Just letting you all know that Warnbro Worship team’s first full time missionary is leaving us next week. Jenni Robbins is heading off for 6+ months in Cambodia.

Please be in prayer for her and you can follow her adventures on her blog : http://jennirobbins.com/

Recently I got an iPad 2, which is a wonderful thing in so many ways but especially useful for the worship musician. Actually all of the stuff I’m talking about isn’t necessarily specific to the church music setting – you could use it just as well in any live music environment.

One of the first things I thought the iPad would be useful for is to display my chord charts. I have a big library of chord/lyric charts in PDF and Word format and so I thought it would be great to display them on my iPad instead of having to print them out each week, with just a simple swipe between songs.

I’ve found an app which does not only that, but so much more. OnSong is a fantastic app for iPad (and iPhone), which allows you to import all your chord charts from PDF, Word, and others. These files can then be sorted into collections (books), weekly set lists, or sorted by artist, key, or topic (once you have your library set up). Your existing files can then be easily displayed in whatever order you want, changing page with just a swipe of a finger (or not… see below). Files can be imported through iTunes software via Wifi, through a ‘cloud’ service like DropBox or MobileMe or there is a search box which can search online for songs. You can also add sticky notes on top of your displayed files for what ever extra notes/reminders you need to write.

So as a program for displaying your files it works a treat, but this software has so much more potential. If you convert your songs to the OnSong format, you will then be able to access a whole raft of very cool features such as transposing the song into whatever key you want, adjusting fonts, sizes, and colours, a clickable chord library, metronome, linking to audio files and much more. You can even add a monitor out to your iPad and use the software to control lyric projection – it will project the words (without chords) on a nice background while still displaying the chords on your iPad. Not sure I want that kind of responsibility controlling the words whilst playing guitar and singing, but it is a very cool feature! I’ve attached a bunch of screenshots I took at the bottom of this post.

The only frustration I have with this software is that the process for converting your PDFs into Onsong file format is a little buggy. It would be great if it worked smoothly every time, but there generally needs to be quite a lot of further editing of the files in order to get them to work. I’m getting the gist of it but it’s still a bit of a slow process. Even so I think it’s worth the effort, and even without the conversion it’s still emminently useable just for displaying my existing PDFs.

Finally I just want to mention something that takes this software from being just very cool to being super awesome. With an AirTurn BT-105 bluetooth page turner and my trusty old Boss FS-6 dual footswitch I now have handsfree control. The two pedals can be used to move back and forwards through my song sheets without having to stop playing my guitar. Brilliant! I’ve posted a photo below from their website below which is pretty similar to my setup.

If you’re a musician with an iPad already then you owe it to yourself to check out this inexpensive software. If you’re a musician without an iPad, well it’s one more reason to think about getting one… (I’ll mention some of the other cool music apps I’ve got sometime soon.)

Finally, here’s a YouTube video I found which demonstrates a few features of the software :

This is from the new studio album from Hillsong United – Aftermath.

Haven’t got time to do a full review but I think this is one of the better albums to come out of Hillsong in recent years. In general it has a slower, at times more ambient, feel than a lot of their other stuff. And this is a good thing. Lyrics are creative, Biblical, and inspiring. The instrumentation is fantastic – some great guitar sounds in there for those who have ears to hear I’d love to know what gear their guitarist is using (? Strymon El Capistan?). Anyway, this is definitely an album worth getting hold of and one whose appeal grows with each subsequent listen. Certainly at least 2 or 3 tracks here that are potential for doing in church. Top stuff.

I also believe that when the Psalmist says he will “sing a new song,” he is not actually asking the people of God for the next 4- or 5,000 years to sing his new song–old song that it is to us.

In fact, I would argue that what we see in scripture is that new song is exactly what we should expect any time that God is at work in the world. Yes, Koessler is correct: worship begins with God. But the worship we sing is, as often as not, about how that God in heaven has intersected tangibly with the world down here. Worship is not about the God who remains afar off in the heavens, it’s about the God who has, or should have, acted here on earth for the good of God’s people and all humanity.

Put differently, a church with no new songs to sing is a church where God is not at work.

A culture that cannot express its encounter with God in its own idiom is a culture where the gospel has not taken root.

And, if we’re not careful, an insistence of the singing of only the old songs might become a convenient theological cover for the reality that our own lives need a fresh visitation, that our eyes need a new vision, of the Kingdom of God come near.

