A Blog For Worship Leaders Who Lead Normal People In Normal Churches ||| RealWorldWorship.Org
Where to Put the Volume Pedal?
Now, we’ve talked about signal chain before on the blog (HERE). There’s no right or wrong, only guidelines. Generally compression goes towards the front and reverb goes to the back. But some effects can find a home almost anywhere along the line. Where’s the best spot in your signal chain to put a Volume Pedal (VP)? What are the pros and cons? Is there one VP that’s better than the rest? Let’s talk about it.
Every so often I look over the search terms from engines like Google and Yahoo that lead people to this blog and turn them into a sort of Q&A. This one is pretty guitar and musical gear heavy but hopefully it’s helpful to someone. (warning, if some of my comments seem like I’m being snarky, it’s because I am 🙂 )
Continue reading “Spring Q&A: What’s the Best Thing and Other Questions”
I started “blogging” over 10 years ago. I think I started on blogspot and it wasn’t anything memorable. Then MySpace came along, and people seemed to connect with things I wrote on their blog feature. After that was all over I kept a personal WordPress blog for a number of years that got little to no traffic outside of a few friends. Then, around 2011, I began to write with growing frequency about worship leading, which at that point been one of my primary areas of ministry for over a decade. More and more I found that my blog had become bipolar, split between random streams of thought and one continual subject: worship leading.
Part of this split personality in my writing was a reaction to my own personal searching. I was looking through other blogs, websites and podcasts, trying to find anyone who was writing about the questions I was asking or the issues I was facing as a worship leader. Sadly, there wasn’t much out there. The resources that are so common now just didn’t exist. It’s not that there weren’t podcasts or websites devoted to the subject, but few to none that spoke to me or my issues.
So in 2012 I created a new blog, solely dedicated to the practical and spiritual elements of leading a church in worship. Almost 4 years and 200 posts later, here we are.
I’ve been writing this blog for almost 4 years and this is the first time I’ve addressed how we dress on stage. The Bible has things to say about how Christians should present themselves. The Church Culture has things to say about how Christians should present themselves (not necessarily the same as the Bible). Even the Secular Culture has ideas about how Christians dress, or how everyone else should dress too.
So why should I add my thoughts to the mix? That’s actually not my goal. Of course I have opinions on this subject, but my goal isn’t to give you a list of things I think you should do. My goal is to break down some general keys to follow as you try to figure out what’s right in regards to you, your church, your cultural context and your convictions. As always, while our basis for these things must be found in God’s Word, working these things out can feel at times like a moving target so I’m going to try and focus on Dress Keys than Dress Codes.
Continue reading “Codes and Keys (How To Dress For The Modern Church)”
Honestly, I wish this was the question being asked. Should I? But the question is usually phrased more along the lines of “which effects should I use?” This assumes that any should be used at all.
To that end, I want to first ask the question “should I?” and use that to answer the “which ones?” question.
Continue reading “Should I Use Effects With My Acoustic Guitar”
Some pedals are easy as pie to dial in. The MXR Phase 90 and it’s one control knob come to mind. The Tube Screamer is pretty straightforward: volume, tone, gain… that’s it. (Note: I love both of these pedals)
But as technology has advanced, pedals and their controls have become more advanced and complicated. Some people stay away from pedals with too many knobs or complicated controls. Some people have them, but don’t know what to do with them.
My goal is to walk you through some steps that should help you conquer your fears and expand your guitar tone!
Continue reading “The Electric: How To Dial In Complicated Pedals”
Boss effects pedals is the Ford Motor Company of the musical world. The Ford Focus is a great car, the Escape is incredibly popular, and the F-150 is an American institution. Yet on Car magazine covers and wall posters it’s the Ferrari’s, Lamborghini’s and Porches’ that get all the love. The same is true with Boss pedals. The RV-5 is a iconic reverb sound found on records from all across the musical spectrum, yet Strymon get’s all the love. What’s the difference between Boss vs boutique pedals and how should affect how I spend my gear money?
I noticed the trap in pulpit ministry before I saw it in music ministry. Young preachers imitating older or better known preachers. Cadence, vocal pitch, even attempting to mimic the humor or jokes, and sometimes just outright stealing stories and analogies employed by the preacher they obviously admired.
The same thing is true in music ministries and if you’ve been around long enough you’ve probably seen it yourself. Churches whose bands play note for note everything exactly like it was off the record. The singer who is obviously trying to be Kim Walker-Smith or the worship leader who is shouting things because he heard Matt Redman do it.
The Imitation Trap is seeing the success of someone else, and assuming that this is the way that you have to do it. To judge your success not on what God has called you to do, but on how others live out their callings. I want to present four reasons that we as worship leaders should avoid this trap at all costs, and a positive alternative to imitation that might just be a way forward for you, and your ministry.
Real World Worship 