring the idea over.

It's not so much niche as what classical and/or prayer music was usually composed on, And of course they take a bit of a back seat nowadays.

Just thought i'd put in my ideas as I spent many a friday night or another night sat next to my dad playing organ and i was playing probably pokemon red with headphones on. So there you go  :toothy10:

 

[line6man]

Adding to line6man's comment, Having had my dad being a organ player for various churches, NOT religious in the slightest just loved organ music and playing. Hell if i could get his passion for that for bass playing i'd be alot further on. But thats a new thread  :doh:.

Back on topic, Must admit the organ music did always make it seem pretty doom and gloomy, apart from the more upbeat songs.

The american idea of worship bands is interesting, Unfortunately not all that feesable in most churches in england that are actual old churches not built in the last however many years. So a bit of a bugger logistics wise to bring the idea over.

It's not so much niche as what classical and/or prayer music was usually composed on, And of course they take a bit of a back seat nowadays.

Just thought i'd put in my ideas as I spent many a friday night or another night sat next to my dad playing organ and i was playing probably pokemon red with headphones on. So there you go  :toothy10:

I went to a church with a pipe organ once, and it really was a grand experience. The cool thing about old pipe organs is that the sound kind of comes at you from different locations, because the pipes are spread out in various groups. It's not like a PA system where everything blasts at you from the front of the room.

Btw, a lot of churches have Hammond B3s. My parent's church had one, but it was only played occasionally. That was probably because only one person could play it, and it didn't jive well with the kind of music the rest of the band played for the typical worship session.

 

[swarfrat]

Actually, now that I think about it. aren't a number of the mega church high profile guys from Britain?  Oz has a few.

 

[JimBeed]

Yeah they could definately belt out alot of noise compared to a pa system in terms of almost natural surround sound almost haha.

 

[Alfang]

Does anyone play Shout at the devil? just curious

 

[Justinginn]

I've played in an alt band, a metal band, and a worship band in the last few years and the worship band was always the most challenging in terms of guitar parts. There are a lot of dynamics available when you go with a full band that you don't get with a pipe organ, etc. and for that reason I've always been a fan of guitar-driven worship sets. As with any situation with a PA, you're always fighting the sound guy to determine how loud he'll let you be on stage and how much he'll want in the mains. Of course we guitar players know best.  :laughing7:

Jumble, electric guitar parts in worship music I've played is pretty much defined as U2-style delay stuff around vocal sections, leads at certain parts of songs that are usually the same, and then occasional solos. All that stuff is planned out in such a way as to distract from the congregational singing as little as possible while reinforcing the appropriate emotional atmosphere. In the worship bands I've played in though, we had an understanding that the message being communicated by whatever song we were playing was the most important thing and that the emotional atmosphere we were creating existed just to help people interact with with the truth of the songs. So I interpret the purpose and effects of this kind of music different than line6man would, which is fine.

The above being said, traditional music still happens, usually a capella, and there's a lot of mixing of genres that happens from time to time. I've worked Regge, blues, jazz, even elements of prog into songs before so it's all a matter of what sounds good, is conducive to the goal, and won't disturb those around you. Which varies from time to time, but like Swarf mentioned, when a lot of people are trying to sing, everything needs to get a little more simple and that keeps us to U2 riffs a lot of the time.

 

[dmraco]

I play all the time.  I just live bringing my MESA Mini Recto and getting some some great church tones out of it. :headbang1:

I am in the "ADULT" group.  We play once a month.  It is a catholic church so things are fairly conservative.  Usually the final hymm gets some gain added.

Last year we played at the Chrismas eve masses, the finaly song was Joy to the World.  I was really able to crank it up.  I wish I had a recording of that.

We also played at the church festival.  A mixture of covers and originals by our music director.  I find the the whole experience very educational.  Some of the chord structures are very unique.  IT has really added to my understanding of the guitar, especially since I was never formally trained.

 

[Tonar8352]

keeps us to U2 riffs a lot of the time.

I often have joked about the Edge being the major influence to contemporary worship guitar driven music. I don't know how that happened but if you really look into the rigs that many of these young 30 and under players are using they use Vox or Vox style amps, and they love their delays.

I think the guy that really uses the guitar well in his worship music is Lincoln Brewster. He plays some serious mean guitar.  Look him up on the internet just to check out his chops.  The boy can play! There are a lot of seriously great musicians playing in church's all over the world. 

 

[swarfrat]

My nephew has pointed out the U2 thing before.

One thing that I think works especially well for melodic guitar lines is supporting descant lines that nobody knows. People don't generally learn 'parts' any more, so it can be helpful to throw em a line so to speak.

 

[Justinginn]

For a while, I used to play a lot of "vocal" harmonies on guitar with the same idea swarf mentioned. I found that I'd stylize it too much and it would be hard to sing with but I know some people who have incorporated it better so I'm sure it can be done.

The real goal is to get tapping into every song, of course.  :laughing7:

 

[swarfrat]

And piglet squeals. :guitarplayer2:

 

[Cagey]

Piglet squeals! LOL! I love piglet squeals! Never heard 'em called that, but it's perfect!

 

[TBurst Std]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXWFJVrxMgU
Our leader at the stone.

For a while it was Chris Tomlin and Todd Agnew, as well as Jimmy Mcneal.

Joining a new worship band next year, as a lead guitarist. I will get solos, but I always try not to hog the spotlight in any way. Usually during a solo the group leader continues to sing, as well as the congregation, to avoid idolization. I can use effects, in fact we rarely play clean without a chorus, delay, reverb, etc.

Usually alt rock style, and we go through a P.A. so things mix right.

Always fun.

We have been playing quite a bit of the Stone's stuff reccently.
Playing How Great is Our Joy later today.

 

[TBurst Std]

I play a lot at churches and other religious events (Like at least once a week, sometimes 4 times a week).
For the churches, the music is mainly contemporary praise, but there is some blended stuff as well as hymns, depending on the venue.

Size of these them are all over the place. My main church, which is now almost 3 months planted, meets in a HS auditorium. Capacity is 900. Right now, as a real new church,we are doing fairly well pulling in 160 a service. Music is contemporary. Lots of Crowder, Stanfield, Tomlin, Hillsong Live, Hillsong United, Jesus Culture, etc. We will do harder stuff such as FireFlight, Skillet, etc.

My previous church, Capacity was 850. Played weekly in front of 1500-1600. We were on Avioms there which I dearly love with my JH Audio Pro16s. Music was very similar to my current church.

The church before that sat about 350. Music was more blended in nature. Lots of singers.

Have helped a few churches with their worship ministries. They have been more blended and smaller capacities with the avg at 100.

I am also a music director for the Aldersgate Walk to Emmaus community. This is an acoustic based setup. Music is hymns to light contemporary. You get an acoustic work out on this 4 day event. Last one, on that Sat, I played all together for about 8 hrs. Starting at 5:30 AM on Sun, my fingers were hurting LOL.

Gear I use is in my sig. Before I went AXE-FX, I was mainly bringing my AC30, unless we were doing some FireFliight, Brewster, etc, then I would bring my Plexi. Also had a vintage Fender BMR SF on tap.