Guitar, Leaders, Players, Worship Leading
Leading Worship From Guitar 7-6-17
#LeadFromGuitar
3 min read
The Guitar-Playing Worship Leader
As a guitar player, do you ever feel inadequate about leading worship with your guitar? Playing guitar is one thing, but adding in the element of leading a congregation adds a whole other dimension and host of issues to work through.
Have you ever noticed that some people seem comfortable with their instrument, while others seem to be fighting with it or even hiding behind it?
Have you seen the guitarists who have so many gadgets and foot pedals that it looks like they’re preparing for takeoff rather than just making good music? When it comes to most guitar-playing worship leaders, I’ve learned that simpler is often the better way to go. Here are five things to keep in mind when leading with a guitar.
Discover how to lead worship well while leading from the guitar.
1. Don’t Overplay
The number one challenge every church player has is to not overplay their instrument. When everyone in the band is playing as hard, fast, and loud as they can (think “Animal” in The Muppets on his drum kit), the result is a wall of sound that is potentially filled with conflicting patterns, chords, and notes. The general rule of “Less is more” is ALWAYS fitting when it comes to praise bands.A savvy leader will not only lay back on the heavy playing most of the time, but she will help the other players understand the idea of blending the band like you blend the singers – be tasteful and as light as possible on your instrument, keeping in mind what all the other players are doing at all times.
There will be plenty of Sundays ahead to get your extra notes out.[ctt template=”6″ link=”7Pl1I” via=”no” ] The general rule of “Less is more” is ALWAYS fitting when it comes to praise bands.[/ctt]
2. Try Not To Fuss With Your Guitar
Messing with pedals or straps or tuners or anything else while leading is distracting to the worshipers. The focus is to be on the song and on actually getting people to be conscious of Jesus’ presence, not focusing on how fidgety you are.Do all you can to maintain a sense of stage presence and not bite your nails, scratch yourself, say things like “Ummmmmm” and “Aaaaaaahhhh” between the songs and do all you can to use your guitar as the instrument it should be – an accompaniment and not something to distract with. Guitars are to be heard, not necessarily seen.
That being said, you may have to make minor adjustments along the way, but the primary doodling with gear should happen before service, not during.
3. Tune before leading, not between each song.
As I was saying, do all you can to insure your instrument is tuned, polished, and geared up long before the service starts. Get with your tech person and dial in the graphics you want, make sure the tone and blend and patches and cables and chorus and all the do-da stuff you want are ready to go.And, for goodness’ sake, tune the guitar. There are plenty of awesome tuners out there now, many of which are quite affordable and user-friendly. I recommend clip on guitar tuners because you don’t have to look down to tune.
4. Keep your instrument in shape
If you have problems with your guitar staying in tune, take it into town and get someone to work on the intonation. Sometimes a slightly bowed neck can affect tuning/intonation, as can worn frets, and I’m sure some other issues can crop up that your tech person can identify and fix.But these should be dealt with hours and days before you’re standing there in front of your peeps trying to concentrate on what you’re really there to do.
I used to play this really beautiful candy apple red electric semi-hollow body Epiphone guitar. Not an especially high end piece, but I loved the feel of it and the tones I could generate with a fairly simple rig. Sadly, I couldn’t get the thing to hold pitch.
I tuned and tuned and tuned, but it would never stay in tune. I would barely get through the first verse of the first song and it would be wonky. I would start sweating and lose my focus and the rest of the set I was fighting the wrong fight and losing terribly.
I never fully conquered that guitar and I finally laid it down, using it primarily in the studio where I had a lot less pressure and a lot more control.
5. Keep the vocal as the primary focus.
In the end, you’re there to vocally cue the congregation and your team. If your focus begins to shift too heavily towards your guitar and gear, you’re giving up sacred opportunities to effectively lead your people into a strong sense of the presence of Jesus. Just don’t do it.Even if you need to lay your instrument down for a while, it’s worth so much more to be a great leader than a great player.
People will never really be that impressed with your chord playing, anyway, and unless you’re Lincoln Brewster, you aren’t the leader because of your fabulous guitar skills. Get a little humility going and lose the rock star thing.
Learn to let the guitar be what it is supposed to be and use your voice to lead well. And, by the way, everything I said about the guitar is true for your voice, except maybe clipping on a Snark.
Why Are You There?
In the final analysis, everything you have on stage should be there to serve the purpose of helping people worship. If a guitar or anything else becomes a distraction, you lose effectiveness and the attention of the people. Why not conduct a little inventory of the stage and all that is on it? What about the room you worship in?Is there a cohesiveness to all that is present that creates a conducive atmosphere, or is there dissonance and distraction even in the room? WTTU Mentoring is geared to help you become the best worship leader you can be by eliminating as many conflicting distractions as possible.
Learn to use your guitar to help you, not hinder you. John Chisum Worship Team Training Mentor Get a Mentor and get equipped today: www.wttu.co/mentoring
John Chisum is the former Director of Song Development and Copyright for Integrity Media and the was Vice-President of Publishing for Star Song Media. He is an internationally appreciated worship leader, songwriter, mentor, coach, consultant, and clinician. Click here for information on The Worship Leader’s One-on-One Coaching with John Chisum johnchisum.org/coaching.
For information about booking John for a worship seminar, worship concert, or special event, contact him directly at john@johnchisum.org.
@RevChiz @BranonDempsey @worshiptt @WorshipTTU
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