More Capo Info

I recently got a call from Ric Flauding, one of the musicians without whom my CD would not have been possible. Ric composes, orchestrates, arranges and plays guitar beautifully. His knowledge and experience far exceed my own. And in the few hours that I’ve spent with him and his wife Denise I’ve grown as a musician and person, and come to truly appreciate them as friends and fellow worshippers.

Anyways, Ric calls me the other day about an article he was writting on the capo. We had a great conversation about using capo’s and about one of my pet peeves- offering our best to God as musicians. I’ve said it on my blog before, “If we are created in the image of God and He is the creator of the universe, then why does the christian music scene seem to be following behind the secular?” And, “I wonder what the great writers of the music of the church like, Handel, Vivaldi, Mendellsonn, Bach and others would have to say about the quality of some of the music we call great.” (ok, so that’s another post)

So, as I said we had a great conversation. Ultimately, we talked about capos and the article. To read what Ric has to say visit Soniccontrol.com. It’s informative and covers some very good, very practical instruction.

Get a cut capo here.

Does Live Looping have a place in the worship setting?

I don’t know for sure if this is the best demo for live looping to get my point across since Arthur Lee Land isn’t a worship leader but I couldn’t help myself! This is probably the best live looping demo video I’ve seen that gets explains it simply and clearly.

Live looping may not have to go this far in the worship setting but if you are a lone worship leader this could be a cool way to start the worship set during the call to worship. Songs that might work for this could be songs that have a repeated progression throughout like, Empty Me~Gene Way/ John Gomer or You Alone~Jack Parker/ David Crowder.

I used live looping during our Christmas Concert this year and it went great! I’m still trying to perfect my skills but I hope to be proficient at it enough to use it stealthily.

Talk back and give us some comments on this one. I’d like to know what you’re thinking.

See more of Arthur’s stuff.

One Worship Leader’s Gear

 

When I was just starting out, as a full-time worship leader, about 10 years ago, I wondered what kind of gear other worship leaders were using.  I’d go to conferences and ask lots of questions.  I’d stay after the sessions and snoop around the stage and I’d go to the local music store and try out this and that.  

Not being an experienced gear girl I was a bit overwhelmed at all the stomp boxes and other goodies out there but I did find some basic gear that suited my needs as an acoustic guitar player.  

I decided to put it down in this post for those of you who venture onto this blog looking for gear for worship leaders so here’s the scoop.  This is not a review of the gear nor is it an exhaustive description, but I hope this post will help some of you in your quest for just the right gear in your arsenal.

First of all and most important, a worship guitarist can’t be excellent for God without a tuner.  The tuner I recommend is the Boss TU-2.  This chromatic tuner is a kick and because it’s part of your gear board you can tune at any time since the Mute/Bypass is great for silent tuning.  A nice advantage when you want to tune during a set or even during a song while the rest of the band continues to play.

 

 

Next in my string is the Line-6 DL4.  This stomp box contains 16 models based on legendary echo and delay boxes from the Maestro EP-1 Echoplex to the T.C. Electron 2290.  I use it mostly digital delay and for the loop sampler which I use for a few songs.  I just play a chord progression into the sampler and it will play back a continuous loop making it nice to “play over” a lead or another chord harmonic.   A big help when you lead alone and want to add some depth to your sound.  We’ve also used it for vocals.

 

 

Finally, the Boss DD-6.  This Digital delay rounds out the sound so it doesn’t sound so sterile.  I usually keep it at the same setting since I’m not into a lot of effects.

 

 

 

Well, that’s the basic string I use.  Nothing fancy, just enough to enhance what I do without drawing a lot of attention to my guitar.  Which works fine for me since I usually play alone.