Same worship team new worship leader

[budglo]

Our worship leader had to step down for some personal reasons , so now we have a new worship leader who filled in occasionally and has overseen the audio visual ministry. Since he has filled in occasionally, we are familiar with him and he should be a great fit . Things change though. Our previous worship leader sometimes was too laid back sometimes and mostly let people figure out how they wanted to play our songs. There are some advantages of that style , but also some disadvantages as well. Most of the time it would work out , but sometimes it would be bad .

Our new worship leader is more structured and likes to stick as closer to the original ,which is good because it gives us a base line . He is a great worship leader and singer. He’s not so much a guitar player therefore relies on the capo too much instead of playing using the chords the song was written in. Not a big deal until you misplace the capo . That happened both sundays on a song. Last Sunday it was off by 3 steps. It was to the point that the rest of us quit playing . He was aware of it afterwards and apologized. I recommended to put a sticky note on his iPad.

We have been using the OnSong app . Our previous WL would send the songs out and I’d build a set list. I could change keys and add stickies at my leisure . This was helpful when we played in B flat and he wanted to capo. I would keep my iPad in B flat and play those chords when necessary. We now have Planning Center which is great because it ties YouTube links ,song list and chord charts all in 1. I still can’t see where you can change keys at random. Anyways , should be interesting…..

 

[CapnCrunch]

Change can be hard, but it is always good. Sometimes it takes a long time for us to recognize how it is good, but it is. I've had some bad experiences playing with people who think they can play guitar because they've learned to strum chords in one key and the Capo lets them fake it. It is frustrating and infuriating. Hopefully your new WL is willing to actually put in the time to learn to actually play the guitar rather than play the Capo. Also, hopefully the new WL will be open to experienced members like you helping out in the ways that you have in the past. Many hands makes light work.........

I once played an entire set at church with a gal who was pinch hitting for our WL. She practiced on Thursday with an acoustic guitar and then SURPRISE, showed up on Sunday with a Strat and a pedal board, no amp. She plugged into a direct box, straight out of a drive pedal and capo'd for every song (just like she did on her acoustic). The trem on her Strat was floating, so the capo made her WAAAY sharp on every song. It was awful. After the first song in practice, I told her what was happening and asked her to not use the capo, but she couldn't play any barre chords or movable chords/ inversions. Last time I played with her, she had not made any effort to learn any chords outside of the key of G or D. I stopped playing on the worship band at that church largely because of this issue. There were numerous players who could only limp by with a capo and none of them had any desire to actually learn how to play.

 

[budglo]

Yeah . It seems the capo is a pretty popular thing in P&W these days. I use it on rare occasion when we’re playing in A flat sometimes . I personally don’t care for an acoustic guitar sound capoed high , but it allows someone to play in the key of G to play in all keys ….I guess. I think he’s got some great ideas and i am excited to see where this leads us . Some things I’m apprehensive about , like the ideas of click tracks and multi tracks , but we shall see where it goes.

 

[hotraman]

I don't like using a capo, especially if I am playing lead guitar. But sometimes I have to.
Example: we are covering "Rain Down" by Derelious? The song is in D major, with a cool riff that I play off the open D string. But the WL transposed it to F major, to fit her vocal range. So I am capo 3 on my Black Falcon, and practicing with a click track, more than usual. I really like this worship leader ( we were born on the same day) and I'm old enough to be her dad. So I'm happy to make the adjustment, so she can have fun leading this song.

 

[JuneauMike]

Our worship leader had to step down for some personal reasons , so now we have a new worship leader who filled in occasionally and has overseen the audio visual ministry. Since he has filled in occasionally, we are familiar with him and he should be a great fit . Things change though. Our previous worship leader sometimes was too laid back sometimes and mostly let people figure out how they wanted to play our songs. There are some advantages of that style , but also some disadvantages as well. Most of the time it would work out , but sometimes it would be bad .