• 10 Things I wish I’d known when I started leading worship
• Top Tips about creating a set list for worship
• 12 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started Songwriting

And Vicky plays a Gretsch White Falcon guitar, so you know right away she is at the cutting edge of contemporvant worship (has anyone noticed how many worship guitarists have Gretschs?? and I’d be one of then if I could afford it – lol)

In the midst of those posts I discovered this hilarious, cutting video. It’s all about ‘growtivation’

This is the first album they’ve recorded in their chapel, and it’s a more organic acoustic sounding live recording of some of their most well known songs. Never fear though guitar lovers, there’s still healthy doses of sweet electric guitar in there, dripping with delay (I couldn’t concentrate on the book I was reading whilst listening to “You Hold Me Now” – found myself getting lost in those guitar sounds…)

In general I love the arrangements on this album. Very open, with moments of loud congregational singing and free worship. Some of the standout tracks are Hosanna, The Time Has Come (especially the free ending), Saviour King, This is Our God, and You Hold Me Now. The album closes on Salvation is Here, which works surprisingly well as an acoustic number (minus the complicated bass riff) – I’d really like to try this one sometime.

Anyway Yahweh is a great CD and I’d encourage you to check it out. Look forward to seeing more sessions come out of the Hillsong Chapel in the future.

Here’s a video clip of the title track, which gives a good taste of the feel of the album…

Last night I was in iTunes creating a playlist of all the new songs we’ve introduced to Warnbro Church in 2010. It has been a great year for our team with more new songs than ever before. We’ve also drawn in music from more diverse sources instead of relying as much on Hillsong (although we have done a couple of songs from their latest album). Perhaps appropriately since our new Pastor is coming from there (really soon we hope), we’ve drawn more from some of the best stuff out of the USA, including Jesus Culture and Misty Edwards from IHOP.

I’d love to burn a CD of this playlist for the whole church but I doubt that’s legit (would be a great way to get everyone to know all of the songs though!) so I’ll just list them here and you can create your own playlist if you like.

2010 has been a great year – God has really been moving in our church, but I believe it’s only a small taste of what He has in store for us in 2011!

• Holding Nothing Back – Jesus Culture
• You Won’t Relent – Misty Edwards / Jesus Culture
• Forever Reign – Hillsong
• Awakening – Chris Tomlin
• Your Love Never Fails – Jesus Culture
• Light of Your Face – Misty Edwards
• The Power of Your Name – Lincoln Brewster
• Like Incense – Hillsong
• Won’t Stay Silent – Compassionart
• Revelation Song – Jesus Culture / Kari Jobe (coming November 2010!)
• Oh Lord You’re Beautiful – Jesus Culture / Keith Green
• None But Jesus – Hillsong United

The last 2 on the list are older songs that I can’t remember if we’ve done or not so that’s why they made the list.

We jammed it out for the first time at the Worship/Prayer meeting last night.

The song is by Misty Edwards, who is one of the worship leaders at IHOP in Kansas. Check out their 24/7 Prayer Room webcast.

Just some ill-defined thoughts and fishing for ideas here… what do you think is the essence of youth worship? Or what elements/style of worship most appeal to younger generations between 15 and 45??

I don’t think it’s necessarily high tempo or high energy music (although I enjoy that and think there is a place for it, especially as an introduction or in times of celebration)

I don’t think it’s necessarily being true to the most up-to-date music genres (although that is an important consideration and extremely dated music styles are very bad). I think there’s a place for current music – hip-hop, R&B, metal whatever (especially at the younger end of the spectrum) but I don’t think that’s the essence of what youth are after..

I’ve noticed in listening to “youth” oriented worship albums over the past few years that there actually seems to be a majority of slower, reflective, emotional songs (for example compare any year’s Hillsong United CD with the main Hillsong live album – there’s usually more up tempo songs on the non-youth one, or it feels that way to me.  Same is true of Jesus Culture)…

Could it be this is what appeals to younger Christians – more emotional reflective songs with space and freedom to express ourselves to God? The challenge is to tap into this vibe but still singing songs which with the solid theological content of the great songs of yesteryear… I believe many of the current crop of youth worship songs are doing this, with verses drawn straight out of scripture.

Anyone else have any thoughts on this subject??

