FAV tune to play In Church?

We need some more enjoyable topic's in the Sunday Morning section. (somehow every thread usually ends up depressing). So here goes...

What's your favourite tune to play in Church? & why? Name a few if you want to. I'm always looking for New & Old songs.

Here I go...

They That Wait On the Lord We do it in the Key of C. Most of the song is C / Dm / F. It chugs along nicely. Also has lots of space for lead fills between the lyrics. And the words are simple & thoughtful.


Give Him The Glory this is a old Hillsongs tune. Just a big Gospel 12 bar blues In E. I could almost see B.B. King doin' this tune. There's very few words so its very dependant on the instruments to keep it goin.

how about" shine Jesus shine"? everyone knows it both young and old and depending on the arrangement can really set the house-a-rockin'

"I'll Fly Away" goes over well at our service.

Nothing but the Blood (Robert Lowry) is one of my favorites

I play it in D and use a sort of droning upbeat rhythm, doubling up on the verses..because there are so many..before going to the chorus

I play at two chruches every Sunday. I run the show at one of them and we always do a special. It can be a secular song that has a message or matches up with the sermon, or an original. This gives us a chance to stretch out and be creative.

WeVe been doing alot of Lincoln Brewster lately. I really enjoy playing Everlating God. I'm trying to get an OK on working up his song "Broken" for a band special. It's such a cool and beautiful Blues ballad.

Here's my list, startting with the old......

Amazing Grace
Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Just As I Am
Abide With Me
How Firm A Foundation
Wayfarin' Stranger
Angel Band
Green Pastures
Life's Railway to Heaven
Were You There When They Crucified My Lord

Adding in the more contemporary..........

There is Joy in the Lord
Shout to the Lord

And turn up the gain a little.... No, a little more.....

These Thousand Hills
How Great is my God

And back to something old school to "ink the deal".......

I Have Decided to Follow Jesus


And yeah, I play all of that stuff on my Telecaster.

Here's some more tunes I love to play...

This Little Light of Mine - this song can be as fast as you want it. Lots of musical space for the whole band to enjoy. We do kind of a Bluegrass/Southern rock version of it.


Waves of Grace - This has to be the best Jamband song ever written for God. Just 4 chords over & over. We do it in a Reggae fashion with lots of solos.

My personal favorites are;

Indescribable
Wayfaring Stranger - done with a semi-reggae beat - key of A
Just a Closer Walk with Thee - upbeat a little but not too much

Tim

Come Thou Fount is rapidly becoming my cuerrent favorite on guitar... playing it in open D tuning really gives it depth and impact, to my ears.

On bass I always liked playing Did You Feel the Mountains Tremble, we always played it up-tempo and rockin'....

Right now, though, I'm just happy to be back up there playing anything for the Lord after 3 years.

D

Yesterday we opened with "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God", (Promise Keepers arrangement). Very powerfull message, and I enjoy the contrast of the pipe organ intro & first verse with the guitar-driven second section. We segued directly into Walker Beach's "You, You Are God", a very upbeat guitar-driven praise anthem. I always enjoy those.

A few, but my current favorites are:
Indescribable (Chris Tomlin)
Nothing But The Blood (Matt Redman)
From the Inside Out (Hillsong United)

All to You and Everlasting God both by Lincoln Brewster are high on the play list. Daryl Stuermer's Wherever You Are is a great instrumental to play too.

One of my fav's that we pull out every now and again is "I Wait For The Lord" Very rockin/blues vibe too it.

.... Daryl Stuermer's Wherever You Are is a great instrumental to play too.

Is this the same guy from Genesis? Great player.

Is this the same guy from Genesis? Great player.

Yes it is! He has a few videos on You Tube.

People Get Ready

... would have to be "All For You" by Lenny LeBlanc. This is a great example of a song that someone can provide melodic fills & soloing, and not detract.

I also enjoy "Strength Will Rise" (I think that's the title) by Brenton Brown. Awesome message in a great song.

Lincoln Brewster is always fun, especially when you have a lead guitarist (ie: not me, I usually play rhythm or bass) who can match most of his solos.

