Beyond Sunday Worship

Worship Podcast

How To Practice Better – Acoustic Guitar

*This is another post in a series on “How To Practice Better”. Check out the other posts on worship leading and bass guitar. Subscribe for free to receive regular updates of my posts.

The acoustic guitar is the instrument in the band that is oft-overlooked and rarely practiced.

Why is that?

It’s because most people who aspire to guitar stardom start with an acoustic. They want to be rockstars but they realize it is extremely hard work to be good – to shred, melt faces, blow people’s minds with fingering speeds Jimi Hendrix would envy. So they learn three chords, two strum patterns, and start playing worship songs. They eventually take their bad practicing habits over to their Epiphone Les Paul and digital effects pedals, thinking they have finally made it. Far from it.

But what if you want more than that?

Here are a few tips to help you practice better with your acoustic guitar:

PRACTICE WITH A CLICK

I know I say this a lot, but it’s important. Pull out a metronome and practice those crazy strums in perfect time. Work on that internal clock. Most often the drummer is blamed for bad time, but the acoustic guitar is quite often an offender. Your band will thank you and maybe buy you a new guitar for such dedication.

KNOW WHEN NOT TO STRUM

It drives me crazy when acoustic players strum full force through an entire song. Relax. Sometimes all that is needed is a strum on the downbeats. But not just any strum. The most passionate strum you have ever strummed in the history of strumming. Slow your pick down. Sweep slowly over your strings, covering the entire length of that downbeat. Pour your passion into the simplicity. Play it like it’s the coolest thing you ever played. If you start arguing with your leader that it’s too simple, you may not be on the team much longer 🙂 Great music has space.

LEARN OPEN CHORD VOICINGS

I can’t stress this enough. I know it’s cool to learn bar chords for the first time. Sorry to disappoint, but they’re not that cool. Especially on an acoustic guitar. The best tones for an acoustic are open chord voicings. The less fingers you use and more open strings you strum, the better it will sound. Sometimes I will even detune my guitar to something like DADGAD in order to utilize more open strings. Also, get to know your capo. When a song is in the key of Ab, don’t play bar chords. Use your capo and get that open sound. I know some guitar players call the capo a “crutch for the weak” but I think THEY are the weak ones! In all seriousness, it’s not a matter of weakness. It’s a matter of good tone.

DON’T PLAY LEADS

I know it’s tempting to show up the lead guitarist with your smooth jazz leads, but just stop it. You are there for rhythm. Learn how to harness what you know and contribute only what the song demands. This goes for all musicians – submit to what a song needs. Don’t show off all you know within the course of a song. Don’t seek to impress, play simply.

Acoustic guitarists, the floor is yours. What is ONE PRACTICE TECHNIQUE that has helped you become better?

Worship: Consume or Be Consumed?

Worship music has become such an industry. It makes money. It dominates Christian radio. We get warm fuzzies when we hear our favorite artist singing our favorite song.

This is can be good, but I also think it spoils us for our local churches. Instead of pursuing God, we listen for our favorite songs. We view the worship time as a  3 song warm-up more than an encounter with the living God. If the worship leader does our favorite song, we will pump our fists and get into it.

But what if it never happens? How do we re-capture the essence of worship in a massive industry of worship consumerism?

I once heard Louie Giglio say that instead of consuming worship, we should be consumed by worship. What if you approached every service at church with an expectation to be consumed by the greatness of God? That may sound scary to you.

All I’m saying is that we be God-centered rather than song-centered; that we approach weekend services with expectation rather than routine. To the congregation’s credit, a good worship leader should skillfully help you do this. But that doesn’t leave you without responsibility.

Come be consumed by worship rather than consuming songs.

Question: how do you prepare your heart for true worship? What are some ways we can re-capture true worship in such a ‘consumer’ industry? I dare you to leave a comment 🙂

The Weekly Wrap-Up

MONDAY

Common Worship Leading Blunders (Part 2)

Vicky Beeching recently wrote an excellent, thorough blog post on dealing with disasters in a worship set. If you’ve been a worship leader for any length of time, you know encountering a disaster is a “when” not an “if”. Vicky gave some great advice for a variety of situations and I suggest you read it. Whereas my last post was on worship leading blunders you should avoid, I wanted to expand on Vicky’s post to include a few more ‘blunders’ that just seem to happen…and how to recover. Here goes:

Read the full post here.

TUESDAY

What I Am Listening To

WEDNESDAY

A Most Powerful Daily Question

A number of weeks ago I wrote a post on contributing and consuming. Whether you like it or not, you are doing one or the other. You are either taking or giving. You are either watching or participating. You are either criticizing or taking your own risks that add value. This concept leaves us with a most powerful daily question: What will I contribute today?

Read the full post here.

THURSDAY

3 Ways Worship Leaders Can Deal With Discouragement

With my recent posts on worship leading blunders, it’s easy to laugh at the mistakes when you’re in hindsight. You can look back, learn, laugh, and grow to become more humble. But in the moment it’s not so funny. Sometimes when we miss the mark, we get discouraged.

Read the full post here.