Enjoy…

If you liked that you might also like the other classic 90′s worship anthem we’re bringing back… so make sure you’re at Warnbro on Sunday!

Image via Wikipedia

Psalm 95:1-7 (NLT)

Come, let us sing to the LORD!

Let us give a joyous shout to the rock of our salvation!

Let us come before him with thanksgiving.

Let us sing him psalms of praise.

For the LORD is a great God,

the great King above all gods.

He owns the depths of the earth,

and even the mightiest mountains are his.

The sea belongs to him, for he made it.

His hands formed the dry land, too. 

Come, let us worship and bow down.

Let us kneel before the LORD our maker,

for he is our God.

We are the people he watches over, the sheep under his care. 

Oh, that you would listen to his voice today!

As first glance the lyrics may seem a bit unusual, compared to many of the praise songs we do. I’d encourage you to check out this link, where Brian Lusky discusses the theology behind the lyrics. Well worth reading.

FYI, the bible passage this song is drawn from is Song of Solomon 8:6-7 :

⁶ Place me like a seal over your heart,
like a seal on your arm;
for love is as strong as death,
its jealousy unyielding as the grave.
It burns like blazing fire,
like a mighty flame.

⁷ Many waters cannot quench love;
rivers cannot sweep it away.
If one were to give
all the wealth of one’s house for love,
it would be utterly scorned.

Here’s their version of it :

And here’s my version of the main guitar riff, which is repeated throughout virtually the whole song.

Below is a brief tab of what I’m playing there. Chords are C#m, A, E, F#m for pretty much the whole song – chart with lyrics is on the chord charts page. Sounds better if you let the bass notes ring out. Played with a light distortion and volume down up bit so you can crank it as the song progresses. Also a quarter note analog delay (of course)…

————————| ———————–| ———————-| —————0—-|

———-4-5-4——–| ———————–| ———————-| ————0——-|

——–6———6-4–| ——–2–4–6——-| ———————-| ——–2———–|

—–6——————| —–2—————-| ——-6—4—-2—-| ———————|
–4———————| –0——————-| —-2—————–| —–4————–|
————————| ———————–| -0——-0—-0—0-| –2—————–|

WorshipChicks is a forum for conversation and growth among worship-leading women (and their allies).

Definitely worth checking out – there’s a ton of good advice on there … and some of it might even be useful for boys as well I guess we might be the “allies”

Check it out here

Cool new song from Chris Tomlin we will be doing soon…

Just click the link above to take you there….

Paul

More than any year this promises to be a year of the unknown – who knows where God is going to take us all? Regardless I’m trusting that God has a plan, and we could be in for an exciting ride…?

Our revamped team structure kicks in as of next Sunday, so expect to hear from your team leaders in the next few days. We still do have a few people taking time out from the ministry for various reason, so keep everyone in your prayers.

We have a bunch of new songs lined up to introduce this year. Tuesday practices will mostly focus on these, with a quicker run through of older stuff if necessary. As time goes on we’re hoping to get more and more songs onto the Chord Charts section of this page, so you can always have access to the music. Also check the YouTube section or search in YouTube itself if you don’t have access to CDs or MP3s of the songs to listen to.

One of the key songs for our team this year we will be introducing in the next few weeks – Lincoln Brewster’s The Power of Your Name. I’ve added the chords/lyrics to the Charts page. And if you haven’t heard it before, the video below has the music. This song has some of the best lyrics ever, and hopefully will impact our church in a powerful way… try and get familiar with it so we can get off to a flying start when we play it in the next couple of weeks…

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

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

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

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)

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

…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.

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

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

.. 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…

• 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…

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

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

Some musicians have a lot of time up their sleeves…

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

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

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 ~ 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.

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/

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

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.

Speaking of which – here’s another one I’ve discovered today : Les Paul Player Doctor. He’s not a real doctor and he doesn’t play a real Les Paul (rather he has an epiphone Les Paul like mine, though his is a sweet sunburst model called Ashley… hmm must dust off my Les Paul tonight and have a play.. been using my Fenders for far too long. .. for now I’ll just post a picture..) ANYWAY, this dude is a worship lead guitarist and he has some cool things to say and he comes from one of my favourite cities, Nashville, so check out his site!

And although I’ve said it before I’ll say it again – if you haven’t already, get stuck into Guitar for Worship – probably the best worship guitar site I’ve found, and a pleasure to read because the guy has a great sense of humour. I could spend hours on his site.

