Capo

I’ve had quite few discussions recently with some different worship team members about the acoustic guitar player’s best friend – the Capo.

Most of you are familiar with these clever little devices which resemble a very large peg of sorts which is used to shorten the strings and hence raise the pitch of the guitar by whatever number of semitones you choose.

The advantage of using a capo is that it enables you to use open string chord shapes in whichever key you need to play in. Most guitarists can probably remember the first time they strummed an open E or G chord and that awesome resonant sound. Barre chords can certainly be used on acoustic but they just don’t sound as good.

Capo Basics

The capo should be applied in your chosen position reasonably close to the next fret (like in the picture above) so that if your pick each string openly there should be a nice in tune note with no buzz.

If you are buying a capo I prefer the Kyser capo (above) or the Jim Dunlop capo (next pic below) or similar which have the advantage of being able to change position very quickly.

Most capo beginners will write out a different chord chart with the names of the open chords they are playing, relative to the capo, however your aim should be to be able to play from the original music and transpose the chord shapes in your head.

Mastering the Capo

It takes a little bit of practice but mastering the capo is pretty easy. All it needs is knowledge of simple open chord shapes that almost all guitarists should already know; and a good familiarity with ther notes along the length of the lowest 3 strings.

Starting on the 6th E string the main chord shapes you need to know are your basic open E and G chord shapes, remembering the position of the root notes for these shapes. The root note (E) of the E chord is the open string, and the root note of the G chord is the 3rd fret. Thus for example if you have your capo on the 4th fret, the E chord shape will be G# and the G chord shape will be B, which is the note on the 3rd fret relative to the capo (ie 7th fret). You can also use the minor shapes as well – eg Em chord shape with Capo on the 4th fret will give you a G#m chord. So 6th string, remember your E major (and E minor) chord shapes, and the G chord shape.

on the 5th (A) string the two shapes you need to remember are the open A chord shape (root note open) and the C chord shape (root note 3rd fret). Thus if your capo is on the 4th fret the open A chord shape will be C# (and Am shape becomes C#m) and the C chord shape will give you an E chord.

Finally on the 4th (D) string there is only one important shape you need to remember – the open D chord shape, which has it’s root note on the open 4th string. Along with this you can play the Dm chord shape (or D7 or Dsus4 etc etc). For example if we leave our capo at the 4th fret the D shape will give us an F# chord, or Dm shape gives the F#m chord.

Putting it simply, and rearranging things a little, the 5 main chord shapes to remember are C A G E D. C and A are on the 5th string, G and E on the 6th, and D on the 4th. If you know the notes on the fretboard along these 3 strings then you will be able to use these shapes to play open chords in just about any key.

And remember you can play the minor and 7th and sus and other variations of these chord shapes (eg Am, A7, Asus2, Asus4 etc with Capo on the 4th fret becom C#m C#7, C#sus etc)

Finally to complete your chord arsenal I’d suggest adding a couple of barre chord shapes as well. Remember the F barre chord with it’s root note on the 6th string, 1st fret. Bb barre chord with it’s root note on the 5th string, 1st fret, and the Bm barre chord with it’s root on the 5th string, 2nd fret. If you add these chords in as well you can play just about anything.

Let’s try another example. Put your capo on the 3rd fret and work out what the CAGED chord shapes will give you…

• 6th string – E shape = G chord; G shape = Bb chord
• 5th string – A shape = C chord; C shape = Eb chord
• 4th string – D shape = F chord
• and adding in the others we have F shape = Ab chord; Bm shape = Dm chord

As you can see from this, this is a good place to be if you are playing songs in the key of Bb or F.

Or another position I commonly use is the capo on the 2nd fret, which gives you good chord for the keys of D and A. Let’s look at some of the main chords in these keys you might use :

• 6th string – Em shape = F#m chord; G shape = A chord; F shape = G chord
• 5th string – Am shape = Bm chord; C shape = D chord; Bm shape = C#m chord; A shape = B chord
• 4th string – D shape = E chord

As you can see this gives you most of the main chords you will need to play songs in the D, A, and E keys.

Play around with this. Put the capo on each fret and try the CAGED shapes and see what chords they provide you with.

