For those of you who may be leading musical worship in some context… A while back, I wrote about “Knowing Your Core”: knowing how you would essentially describe the Gospel. (If you haven’t taken the time to write down your core, I’d encourage you to take a few minutes and do this). It’s not enough … Continue reading
Over the past few days, I started thinking about the essentials of the way I approach music. It’s probably not complete, and it’s probably not the last time I’ll do something like that, but here ya go… There is no such thing as “simple” music If you think that a genre of music is “easy” … Continue reading
One of my favorite quotes is in the movie Rocknrolla: There ain’t no school like the old school and I’m the #@$%@#$% headmaster. When I started playing guitar, playing in church was not an option. Our church was a piano/organ place, and we only did acoustic guitar on a very, very rare occasion. In fact, … Continue reading
I recently purchased and downloaded Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. Wow. Considered to be one of the most amazing works of Western music, its power and beauty can be breathtaking. But, as I listened, something struck me about the piece. In case you didn’t know, the 9th is long. Over an hour (that’s pretty rare in our modern world, … Continue reading
I got my first electric guitar, a Fender Musicmaster (with a silverfaced Fender Champ) around 1981 or 82, I think. For the next three or four years, spent 2 to 3 hours a day trying to learn songs off of a few key records that I had, including: Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy … Continue reading
There is nothing, absolutely NOTHING, like hearing a master drummer lay down an amazing groove… When it all comes together, it’s amazing: the drums become a groovy, powerful symphony that is practically irresistible to any listener. The cymbals, snare, toms and kick all blend together across a wide dimension of frequencies to make this happen. … Continue reading
This is a bit of rant… I was on my favorite gear discussion board today, when I noticed a few posts with similar titles: “Post your favorite U2/Praise and Worship Pedalboards”; “Favorite Praise and Worship Overdrive Pedals”; and so on… <sigh> Church, what have we become? Where has our creativity, our imagination, our artistry gone? … Continue reading
Twice — I think in 2000 and 2001 — I was privileged to teach a seminar at the Willow Creek Arts Conference called something like “Towards Spontaneity in Worship.” The seminar was designed to help worship leaders safely navigate being able to have some “unplanned creativity” in worship: extended outros, “Holy Spirit” moments where the … Continue reading
I get this, at a very deep level. This is how I approach music. “Either you are the music or you’re not. There are a lot of people that want to do what I do, but what I do is about humility and righteousness and understanding, because music is precious. I know it’s just rock … Continue reading