For those of you who aren’t guitarists (yet) if you have any useful links you think we might want to add, please send an email to myself or Charlie, or just post a comment here, and we can put them up on the site also.

Welcome to my review of the Korg N364 Music Workstation, released in 1996. Although dated and without sampling capabilities, the N364 is no dinosaur. In terms of sounds, all 936 of them, some remain unmatched even by the latest Korg Workstation models.

Any comparison observations are based on other mid-range keyboards I have had experience with.

Features:

-64 keys non-weighted. This is ok for me as I do not like weighted keys for a majority of synthesising.

-After-touch.

-LCD screen.

-Floppy drive for loading pre-sets. I want to get hold of some classic M1 pre-sets.

-At times, an unresponsive slider and buttons.

Pitch bend / Modulation stick:

I’m really glad it is a stick. Wheels are hard to use for bending, a technique where you really need something easy to grab and control. Another advantage of the stick is that it is also possible to alter pitch and modulation together. However, sometimes when I have finished with the stick, it does not return to its neutral position. This means that any notes played are slightly out of tune by perhaps ¼ of a semitone. This fault is probably due to the spring mechanism loosening over a period of 13 years.

Modulation control is good and the effect is nice. You will only need to use it for sounds where after-touch is not an option.

Reverb and Edit function:

The N364 is capable of some amazing reverb on selected sounds. The reverb levels and other values can be edited using the edit function, which is easy to use, allowing the sounds to be varied to a satisfactory degree.

Sequencer:

The internal sequencer is there, but I find it difficult to use.

I have had two professional recording engineers attempt to connect my N364 to Cubase, both of their efforts have failed. There seems to be a problem assigning timbres as I am only able to record a single track. The fact that the N364 manual is absolutely useless may contribute to these failures. I have never used the internal 16 track sequencer for anything other than drum loops. Due to the level of difficulty, anything else with the sequencer is quite frankly beyond my technical abilities.

Appearance:

It is grey and boring to look at. While it is not an ugly keyboard, it does reflect the rather boring time period it was developed during. The only evidence of the 1980’s is inside the synth, in the sounds!

The LCD screen backlight on my machine is quite dim, meaning the keyboard is virtually useless for use on dark stages. I will need to get it replaced.

A review of selected sounds:

The warm pad at GM 090 requires repetitive hits to produce a full sound. However, the resulting sound is an undistinguishable hum, which scares sound guys…

There are some interesting and unusual pads in Prog and Combi modes, but they generally lack fullness. Due to the 64 key restrictions, the bottom end octaves cannot be reached, and transposing -12 results in loss of top end range. 64 keys are simply not enough for full warm pad work.

Horns and Brass disappoint me. You will not find a throaty saxophone to cover “Careless Whispers” by George Michael. Most of the horns lack the sound of a brass section, instead they sound like a soloist playing. There is one exception, Combi C 12.

There are many variations of organ sounds, my favourite being the big BX-3’s. This is something Korg has always done well up until and including the N364. The Tritons and even top of the range workstations (obviously excluding the OASYS) lack the quality and authenticity offered by the N364 organs. Check out the Grinding B at Combi A 01. Press the 10’s HOLD button and cycle through, you will be impressed.

Strings are also excellent. Combi B 32 “Symphony” is one of the best string pads I have heard from any keyboard.

Piano sounds are either very tinny, or sound hopelessly over-synthesised, like something off Mario Kart. If you are looking for acoustic piano sounds in the N364, forget about it.

There are some amazing electric guitar sounds which can sound very realistic using the pitch bend stick.  The N364 obviously does not have Karma settings, so loops cannot be easily created.

Electric piano sounds are the N364’s strong point. They are very full, incorporating the bell, vibe and piano qualities perfectly.

There are many synth sounds which will absolutely blow you away in full/fatness. For example:

Prog D 08 = think “Jump” by Van Halen.
Prog B 08 and Prog A 98 = think “Africa” by Toto.

There are a number of drum pads provided, most are very 80’s sounding. If you don’t want to sound like you have hijacked Phil Colins’ drum machine, use the Jazz Kit at GM 132, or learn to play real drums.