One of my favorites is Joy by Tree63, but on bass my favorite is "Hope of the Nations" When we had a youth band (all of us teenagers,) our favorite was "Tell the World" by Hillsong United.

i guess i don't know any of the newer modern gospel....am not a singer, so never learned any..songs i have played in church as instrumentals or special songs for funeral services have always been the traditional ones...partial list ...

how great THOU art
just a closer walk with THEE
old rugged cross
amazing grace
precious memories
softly and tenderly
i'll fly away
life's railway to heaven
do LORD, do remember me
i saw the light
keep on the firing line
precious LORD, take my hand
i am a pilgrim

i play instrumentals only, use a Tele with benders mostly, sometimes 335 or LP, and yes...i use effects...compressor, delay, tiny touch of reverb, volume pedal...

The Old Rugged Cross

Man...this is a good question!!! And hard to answer too. I'll just talk about what we are doing recently.

I really like "Let My Words Be Few", "Friend of God", "Draw Me Close to You". A new one we've been doing is a song called "Happy Day," which was written by Tim Hughes, who also wrote "Here I am to Worship" and "Beautiful One". It's a real rocker! I met that guy in June...He looks like a teenager! I couldn't believe it. But, what a talented, God loving guy. I love "Open the Eyes of My Heart". Paul Baloche is awesome. He has a great ministry, teaching musicians and worship leaders. I've been in many seminars with him, and he always imparts something good.
Speaking of songs, I just had one picked up by a big christian publisher, and I'm pretty greatful for that. It's actually being tested in 1000 churches across the nation, then they will send a review back on the song...if they used it in a service, how the congregation received it etc. You can listen to it here (http://www.box.net/shared/static/c3ot2zqq54.mp3) if you like. If anyone would like, I can send a chord chart. It's a simple song, trite at times. It never was meant for public consumption really. I wrote it for my sister last year for christmas. She had four strokes in 1 month and was really scared. It was just a prayer for her, to begin with.

Peace!!

~Shawn

Man...this is a good question!!! And hard to answer too. I'll just talk about what we are doing recently.

I really like "Let My Words Be Few", "Friend of God", "Draw Me Close to You". A new one we've been doing is a song called "Happy Day," which was written by Tim Hughes, who also wrote "Here I am to Worship" and "Beautiful One". It's a real rocker! I met that guy in June...He looks like a teenager! I couldn't believe it. But, what a talented, God loving guy. I love "Open the Eyes of My Heart". Paul Baloche is awesome. He has a great ministry, teaching musicians and worship leaders. I've been in many seminars with him, and he always imparts something good.
Speaking of songs, I just had one picked up by a big christian publisher, and I'm pretty greatful for that. It's actually being tested in 1000 churches across the nation, then they will send a review back on the song...if they used it in a service, how the congregation received it etc. You can listen to it here (http://www.box.net/shared/static/c3ot2zqq54.mp3) if you like. If anyone would like, I can send a chord chart. It's a simple song, trite at times. It never was meant for public consumption really. I wrote it for my sister last year for christmas. She had four strokes in 1 month and was really scared. It was just a prayer for her, to begin with.

Peace!!

~Shawn

Great tune Shawn. And great lyrics. I'd love to play that in a set. That's a great song to get the congregations up and singing.

What kind of a guitar and amp did you use on the lead? Love the tone.

Great tune Shawn. And great lyrics. I'd love to play that in a set. That's a great song to get the congregations up and singing.
What kind of a guitar and amp did you use on the lead? Love the tone.

Glad you like the tune! CLICK HERE (http://www.box.net/shared/static/957i3ch6rh.doc)for a chart, if you want to use it. That's awesome!

All of the guitars on that are Telecasters. The intro sort of picking is a brand new american standard, and all the rest is my trusty nashville power telecaster deluxe. Also, it was recorded direct with a vox tonelab se multi effects pedal. nary an amp in sight! I love that pedal....nobody would guess it wasn't an amp. Well...maybe somebody....:mrgreen:

I'd say "One Way" kinda like hillsong does it --rockin!!! At least from a players stand point. I play Weds. nite prayer service which allows us more freedom to worship longer a lot . Sometimes we'll go over an hour and its them times when it does'nt matter what we play ,the Holy Spirit does the leading and we do the following. At that time I have no favorites!!!
Rockin for Jesus!!
cuffb

This morning we did a nice jam version of "Come & Fill Me Up".
lots of G's & C's. Never get sick of that song, very groovy.