Our new worship leader is more structured and likes to stick as closer to the original ,which is good because it gives us a base line . He is a great worship leader and singer. He’s not so much a guitar player therefore relies on the capo too much instead of playing using the chords the song was written in. Not a big deal until you misplace the capo . That happened both sundays on a song. Last Sunday it was off by 3 steps. It was to the point that the rest of us quit playing . He was aware of it afterwards and apologized. I recommended to put a sticky note on his iPad.

We have been using the OnSong app . Our previous WL would send the songs out and I’d build a set list. I could change keys and add stickies at my leisure . This was helpful when we played in B flat and he wanted to capo. I would keep my iPad in B flat and play those chords when necessary. We now have Planning Center which is great because it ties YouTube links ,song list and chord charts all in 1. I still can’t see where you can change keys at random. Anyways , should be interesting…..

Going through something similar now. I need to learn some grace and patience. He'll change too, as he settles in.

 

[budglo]

Going through something similar now. I need to learn some grace and patience. He'll change too, as he settles in.

Yep. I realize he comes into it with ideas , don’t we all? He’s in a good place as I feel we’re a drama free team and even though I’ve only played with everyone less than a year , everyone is rock solid in their faith.

 

[oyobass]

Recently changed the WL at our church, the previous one moved out of state with her husband, who was the drummer. New WL plays guitar and keys and has a great attitude. I used to play mainly bass, but the WL has me on electric guitar most of the time. I'm loving the new normal!

On capos: Open ("cowboy") chords have a certain sound that you just can't replicate with barre chords, drone notes that are incorporated into open chords. I just use whatever fits into the mix the best. So far it seems to be about 1/3 of the time the capo sounds best, at least to me. Our lead sound guy is also a guitar player and has a good ear. I'll ask him for his take on the sound at rehearsal and adjust accordingly afterward.

To me the sound of an acoustic capoed up high is pure magic with a little bit of reverb. Of course, YMMV.

 

[Teladjacent]

Capos are a valuable tool. Of course they CAN be a crutch, but some people just crap on them to signal to others that they know how to transpose and play other chord shapes.

 

[Jim W]

WL: it is in G! Band: He has a capo, it is actually A!

 

[budglo]

WL: it is in G! Band: He has a capo, it is actually A!

This actually happened. Lol. Another thing about changing keys, oyobass touched on is you lose something sometimes by changing . A good example was we did Open the Eyes of my Heart in D. It was ok , but in E those chords make the whole song with that open E and those chords just sound spectacular. In D meh. You also lose some cool riffs as well.

 

[CapnCrunch]

Capos are a valuable tool. Of course they CAN be a crutch, but some people just crap on them to signal to others that they know how to transpose and play other chord shapes.

I play with a couple of guys that use a capo when it makes sense, I do too. That is very different than the vast majority of players that I have played with in church who are completely lost without their capo unless you limit all of your songs to G, D or A. Another area where capos work great is with alternate tunings which frankly don't get used enough in modern worship music. I've been on an open G kick and am trying to get a Keef sort of vibe rolling with our congregation. I've asked the WL to specifically tell me when he wants the ubiquitous contemporary Christian shimmer and delay. Otherwise, I'm going for more of a raw rootsy Tweed Bassman or Tweed Twin sort of a sound with open tunings when I can. I use a capo frequently with alternate tunings.

 

[Grenville]

Ah, capos...

I used to work with a WL who regularly changed the keys of scheduled songs on the day rather than letting the band know in advance.

One day, instead of transposing (and grumbling under my breath) like I usually did, I thought "forget it, I'll just put a capo on and use the chart I've already written".

Fine and good when playing cowboy chords. We were doing Brooke Fraser's "Like Incense", just WL and I to start, slow and floaty atmosphere, lush delay drenched chords, lots of hands raised in worship... then I forgot about the capo and went to the next chord written on the chart. KLUNK!!!!

