Big Learning Curve
My entry into serious guitar playing wasn't learning tunes for a cover band. Or learning all the hot solos from a guitar magazine tabs such is all too typical now. When I decided to really focus on guitar; I immersed myself into being a rhythm player in my university jazz ensemble. Under the direction of Pat Dorian and the additional instruction of Spencer Reed, I wrapped my head around the fundamentals of chordal and rhythm fundamentals in the big band jazz paradigm. For as much freedom as there is in jazz to be creative; there are also rules and structure to the form as well. I learned as much as I could from anyone who would teach. And I was not too horrible. I thought about pursuing music but the low chances of "making it" discouraged me.
Not knowing what I wanted to do I opted to Join the Army and from 1993 to 1997 I worked hard and played hard in many interesting parts of the world. After getting out of the army I picked up guitar again; but this time in a different way altogether. I was asked to play acoustic guitar as part of a church worship team. In the late 1990's Modern worship was had embraced a style that mixed the friendly chords and melody of pop with grand arena rock type ballads exemplified by Hillsong's Shout to the Lord. Totally different set of chops, techniques and mindset from jazz. Big, open, ringing chords that typically lacked the 7ths, 9ths, and altered chords that are common throughout jazz. More important than chordal complexity and improvisational interplay is emotional dynamics and the ability to stick to the chart in a way that doesn't step on anyone else's toes. Especially the vocalists. Entirely different gig.
With jazz I could pick and choose where to play. I didn't need to play all the time because there was always something going on. Piano chords, Trumpet hits, Trombone slides, sax leads. Jazz was a study of how less is more. Worship music acoustic guitar is a more constant "layer" of sound along with the piano, synths, and electric guitar providing a context so that singers can do the heavy lifting vocally. It was a huge leap mentally to make the transition. As modern worship draws heavily from pop and rock; I had to go back to listen and learn from the guitar driven music that most guitarists learn in their teens. In rock music, the acoustic is typically mixed low but is very important in establishing the mood of a song. Driving open chords or articulate arpeggios to create atmosphere. Really an interesting art to being supportive while being almost inaudible in the house mix.
Lately, I've been getting to play electric guitar on worship weekends as well. Once again, an entirely different set of chops than anything I've done in the past. Just the physical approach to the instrument is different. The electric guitar tends to "max out" fairly easily. Which means once again, less is more. Learning how to get the most out of effects pedals, using an amplifier, how to make the most of the guitar's electronics, how to adapt physically to the instrument so that dynamics comes from my hands as well as the effects, how to play lead lines without taking away from the worship experience. I can honestly say that a year ago I wasn't all that pleasant to listen to. But I'm making progress.
Even though I have effects pedals to cover a myriad of musical situations; I really only have a handful that I truly rely on:
Tuner: I hate being out of tune. Hate it. And there's something about my playing that makes it really tough to stay in tune on an electric for more than a song or two. So a good tuner is a MUST HAVE. Right now I'm using a Planet Waves strobe tuner. It's accurate, but it sometimes takes a while to zero in on the note I'm playing. I've have the boss pedal tuner, but that +/- 3 cents is a deal breaker. I can hear it when it's off and it drives me batty.
Ernie Ball Volume Pedal. Some guitar players like to control volume via the guitar. I prefer the pedal. That way my picking hand is dedicated to getting the note attack right. I put the pedal AFTER the overdrive effects and love it for swelling the volume from silence at the start of a chord or note. Many of the tunes we do have little guitar licks during the verses. Swelling into a note is a great way to keep things subtle and "under the radar" while yet giving the song a hint of salt and pepper to go with the steak.
Fulltone Fulldrive2 Overdrive pedal. Great sound. Subtle. Natural. Not over the top. Then you kick in the boost switch and you've got all the overdrive you need for pop and worship music. Lots of different tones in one pedal.
TC Nova Repeater Delay Pedal. TC is legendary for their studio effects. So you take a bunch of their time tested delay algorithms, add a tap tempo button, as well as a button to select delay subdivisions (quarter note, dotted eighth, etc). And you sound instantly brilliant for having tempo synced delays on every song. Even if the tempo shifts a bit during the song.
It's very rare that these four pedal don't cover 95% of the sounds that are needed on any given set. Learning how to use them effectively has been very challenging. Church music is all about the vocal, so the electric has to walk a line of having that crunchy and aggressive sound without detracting from the message of the song. It's a big learning curve. But I'm getting better every day.