I play bass in church, so "Days of Elijah" is lots of fun for me. Other than that I just generally really enjoy playing in church, it blesses me.

Lots of good ones. Currently at or near the top of the "fun" list...

Rain Down - Delirious? : Lots of power chords and cool guitar licks

Father God, I Wonder - Ian Smale : Little know tune by a British childrens ministry guy that has a great 60's spy-movie vibe. Lots of room for Secret Agent Man, 007 and other cool E-string licks

Freedom - Darryl Evans : Can anything Lincoln Brewster played on not be fun?

40 - U2 : We go back and forth between the original and Charlie Hall versions. Love to noodle with delay and harmonics

Otherwise, anything with a deep groove and simple refrain that can lapse into a freeform worship jam. I'm very fortunate to lead a team of really good players that listen as well as they play, and when the Spirit grabs us it's a great ride in His presence.

i guess i don't know any of the newer modern gospel....am not a singer, so never learned any..songs i have played in church as instrumentals or special songs for funeral services have always been the traditional ones...partial list ...

how great THOU art
just a closer walk with THEE
old rugged cross
amazing grace
precious memories
softly and tenderly
i'll fly away
life's railway to heaven
do LORD, do remember me
i saw the light
keep on the firing line
precious LORD, take my hand
i am a pilgrim

i play instrumentals only, use a Tele with benders mostly, sometimes 335 or LP, and yes...i use effects...compressor, delay, tiny touch of reverb, volume pedal...

Man we could play well together at a service. We do a similar list to yours, with:
still haven't found what I'm looking for
40
uncloudy day
instrumental of great speckled bird
long black train
canticle of the turning
shine a light
Plus a myriad of others I either can't recall or are original. I do the tele, mandolin, 6 string or dobro.

i guess i don't know any of the newer modern gospel....am not a singer, so never learned any..songs i have played in church as instrumentals or special songs for funeral services have always been the traditional ones...partial list ...

how great THOU art
just a closer walk with THEE
old rugged cross
amazing grace
precious memories
softly and tenderly
i'll fly away
life's railway to heaven
do LORD, do remember me
i saw the light
keep on the firing line
precious LORD, take my hand
i am a pilgrim


Great list.

If I had to pick just one, probably "When I Survey The Wondrous Cross" - because of the lyrics, but I enjoy playing it too.

Fields of Grace: Big Daddy Weave
If God is on our Side: Chris Tomlin
Matchless: ?
Magnificent: ?
All the Earth Will Sing your Praises: Paul Baloche

Lots more; we do pretty rocking P&W

There's a wonderful hymn called "Whatsoever you do to the least" which you can just wail on, like a blues...

Matchless: ?



I believe that song is by Aaron Shust. We do that one too and I love playing the lead parts. We also do one of his called My Savior My God. He's got some really cool stuff

Great lists! I'll go along with Wally on When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, and with everyone who mentions Amazing Grace. Other than that, it's probably Mountains Tremble among the newer songs. We're out of our last church and don't know when or whether I'll be playing in the new one, so I'm kind of at a loss right now....I'm fooling with a slide medley of Amazing Grace, Come Thou Fount and something else I can't remember right now (pitiful, I know, but's it's been a real bad week, ok?).

Praise Him!!!!
Halellujah!!!

Too many to choose from!
Lots of great songs listed.
I'm planning on introducing "My Savior, My God"
by Aaron Shust. Great lyrics.
Anyone else playing this song?

Man we could play well together at a service. We do a similar list to yours, with:
still haven't found what I'm looking for
40
uncloudy day
instrumental of great speckled bird
long black train
canticle of the turning
shine a light
Plus a myriad of others I either can't recall or are original. I do the tele, mandolin, 6 string or dobro.

for reminding me of some that i couldn't think of in my original reply...it is most likely pretty obvious i am an old country boy:lol: ....

Great Speckled Bird i have done many, many times on guitar, but i prefer to play it on my Regal metal body resonator tuned to open G with slide bar..
uncloudy day
why me, Lord?
old country church
sweet by and by
will the circle be unbroken

a friend of many, many years just recently got saved/baptised and wants me to back him singing some of the old gospel/country gospel songs he and i grew up with in his newly joined church, and i'm gonna do it..!!!...am somewhat nervous about it since it has been quite some time for playing in church for me.....

a friend of many, many years just recently got saved/baptised and wants me to back him singing some of the old gospel/country gospel songs he and i grew up with in his newly joined church, and i'm gonna do it..!!!...am somewhat nervous about it since it has been quite some time for playing in church for me.....
Yay!! That sounds like a worthy occasion to start!!
Praise Him!!!