Once you get good at this, and familiar with the notes in each position, you will begin to get a feel for where to put the capo depending on what key the song is in. Here’s some positions I cxommonly use for various keys :

• 2nd fret – keys D, A, E
• 3rd fret – keys F, Bb (and C if you want)
• 4th fret – keys E, B, F#
• 5th fret – keys C, G, F (nice alternate high positions for these regular open keys)

These would be the main ones I commonly use (especially capo at 2 and 4), so if you get familiar with all the chords in these positions you will be well placed to play songs in the most common keys we use. This really is a blessing for key centres like B where hardly any of the chords offer you an open shape without a capo.

All it needs is a bit of practice and hopefully the understanding will just click into place for you. I rarely play acoustic guitar without a capo now, and am actually using it more often on my electric guitar now too. And for mandolin playing the capo has been a godsend too, but that’s a whole other story. Finally, once you get good with a regular 6 string capo, you could try a ‘cut capo’ which only covers 3 strings (like in this picture), leaving the other 3 strings open, creating new shapes and really nice alternate chord voicings (especially in the key of E I think) – but work on mastering the regular capo first.

So good luck, give it a try, and please ask me if you have any questions.

Paul

My Future Decided | Hillsong United | Synth intro tutorial

Here is a demo on how to play the synthesiser part in My Future Decided intro.

New sound in the worship mix

Hey people,

I’d like to talk about something which may appear trivial at first. Hopefully I can turn it into a thought-provoking argument, include a product review, and somehow relate it all to worship!

I play three instruments; the Piano, Digital Piano and the Synthesiser. All instruments so alike, yet so different.  Just recently, I purchased an unbelievable late 80’s synthesiser… but that isn’t focus of this topic!

Now you may ask “what is a synthesiser?”. The answer in general terms: a chunky piece of analog hardware that was born in the late 70’s, thrived during the 80’s and went completely digital in the 90’s. With the introduction of digital technology, the synth began to move away from manipulating analog frequencies. Instead, more emphasis was placed on the emulation of ‘real’ sounds such as the piano, trumpet, saxophone, organ etc. (as well as using digital technology to reproduce analog sounds).

However, the analog synth is far from a dead instrument. They are still hugely popular with professionals and amateurs who believe analog frequency manipulation is far superior to digital manipulation. Analog synths are said to have a “phatter”, punchier sound quality than the majority of digital synths (especially those made during the 90’s).

Now, how do I plan to relate this to worship? Well, I believe the synths of the 1980’s  still have a place in contemporary worship music today. I’m not suggesting Sunday morning Van Halen “Jump” saw-pads or A-ha “Take On Me” synth leads! Synths DID and STILL CAN operate effectively in-the-mix with beautiful warm pads, strings and brass emulations. So on that “bomb shell” of a proposition, it’s time to demonstrate some sounds!

Product Review: TAL-U-No-62

TAL-U-No-62 is a VSTi plugin instrument for sequencing software. VST (Virtual Studio Technology) instruments are basically software versions of popular hardware or acoustic instruments. They are designed so that musicians can have top quality sounds available for sequencing without having to purchase  the actual instruments, thus saving money, space etc. The only real downsides to VSTi’s is that they take up a large amount of CPU. You need to buy more RAM for your computer if you want to operate VSTi seamlessly. In the tracks below, you may hear some “popping sounds” due to my computer not having enough RAM. Another arguable downside is due to the VSTi interface not being as engaging or easy to use as a ‘physical’ synth interface.

TAL-U-No-62 is regarded as the best software representation of the popular Juno 60 synthesiser. The Juno 60 was a monster synth, extremely punchy with one of the best user interfaces of the time. This software version is impressive in terms of its sound replication of the original instrument, and it’s FREE! The generous people at TAL develop lots of software and only ask for donations in return.

The track below is a demonstration of the preset “Synth Heaven”, with just a few adjustments to the attack and decay parameters. The piano is from my Roland RD-700GX.

This second track contains a TAL-U-No-62 sound that I engineered myself. I just call it “Funk Bass”. This track is a sample from one of my songs which is currently in progress.

Well, that’s about all. I hope that you enjoyed the reading and listening.  I think it would be interesting, fun at least, to experiment with analog synths to create some new sounds in the worship mix.

Charlie Young

Generous Worship

Lately in the messages there has been a bit of a focus on worship – with the “New song” message a couple of weeks ago and Mark’s sermon on worship yesterday based on Romans 12:1-2.

¹Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual^[a] act of worship. ²Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Mark made the point that worship needs to be about heart and action – not just one or the other which is like trying to ride a bike with one pedal. And something we all need to learn (but especially musical type people) is that worship is about more than music. Worship is a life lived response to who God is and what He has done. This article from Saddleback (in typical fashion) gives a simple list of ways to start worshipping without music.