All I could do was stop, yell out "Sorry! Start again!" and all was well after all.

Suffice to say, the WLs made a point of changing keys to suit their needs in advance after that.

 

[PastorJay]

Ah, capos...

I used to work with a WL who regularly changed the keys of scheduled songs on the day rather than letting the band know in advance.

One day, instead of transposing (and grumbling under my breath) like I usually did, I thought "forget it, I'll just put a capo on and use the chart I've already written".

Fine and good when playing cowboy chords. We were doing Brooke Fraser's "Like Incense", just WL and I to start, slow and floaty atmosphere, lush delay drenched chords, lots of hands raised in worship... then I forgot about the capo and went to the next chord written on the chart. KLUNK!!!!

All I could do was stop, yell out "Sorry! Start again!" and all was well after all.

Suffice to say, the WLs made a point of changing keys to suit their needs in advance after that.

I remember something like that happening once a few years ago. I had been functioning as the WL until we could hire a new one. I spent time training a couple people who were on our team. And we hired one of them after a while.

A few weeks into her tenure she changed the key of one of the songs without telling anyone before Sunday morning. It was better for congregational singing in the new key, but she didn't tell anyone. The song was really driven by the bass line.

She's handing out the new chart, and the bass player looks at her and says, "you know this will completely change the song." And it did.

She always remembered after that to let us know.

 

[oyobass]

Please pray for our WL and her family's recovery. They were all out with Covid for several weeks. She was back again yesterday, but suffering from brain fog and lung pain.

 

[Chester P Squier]

Praying for oyobass’s worship leader and family.

 

[budglo]

So this weeks songs are in A flat , G , A flat and E flat . I’m seriously considering tuning down a 1/2 step this week. I am going to suggest we retune during practice . I know when we play using capos , I can hear that we’re out of tune. I usually will play without the capo if at all possible because it gives me the whole fretboard to work with. I think one of the reasons you don’t see a lot of Gibsons and see a whole lot of Gretsches is because they are more capo friendly .
Otoh, worship has been good. Our new WL has an anointing on him for sure.

 

[SBClose]

This new worship leader post turned into Capo Content very quickly.
My favorite capo story:
While serving as WL we brought in a new pastor with some worship leading experience (could play anything as long as it was in G, thank goodness for capos...?). He thought it would be cool for us to switch roles once in a while with him leading worship and me preaching. My training and experience made this a viable option.

I think the second time we made the "switch" he forgot to remove his capo as he started a song scheduled for G, he's got his capo on 2 so he's playing in A. The band caught up with him 1/2 through the second measure, just about the time he realized his mistake. He was reaching for his capo when I shouted "DON'T DO IT" from the front row. He did it anyway and everything came to a tumbled stop.

The "switch" was never mentioned again.

 

[hotraman]

Please pray for our WL and her family's recovery. They were all out with Covid for several weeks. She was back again yesterday, but suffering from brain fog and lung pain.

Praying for total healing.

 

[CapnCrunch]

This new worship leader post turned into Capo Content very quickly.
My favorite capo story:
While serving as WL we brought in a new pastor with some worship leading experience (could play anything as long as it was in G, thank goodness for capos...?). He thought it would be cool for us to switch roles once in a while with him leading worship and me preaching. My training and experience made this a viable option.

I think the second time we made the "switch" he forgot to remove his capo as he started a song scheduled for G, he's got his capo on 2 so he's playing in A. The band caught up with him 1/2 through the second measure, just about the time he realized his mistake. He was reaching for his capo when I shouted "DON'T DO IT" from the front row. He did it anyway and everything came to a tumbled stop.

The "switch" was never mentioned again.

It is also quite possible to start a song in the wrong key without the help of a capo. I know from experience

 

[oyobass]

Praying for total healing.

Sunday went off really well. She shared singing lead with another strong singer on the team and made it through.

Thank you for your prayers!