~Shawn

I've got a new favorite, we did Hillsong United's "From the Inside Out" this last Sunday, and it's an awesome song, especially when you play around with intensity levels, I was playing rhythm acoustic guitar, and we had a blast on Sunday playing it. For a first time song, our congregation caught on really quick, it's always neat when you hear people singing along the first time we've done a song in Church.

I LOVE to visit a Church of God when our Assembly of God is not in service & get to play with them. I love 90% of the songs they do because they are songs we don't do, hymnals.
My favorites are "Mansion over the Hilltop"; "Everybody Will Be Happy Over There", "It Is Well With My Soul", etc.
Marvelous
2000 Nashville Telcaster
1966 Gretsch Jet Firebird
2007 Martin D-41 with pre-amp installed

There's Just Something About That Name...Everytime we sing it in service it just seems to really lead people into worship.

There's so many I enjoy. We've been doing a cover of Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down" complete with slide solo and all, and it's been fun. The congregation loves it. Controversial to some, I know, but read the lyrics. We learned it to go with a sermon our pastor did by the same name.

I really like doing Crowder's stuff. "Everything Glorious" and "O Praise Him" are two of my favorites.

Tomlin's "Everlasting God" and "Your Grace Is Enough" are great, as is pretty much everything he does. We probably cover 20 of his songs.

Charlie Hall's "All We Need" and "Song of the Redeemed" are great.

And then there's Matt Reddman's "You Never Let Go" and "Shine"

Yeah, I like the Passion stuff! :rolleyes:

As far as hymns we do, I arranged "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" using a cut capo 5 or 6 years ago, and it's one of my favorites. We do contemporarty versions of "How Great Thou Art", "Amazing Grace", "Blessed Assurance", and many of the other big hymns.

Anyway, as you can see I can't name just one favorite. :grin:

Too many to choose from!
Lots of great songs listed.
I'm planning on introducing "My Savior, My God"
by Aaron Shust. Great lyrics.
Anyone else playing this song?

Yes, it was actually the first time I ever played guitar and sang. First time I ever played guitar in the service, I usually just lead sing. I really like that song, and my family is sick of me playing it around the house :-).

I really like doing King of Glory by ThirdDay. We have recently introduced Friend of God by Paul Baloche and the congregation really likes that one (as do I).

Wayside, Rocks, Thorns, or Good Ground.... by Dale Watson,
Keep Your Lure in the Water.... Randy Travis,
Daddy Sand Bass.... Cash,
I Saw The Light.... Hank,
Gloryland Way.... dunno, but fun....
Let Others See Jesus in You.... dunno, but still fun....
How Great is our GOD, tagged with How Great Thou Art.... Chris Tomlin,
Who Am I... don't remember artist...
On My Cross...GREAT song for Easter!

1. Everybody Will Be happy Over There
2. Mansion Over The Hilltop
3. It Is Well
4. For Those Tears I Died
5. God On The Mountain
6. I Can't Even Walk
7. This Is Just What Heaven Means To Me
8. Light House
9. I Hold A Clear Title
10. Tears Will Never Stain The Streets Of That City

Marvelous
2000 Fender Nashville Telecaster
1963 Gretsch Jet Firebird
2007 Martin D-41

We do lots of the current songs, any of which can be deconstructed, but one of my personal favorites is the 2/4 "Happy Song" the right way, that is, as a very fast total Tele breakdown song.

Too many to choose from!
Lots of great songs listed.
I'm planning on introducing "My Savior, My God"
by Aaron Shust. Great lyrics.
Anyone else playing this song?

Yeah this is a great song, and it has a sweet little guitar riff for the intro. My band usually does an instrumental somewhere between the last couple choruses. It gets pretty intense...sometimes I even step on the wah for the guitar solo!

How Can I Keep From Singing is probably my favorite that we play right now.

The Wondrous Cross is also one we do that I like real well. I play the melody with an eBow.