Finally, let me leave you with another cool quote I discovered yesterday, which touches further on this subject of worship as sacrifice and giving. Let’s be generous in our worship to God, whether it’s in music or giving or serving others…

Be generous when you worship the Lord,
and do not stint the first fruits of your hands.
¹¹With every gift show a cheerful face,
and dedicate your tithe with gladness.
¹²Give to the Most High as he has given to you,
and as generously as you can afford. (Sirach 34:10-12)

Writing Songs

How I Write Songs

Came across this article today by worship leader Tommy Walker. He discusses his process for writing songs in a very practical, step by step fashion. There’s a few things I like about what he has to say here

I’ll pick up my guitar and begin strumming in a musical style that best seems to communicate the thought I’m working with. Then I just begin to worship. I search for a catchphrase (one line), or a “hook,” that best describes the thought. If I can find that one line, half the battle is over! Many times the phrase will already be found in scripture.

At this point I’m already starting to think about how I can create music that will enable the average person to sing along and be touched by this one phrase or truth. In other words, I try to keep the melody within an octave and try to keep the rhythmical phrasing of the lyrics consistent and as simple as possible.

When the song starts taking form it’s time to ask a couple of important questions. Does the song sound too much like some other song? Is the song too predictable? Even if the answer to these questions is “yes,” it isn’t necessarily time to give up.

If the song seems to have potential, I’ll focus on either changing the melody slightly, changing the rhythm or groove of the song, or both. None of us can escape the fact that frequently a new song is inspired by some other song. There’s nothing wrong with that. But when listening to your new song, consciously think about what parts of it sound exactly like the other song, then tweak it so it’s different.

He also discusses having a portable recording device to capture fleeting ideas before they vanish again. I’m finding the iPhone is perfect for this, since I always have it with me, and I guess most other modern phones would have this kind of ‘voice memo’ ability as well so check yours out.

I also like that he doesn’t wait too long to introduce a new song to his church. If his wife and pastor think it’s okay, he’ll try it on the congregation and give it at least a couple of weeks’ run to see how it works. Writing and singing new songs is more important so he’s happy to take a risk. As we’ve seen recently, there’s heaps of verse in the Bible encouraging us to sing new songs to God so let’s get on with it!

Definitely encourage all of our budding songwriters to check this article out. Might also have to check out some of Tommy Walker’s music as well…

~ Paul

40

Imagine if our worship services were like this…

…the music, the tone, the crowd, the scriptures, the lyrics – the power of music to lift you into a place where God feels closer

watching that made me feel that way, and it’s a concert clip, not even a church service..

we are privileged to be in a position where we can lead people in worship, to help guide them into that place…

¹ I waited patiently for the LORD;
he turned to me and heard my cry.

² He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.

³ He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear
and put their trust in the LORD.

Psalm 40

PS – I also like what Bono had to say in the interview at the end as well. Worship and mission go hand in hand.

Worship albums

It’s important as musicians, especially worship musos, to be continually listening to new music. It’s a great way to get inspired, stay fresh, and come up with new ideas.  Also it’s good to not listen to the same old stuff and the same style all the time – take a chance, listen to something a little different and see where it takes you…

Here’s a couple of CDs I’ve been getting into lately

1. Lincoln Brewster – Today is the Day hey

I think we’re a little behind here in Australia – this young guy has been making music in the US for a number of years now. Having said that, from looking back at some of his older stuff this new album is definitely setting the bar somewhat higher. Great songs – catchy and powerful, solid vocals, and phenomenal guitar. Could this be the first worship guitar hero? I know some Petra fans in our group may beg to differ We are looking at introducing some of Brewster’s songs very soon so it’s well worth getting familiar with… some of my favourite tracks are Today is the Day, God You Reign, and The Power of Your Name, which is one of the most amazing worship songs I have ever heard – musically it’s an epic power-ballad that I would put in the same class as say ‘Shout to the Lord’ but the lyrics are original and challenging. Check out the video of the song below (focus on the music not on the lame visuals..) … my only issue with Lincoln Brewster is his tendency to have his little kids reading verses or spoken vocals – what’s with that?? He even samples a foetus on the song below, although I didn’t spot it at first, thinking it was a Rolf Harris wobble board type thing! Kinda ironic consider I spend a big part of my days listening to foetal heart beats