FRIDAY

How to Get the Most Out of Reading Blogs

Do you read blogs? Obviously you do because you are are reading this right now. I do a lot of reading but when it comes to reading blogs, I prefer the ones that are brief, practical, and teach me new things. I simply don’t want to read a book when I sit down to read blogs. I like to read fast, archive what is helpful, and apply what is practical. That’s why I write a lot of list posts (they can be scanned quickly) and how to’s (practical). Here’s how I would recommend you read blogs:

Read the full post here.

INTERESTING LINKS:

Freedom + Control = Successful Singing by Chris Beatty

Where’s Your Platform? by Seth Godin

Inspiration is for Amateurs by Steven Furtick

7 Powerful Ways to Get Your Blog Post Noticed by ProBlogger

 

 

 

 

How to Get the Most Out of Reading Blogs

Do you read blogs? Obviously you do because you are are reading this right now. I do a lot of reading but when it comes to reading blogs, I prefer the ones that are brief, practical, and teach me new things. I simply don’t want to read a book when I sit down to read blogs. I like to read fast, archive what is helpful, and apply what is practical.

That’s why I write a lot of list posts (they can be scanned quickly) and how to’s (practical). Here’s how I would recommend you read blogs:

SCHEDULE YOUR BLOG READING

While the internet has revolutionized our lives in numerous ways, if we don’t plan how we use it we won’t get anything done. I make it a point to not read blogs throughout the day. It keeps me from doing the work I’m supposed to do. So schedule it. It depends on the day, but I’ll either scan blogs early in the morning or late afternoon. Don’t allow the internet to keep you from contributing rather than consuming.

USE A BLOG READER

I personally use Google Reader. But there are scores of others. Rather than visiting individual sites or even clicking links from Twitter, subscribe to your favorite blogs. Then you can set a dedicated time where you read. This has helped me be more productive and focus. Twitter becomes more of a scan and less of a link jumping exercise.

CREATE FOLDERS WITHIN YOUR BLOG READER

It has been incredibly helpful to group my blogs in folders. My current folders are Blogging, Business, Christian, Finance, Leadership, Productivity, Technology, Worship, and Young Adult Ministry. I have all my blogs listed in their proper folder. This helps me read blogs based on the mood I’m in. I can select precisely what I want to read.

SAVE POSTS YOU WANT TO READ LATER

Like I said, I prefer to read blogs fast. But sometimes there’s a power packed post with content I can’t resist. Use something like Instapaper or Evernote to save posts for later and revisit them when you have a day off (I prefer Instapaper for its simplicity here).

APPLY SOMETHING YOU’VE LEARNED

The power of blogs are in their practicality. When I come across a post that is incredibly helpful, I’ll save it in Instapaper, revisit it later, and add an action step to my task list. Otherwise ideas get lost. Life gets too busy. When you read something you’d like to do, write it down and make it happen.

COMMENT ON POSTS

Another perk of reading blogs is how it engages you in a community. Bloggers love it when you comment on their blogs. They want to interact with you. They want to learn from you. They may even want to highlight what you are doing. It will also help grow your blog, if you have one. This could take a really long time, so be careful here. Find the best blogs and comment. Add value.

I hope this blog has been a source of encouragement to you. As I’m setting some goals for 2011, I’d like to continue blogging and writing content that is of interest and benefit to you. In my blogging I seek to be engaging and helpful.

So, will you help me?

What issues are you facing that you’d like me to address?

What are some more things I should write about?

Thanks for the feedback.

3 Ways Worship Leaders Can Deal with Discouragement

With my recent posts on worship leading blunders, it’s easy to laugh at the mistakes when you’re in hindsight. You can look back, learn, laugh, and grow to become more humble.

But in the moment it’s not so funny. Sometimes when we miss the mark, we get discouraged.

You’re asked to lead a song and you botch the lyrics…again. You’re excited for this rehearsal only to feel like no one on your team respects you. And that comment from a church member about how you don’t flow in the Spirit doesn’t help either.

Sometimes it’s easy to laugh at mistakes but sometimes it hits too close to home.

How can we be better prepared for this? Here’s 3 Ways:

1. Draw confidence from God’s love

Musicians and worship leaders need this. We have a tendency to base our self worth on how well we do. While we should place a priority on excellence, that has nothing to do with our self worth. Before we are musicians and singers and worship leaders, we are loved by Jesus. Period. You’ll also be a more effective worship leader with this truth at your core.

2. Surround yourself with those who believe in you

I have a great relationship with my Senior Pastor. I know he believes in me 100%. That also doesn’t mean he’s not afraid to point out what needs improvement. Surround yourself with great leaders who believe in you and take to heart what they say. Don’t allow the criticizers to discourage you. Be polite, but listen to those who love you.

3. Plan Well

You see, a lot of mistakes can be avoided if you prepare well. Look ahead and put out necessary fires before they happen. Things may still go wrong, but at least you’ve done all you can to avoid them. Spend time in personal worship, put front end work into your rehearsals, plan your setlist.

What about you? What has helped you deal with discouragement? You can leave a comment by clicking here.