Jeff

Too many to choose from!
Lots of great songs listed.
I'm planning on introducing "My Savior, My God"
by Aaron Shust. Great lyrics.
Anyone else playing this song?


We've played it a few times.. I love it. Great melody, good rhythm, one of those songs that you know everyone can get easily involved in.


Our band has a thing for "Grace Like Rain." It's so simple and moving, and everytime we play it we try to change it up a little (not too much though, don't want to make it too unfamiliar!). But sometimes we'll be thinking of songs to do, and we'll hit a roadblock; the first suggestion is always: GRACE LIKE RAIN (even if it doesn't fit in with the rest of the set).


Last but not least, we just recently played "Give Me Jesus" in a kind of blues style. It was a perfect one to play on the tele!

Little Mountain Church by Ricky Skaggs is a great inspirational song. You can find it on one of the "Circle" albums by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Regards.

Here's a song by Scottish band Runrig ... you'd have to learn Gaelic though:smile:

would sound great in a church

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/8Oa4HoEZM8M&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/8Oa4HoEZM8M&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

Translated it's

The Highest Apple
At present
All you were is with me
My eyes closed, my
memory confident
Standing here watching
Each hill and shoreline
With the seed you left
Still growing
The garden is well stocked
With mighty trees
With fruit growing for
the whole world
Ripe, sweet
And bitter apples
And the one apple
That is beyond reach
Who amongst us
Can exist a single day
Beyond our own time
and our own limits
Countless and
futile
Are times I've climbed
To reach and taste
The forbidden fruit
The winds will blow
And the sun will shine
From generation to generation
Through the trees of the garden
But the day and the hour
Will surely come
To take the highest apple
From the knowledge tree

Hosanna - Hillsong - Always goes over well. Lots of thick delay, volume swelling and a very melodic solo.

Hiding Place - Christian City Church. Our church sings this song the loudest.

Holy Is The Lord - Chris Tomlin - Just a simple uplifting, bouncy, song that does a great job of glorifying the Lord.

Bless ya :grin:

Here is our set for this week at Celebrate recovery:

Lord I Lift Your Name On High
Blessed Be Your Name
My Hope Is You
How Marvelous (I Stand Amazed)
Some Kind Of Wonderful (substitute a few words and the meaning is completely different!)

We usually throw in some old gospelly stuff as well. The main thing I've found is that it doesn't really matter what I'm playing, when that last band member shows up, that is my favorite song.

Here are my picks:

- "Beautiful" by Ross Parsley. A great guitar songs with a tremendous melody.

- Most any Paul Baloche song. He's a guitar player that writes great guitar songs with a wonderful message.

- "Revelation Song" by Jennie Riddle. This song is great for soloing and big guitar sound. It gives me a chance to bring back some of those big riffs of the 80s and 90s. This is a powerful song, especially when played with the proper band dynamics.

There are many others I love, but those are the three that rose to the top.

BTW - Great Topic!

Shuff

For me..."Jesus is on the Mainline".

But the kids love "the Happy Song."

I love playing "The Old Rugged Cross." I love the music and the lyrics.

I like "He Got Up" :smile:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3l0ou4-HUY

our praise band does a really energetic "how great thou art" its always an opener...to one wake them up, and 2 to get them standing up!

I enjoy most of the songs we do, save a few that just don't really connect with me, but others enjoy them, and that is what matters. Some of my current favorites to play:

Holy Is The Lord
Grace Like Rain
Rain Down
Unchanging
God Of This City
You Are Holy (Prince Of Peace)
How Great Is Our God

yeah, i agree with all the 'inside out' references to Hillsong United. I'm also pretty fond of "til i see you" by them; generally for the youth band we kind of beef it up a little. TASTEFULLY mind you, haha.. (its generally a moderate tempo, acoustic guitar mainly.. we speed it up a little bit, added palm muting [not a crazy metal distortion, oh no no no].. simple progression for the verses. A, B, C#m7.. its just neat.).

other than that, I'm really fond of "Your love never fails" by chris quilala, "glory in the highest" by chris tomlin, ohh!

or Hosanna by hillsong united. i loooove the words to that one.

'I see your love and mercy washing over all our sins.. the people sing....

hosaaaaaaannnnnnnnaaaaaaa' etc! haha

too many to choose from man, and when its sincere praise, a sincere cry to God.. it's all good..