My friends over at The Church Collective have a new post up by Rob Carona that I think it worth your time called “4 Ways To Release The Potential Of Your Worship Team”.
I highly recommend this article to you.
Tag: worship
The Electric: Signal Chain
In this series I try and address different aspects of the practical side of playing electric guitar in church music. This week we’ll continue the conversation about finding the best amp for worship.
How have I never written a Signal Chain post? It’s almost criminal. Signal Chain posts are the Tube Screamer’s of guitar blogging! So after two and a half years, I think it’s finally time.
SIGNAL CHAIN
So you’ve got some pedals now, and you’re putting them together. Maybe they’re all Boss pedals (which is pretty much all we had back when I started) so you’ve just ordered them by color. That’s ok right? Well… not quite.
We order in pedals in a certain way (signal chain) because of the effects it has on the sound waves. For example a vibrato pedal affects the shape of the wave form while a delay pedal just repeats that shape. So the order you put the pedals affects the sound you get, and in some cases the way a pedal will act or respond.
Gear Review: The JHS Colour Box
A while back I wrote a full review on The Church Collective for the JHS Colour Box. You can find it HERE.
In the time since I’ve made a few observations to add to what I’ve previously written.
GAIN
This thing is a really, really great gain pedal. Fuzz, Distortion, Overdrive. All great. Specifically the fuzz. I think it’s better or more valuable as an EQ/Tone shaper, but the fuzz sounds really, really great and it’s tempting switch roles.
On Gungor, Doubt & Belief
If you’re on any sort of social media, then it’s possible that this last week you saw 1 (or 20) posts, comments, links, and/or articles relating to Michael and Lisa Gungor, their band, and how they’ve denied the faith or something. This is a funny subject because it’s not strictly about worship. Most of Gungor’s songs don’t translate to the average church (you try doing Beautiful Things and see how that works out for ‘ya 😉 ). But I think it’s worth talking about for a few reasons.
First and foremost, I’ve been annoyed about the whole thing and it’ll be cathartic to get this off my chest. Secondly, because there’s just been a lot of silliness written about it in the last few weeks and I’d like to write something that gets past the rhetoric. Lastly, as worship leaders, we should know where our songs come from, who writes them, and how we should interact with churches who don’t line up with the style and shape of our own.
(See the article that kind of kicked every thing off HERE and Gungor’s response HERE)
NOTE: Michael Gungor (MG) really is representative of his family, band and church. So there may be parts of this post where I’m not just talking about him specifically, but you’ll just have to let the context tell you when that is.
Gear Review: Empress Tape Delay
BRAND: Empress
MODEL: Tape Delay
COST: $249
WHAT IT IS: The Empress Tape Delay (ETD) is an outgrowth of the Canadian Effects Company’s Superdelay unit. The ETD focus’s solely on the sounds and feel of Magnetic Tape Delay units of days gone by, with much more control and “tweakability” at your fingertips.
It’s hardly fair, but the ETD will live or die in it’s comparison to the Strymon El Capistan. In this regard it’s probably to say that this pedal will always be the “kid brother” for many people but I am not one of those people. I was very inclined towards apathy in regards to the ETD when I first borrowed it for a multi-church outreach, and I ended up falling in love with it and was very sad to give it back. My regard for the pedal is good enough for you, then stop reading and go buy it, but if it’s not (and why should it be) then keep reading to find out why.
Can A Non-Christian Worship God?
Recently, I noticed a google search that lead someone to this blog: Can a non-christian worship God? I’m assuming that google lead them to either THIS POST about whether or not a non-Christian can be on the worship team, or THIS POST about the arguments over sacred vs secular in church music. While I hope that either of those articles was helpful to the person’s Google search, I realized that both flirted with the question, but never answered it directly: Can a non-Christian worship God? Yes or no.
Brand Breakdown: Analog.man
The Evil Twin of “The Electric”, the Brand Breakdown is meant to give an overview of the companies that make the gear we use. We’ll talk about everything from their standout products, to build quality, to whether I like their graphic design or not, and how it all applies to church musicians and music we make.
THE RUNDOWN
Analog.man effects is one of the oldest and most respected effects pedal builders around. Part of their unique place in the guitar world is that they are also a dealer, selling other companies pedals as well as their own. Not content to stop there, Analog Mike and his team are also some of the most respected “moders” of effects pedals in the industry.
The Electric: Worship Guitar Amplifier Buying Guide
In this series I try and address different aspects of the practical side of playing electric guitar in church music. This week we’ll continue the conversation about finding the best amp for worship.
Last week I gave some thoughts about finding the best amp to use for worship leading (HERE). This week I thought it might be helpful to write out a check list or buyers guide of sorts that you can use as a tool in your search for you amp. The goal of this tool isn’t to tell you what to buy but to help bring clarity to your decision process.
Continue reading “The Electric: Worship Guitar Amplifier Buying Guide”
New Worship Music: My Heart Has Spoken
Have you ever said “I’m tired of the same old thing in Worship Music?” or “I wish there was more saxophone in Worship Music?” or “I want more saxophone, but its always lame?” or “I want to get a new record for a worship band with a Latin name that doesn’t exist anymore?” Well then, the new record by Proto Evangelion called “My Heart Has Spoken” is for you!
Sermon-Centric Planning?
Neil over at the Blue Collar Worship Blog has written a great post about the problems with planning your set list around the pastor’s sermon.
There are a lot of folks who think it’s vital to plan your message around the sermon, and a lot of good tools and software available to accomplish this. I think that no matter what you do, you need to have a good line of communication with the leadership of your church, and a clear understanding of what’s expected of you. The reverse is that the leadership needs to have an understanding that if they ask for certain things it will require other things. You can read Neil’s prespective on not planning your set list thematically to match the sermon HERE. Here’s my thoughts on why I don’t plan thematically.
Real World Worship 