2. Don Poythress – Wash Away

Remember when I told you you need to think outside the box and not be afraid to listen to something a bit different from the usual stuff?? Well this is the kind of thing I meant. This new album is unashamedly country! Now I know some of you feel the same way about country that others of us do about Petra, but give this music a chance. If you strip beneath the country veneer there are some brilliantly written, melodic and catchy worship songs here. This guy is a top class songwriter who has written for some big stars in Nashville and it shows in his worship songs – a lot to learn about the craft of songwriting here. And certainly there’s some songs that with a little bit of work could easily translate to our setting. Some of my picks are Expectation, Wash Away, A Thousand Generations, and the lovely ballad Fill Me Up, but there’s plenty of other good interesting tracks here. I’ve written a bit more about this album on my blog (since I don’t have the time to come up with original material for both blogs.. lol)

If anyone in our team wants to borrow these CDs off me just let me know and I’ll get them to you. And if anyone has any music they’ve discovered they want to share, or even write a review for this blog, please let me know…

Cheers,

Paul

King David – the Elvis of the Bible

Couldn’t resist posting this as well – but at least it’s worship related.. kinda.

It’s a music documentary video from these same b.a.d.d. drama guys looking at David, the guy who Bono refers to as the Elvis of the Bible (see below)

This is classic..

On a similar, but more serious note, have a read of this great article written by Bono. It’s an introduction to the Psalms – the Blue Note.

Anyway I really must get back to work – swine flu will wait for no one.

Baggas

Dangerous Bible Reading

Not specifically worship related this one, but I thought it was kinda funny.

.. be better careful about gratuitously reading your bible in cafes… it can get you in trouble!

And if you are worried that Bible reading is getting dangerous nowadays, try the Norm’s Notes Bible…

Worship Blogs

One of the biggest ways I keep myself inspired is by following some good worship related blogs on the internet. Helps remind me of the things that really matter like

• the endless quest for tone
• what a wonderful thing it is to obtain new gear and effects (we guitarists are so blessed compared to other less fortunate people like keyboard players or drummers or singers who don’t have an endless universe of effects to try… is it a blessing or a curse in disguise I wonder?)
• how awesome U2 are
• other stuff like God, the Bible, ministry focus, unity etc etc

I read a few of these blogs several times a week and it helps keep me interested. Also great to see how other people are doing things and learn from them. For example I recently discovered worship artist Lincoln Brewster through reading blogs and hopefully we’ll be doing some of his songs soon.

So let me encourage you as musicians to find some great worship blog websites on the net and visit them regularly to learn, interact and be inspired by other worship musos in this big worldwide church … and please if you find some good ones let me know and I’ll post them on here – would be nice to have some keyboard, bass, vocal etc type blogs on our list…

But for the time being here’s another guitar blog I’ve discovered – Worshipwithguitar.com

This is another good site with heaps of good advice and tips for worship guitarists but that I think other musos could perhaps glean something from as well. And of course there’s the requisite gear and effects pedal reviews, U2 references, jokes about sound men and singers etc. Worth checking out and reading regularly…

Songwriting Issues

Following on from Charlie’s last post about songwriting, make sure you make your compositions about important issues, like in this clip below…

found that one on Karl’s excellent blog. Must get around to watching some episodes of that show, looks hilarious!

But seriously, regarding songwriting, although I wouldn’t recommend writing songs about monkey viruses, it’s a good idea to draw inspiration from stuff that is current in your life or in the world around you. Look at Exdodus 15, Judges 5, Luke 1 – all these people responded to what was going on in their lives by writing a song. The Psalms are full of this sort of thing as well. Or if you are inspired by a sermon you heard or something you read (in the Bible or elswehere) – throw down some lyrics. For example yesterday I started reading this book called the Jesus Way, and thought that would be a good idea for a song… and then realised that’s the title of the new song we are already doing this week – doh!

And if you write a song, share it! Doesn’t matter how good or not it is, the more songs we share the more it will inspire us collectively to write more songs, and sooner or later something will bubble up that we can start doing in church…

For those who missed it, make sure you check out Mark’s sermon from last week – A New Song. A highly important message for our church, and in particular our worship team.

… and I’ll be most impressed if anyone can write a song for us based on Judges 5….

Paul

Something new

Something which the worship team is planning to engage with is RECORDING and SONGWRITING. I think this is very exciting news, certainly great for getting creativity flowing, developing the ear, and in general, improving as a musicians.