A comment on the Triton LE:

I see the LE as a white version of the N364 with a few knobs, a nice LCD and a ‘good’ category method of selecting sounds. However, the LE feels and looks cheap, like a Casio. After all, it is a stripped down version of the original Triton. It weighs about 0.2kg and feels flimsy. Try to avoid hitting middle C too hard as it may snap the whole thing in half.

The LE also loses out to the N364 with its EPs. This is again mainly due to the absence of bass and an over-compensation of treble.

I’m sorry if you are reading this and own a Triton LE, I’m not trying to make you cry! I’m just warning others not to go out and buy a Triton LE just because it has the word Triton in its name and because it’s 4 years younger than the N364.

Verdict:

Difficult internal sequencer, almost impossible to connect via MIDI with an external sequencer.

An adequate performance keyboard. Plan your own run sheet carefully so you know the exact location of the sounds you want. You will still need to be quick, as you have the unresponsive buttons to contend with!

Rating: 6/10

Thanks for reading. If you have any feedback, or you disagree with my opinions, leave a comment.

Chas Young

So check it out : http://guitarforworship.wordpress.com/

Then, as I was driving home, this was the song that played – “We won’t stay silent” by Tim Hughes and S C Chapman, from the CompassionArt album. Awesome song – quite catchy and with a nice drive to it… and with brilliant lyrics especially relevant to prayer and mission… (which I’ll post below)

Couldn’t find the album version on YouTube but here’s a ‘tutorial’ from which you can get a fair idea of the song. If anyone wants to hear the original let me know…

We Won’t stay silent

Jesus you are here with us

our hearts are being stirred

spirit intercede for us

With groans too deep for words

and teach us how to pray

Could we be a prayerful people?

shake us up today, lord

We’re calling out on our knees

Desperate lord for you to be

in our cities, in our streets

lifted high for all to see

We won’t stay silent anymore

Won’t stay silent anymore

holy Father, hear our cry, we’re knocking on your door

help us lord to persevere, you know we long for more

oh! oh!, we won’t stay silent

I also have the music chart for this song (which came with the CD) but not sure if I can upload it due to copyright

Remember, you can subscribe to this blog by hitting the subscription link over on the left margin. This feature will automatically send you an email if there are new posts on this blog.

While we have a nice header banner at the top of the page, we need some new graphical stuff to keep the site looking interesting. If you can help in this area, send me an email.

Cheers,

Chas Young

Guitar Chords for Hymns

They have chords and lyrics for a bunch of old hymns, if for some reason you wanted to play them.

Actually, getting more serious, the lyrics of these old songs often leave the newer worship songs for dead in terms of spiritual depth. So, while I don’t advocate a full scale revival of these hymns, it’s still worth reading through some of them occaisionally, especially as a means of getting songwriting inspiration.

Don’t think we’ve done it in our services but it’s definitely one of my all time favourite Hillsong/United songs – love the lyrics and the musical direction of the song… both reflective and uplifting in the same song.

Enjoy…

In the meantime here’s the lyrics to a new song I heard the other day – made me want to worship more than any new song I’ve heard for a while… and it’s not even off a worship CD…

Magnificent

I was born
I was born to be with you
In this space and time
After that and ever after I haven’t had a clue
Only to break rhyme
This foolishness can leave a heart black and blue

Only love, only love can leave such a mark
But only love, only love can heal such a scar

I was born
I was born to sing for you
I didn’t have a choice but to lift you up
And sing whatever song you wanted me to
I give you back my voice
From the womb my first cry, it was a joyful noise…

Only love, only love can leave such a mark
But only love, only love can heal such a scar

Justified till we die, you and I will magnify
The Magnificent
Magnificent

Only love, only love can leave such a mark
But only love, only love unites our hearts

Justified till we die, you and I will magnify
The Magnificent
Magnificent
Magnificent

For anyone who’s interested the song is by U2, from their latest album “No Line on the Horizon” – another solid effort from the band and should keep U2 fans pretty happy.

As a new site resource, we are creating a Worship Video Archive containing YouTube links to many songs we do at Warnbro Community Church.

In order to combat the ‘access to sheet music/chord charts’ issue, we will also be compiling a Chord Chart database on this site. These PDF documents will become available for download shortly. YouTube links and chord charts will be accessible via the tabs at the top of this page. Our long term goal is to provide a comprehensive key part analysis for each song, also in database format.

Team members: check out the facebook site for even MORE resources.

Stay tuned,

Charlie Young