Making Harder Music Easier To Play by Brandon L Smith

Ever hear those songs that are so well produced with all kinds of ear candy and want to play them in your service but know it will be impossible to sound the same way? The studio is a wonderful place to bust out all the stops if you have the time and money.  For many of us the simple reality is we don't.  But let's not let that cause us to quit and not even try.  Remember that great music starts with simplicity.  The greatest symphonies started out with one melody, one thought, and one expression.  Later on came all the bells and whistles.

Sometimes as worship leaders we are fortunate to have professional musicians and vocalists playing and singing on our teams.  But lets face it, most of us don't have that luxury at every position.  So how do we pull our resources together to produce a quality sound on our worship teams? Here's a few things I do to help my team be successful with difficult music.

1.  Keep it simple 

This means take the frame work of a song and its basic melody and make that your main focus.  Don't worry about all the extras like: How they got that drum loop to do that, or wishing you had a guitar player who could play that way.  Take the time and get the chord progressions and transitions down.  Use what you have to make good music.  Remember you're doing this so others can worship with you not so that you can be exalted and lifted up for your musical genius.

2. Practice goes a long way

I really don't think I need to go on about this point.  Just make it happen and be productive.

3. Listen

Listen to other groups play the same songs you are wanting to incorporate into your sets.  This will help you gain perspective on how to do things differently.  It might spark some creativity of your own and allow your team to have a greater appreciation of the song.

4. Ownership

I share this phrase a lot during practices. "We don't have to do it like they do on the cd."  If your team plays songs the same way the original artist does you might find your music lacking ownership.  Mix it up.  Change the intro or the ending to allow the song to take on a different feel. Let your team help you do this and they will take greater pride knowing it's a sound they helped with.

You can accomplish great things with your worship team if you'll take the time to break things down and make them simple.  I tell my teams that if we will do the simple with precision we will sound as professional as anybody else out there.