More news will be posted as it comes. In the meantime, enjoy this masterpiece.

Some musicians have a lot of time up their sleeves…

I’m Not Ashamed

Guitar tab for this song has been posted in the “Chord Charts” section of the site.

Chord Charts and Video Archive

Just to let you know that the Chord Chart and Worship Video Archive (accessible via the tabs at the top of the page) is constantly being updated with new material.

For our worship team, please be sure to print out and listen to each relevant song in order to be well prepared for each Sunday.

Everyone else, just enjoy the resource!

Chas Young

A lesson in phrasing

Here is a great video for the vocalists out there.  This video helped me realise the complexity of vocal phrasing… as something that needs serious attention and development. Take particular note of ‘gasping’… a definite no-no.

Chas

Widows and orphans

Hey people – sorry about the long absence. Have been away in Queensland studying (and catching some sun) but looking forward to kicking back into worship ministry this week.

Here’s a video I discovered today from Joel Houston of Hillsong United.  Hillsong have copped a lot of criticism over the years for ‘prosperity gospel’ preaching but if you want evidence that they (at least the youth) haved moved away from that kind of emphasis then check out this video. It’s a powerful call to action on the huge injustices in our world. This is relevant to all Christians but I’ll throw the question out there – how should we as worship team members respond??

Learning to fall

I discovered this band “This Beautiful Republic” a few months ago, enjoyed their music.. and subsequently forgot about them. But today whilst radio surfing I heard a bit of this song and remembered how much I like it. Fairly typical Casting Crowns style Christian pop-rock sound which is not bad.. but I really like the lyrics – check it out…

Learning to fall ~ This Beautiful Republic

I’ve heard it said a million times,
That I should hold on tight to Jesus.
But I took this road so far from home,
And distance came between us.

When I walked away,
I knew one day,
I’d need Your grace.

So now you’ll find me on my knees, surrendering,
Cause I know that I’m really not so strong.
And now, I’m done fighting for control,
Oh, you can have this life that I’ve been holding for so long.
I’m learning to fall.
Let my world crumble.

You ran so fast to rescue me,
While I was barely breathing.
You picked me up, You touched my face,
And I began to see more clearly.

Though I’m such a disgrace,
You still forgave.
Your love remains.

So now you’ll find me on my knees, surrendering,
Cause I know that I’m really not so strong.
And now, I’m done fighting for control,
Oh, you can have this life that I’ve been holding for so long.
I’m learning to fall.
Let my world crumble.

Take me as an offering.
I surrender everything.
No more living without You.

Sunday summaries & Worship recaps

Members of our facebook group will hopefully have noticed the Sunday Summaries provided by Charlie, which help us reflect on how the service went – what was great, and where we can make improvements.

Well I also think in addition to looking introspectively at our own efforts as a team and as individual musicians, it’s sometimes good to look at what other people are doing and learning from them.
With this in mind, here’s a link to yet another worship oriented blog. Among other things, Eric often writes a “recap” of the worship sets they do at his church, with some valuable insights. It’s also interesting to look at the songs they are doing (might be a source of ideas for worship songs), and the composition of their band (nice to see another church incorporating a bit of mandolin at times!) And they throw in the odd meaningful secular song as well (eg. Lenny Kravitz, “Drift Away” by Dobie Gray – cool 70s song if you don’t know it), which is something I’d love to do to shake things up!

Check out his blog here : http://ericbeeman.wordpress.com/

Tackling the big issues…

I came across some great videos by Paul Baloche, tackling some issues which commonly face worship teams.

Check out his channel for more tutorials and acoustic sets with his team members. As I was looking through the video comments, I saw this one:

Use the keyboardist that Jesus used…no one. Try preaching the gospel and worshiping God without the manipulation of emotions that music offers. None of what you are saying pleases God. It only pleases you.

I have to say that I disagree with this. The ministry of worship encourages people to lift their praises to the Lord. We all need motivation and conviction to grow in Christ, and music is a great medium. To develop our talents as musicians for the glory of God does please Him, and He has promised to bless us. Colossians 3:23-24

God Bless,

Chas Young

How Not to play guitar

I’m my blog surfing today I discovered this video of what NOT to do in worship lead guitar playing. Don’t take it as gospel, but he makes some pretty goood points.. check it out :

Note : he’s playing along to the United version of Hosanna rather than the regular Hillsong version, which is why it doesn’t sound quite the same as the way we do it.