Playing in Church.

[oldslapper]

20 minutes ago, oldslapper said:

Most church music groups consist of volunteers. It’s set up to remove any need to improve, as they’re doing everyone a favour by serving. Very difficult to mange expectations. 

I got out of dodge a few years ago, stuck myself in the sanctuary with a guitar, looper pedal and book of psalms and ancient prayers. Never felt more at home and free from politics. 
 

 

Quotation marks removed.
Bit “unnecessary” 😂

[Richard R]

On the other side of the equation:

We expanded our band for last Sunday to include a sax and, more importantly for me, a drummer! It was a celebration service for our minister who retired that weekend, and I have to say it was great!  

 

[Richard R]

 

From "Bacon Sanwiches and Salvation", by Adrian Plass.

[SuperSeagull]

Interested to read of so many experiences with poor vocalists, under rehearsed musicians etc. Our Worship Director sets a high standard, he makes his living from working in the church and with other musicians. So you don’t get on team unless you meet a certain standard and he won’t hold back from pointing out “issues” in anybodys playing or singing. But he does that in a way which is encouraging and positive, everyone ends up a better player from working with him inc me. That extends to the tech team. He works very closely with younger musicians to develop them. I guess we are fortunate but it’s probably also why musicians are drawn to our church. 

[bass_dinger]

1 hour ago, SuperSeagull said:

... but it’s probably also why musicians are drawn to our church. 

I do sometimes wonder if that is a thing.

 

Any thoughts from others here?

 

It feels to me that a good worship band attracts good musicians to the congregation, who will then move to the band.

Edited July 4, 2022 by bass_dinger
Clearer wording g

[Richard R]

Listening to the band final run through before a wedding at 12:30 today.  Heavenly!

[xgsjx]

3 hours ago, SuperSeagull said:

Interested to read of so many experiences with poor vocalists, under rehearsed musicians etc. Our Worship Director sets a high standard, he makes his living from working in the church and with other musicians. So you don’t get on team unless you meet a certain standard and he won’t hold back from pointing out “issues” in anybodys playing or singing. But he does that in a way which is encouraging and positive, everyone ends up a better player from working with him inc me. That extends to the tech team. He works very closely with younger musicians to develop them. I guess we are fortunate but it’s probably also why musicians are drawn to our church. 

That’s what most churches need. Someone to put the band, singers & musicians in check. Our church doesn’t have anyone like that & it’s not my place to do it. 

[bass_dinger]

2 hours ago, Richard R said:

Listening to the band final run through before a wedding at 12:30 today.  Heavenly!

How was it?

[Richard R]

7 hours ago, bass_dinger said:

How was it?

It was great - a really happy and joyous celebration. 

The bride is from our church, the groom from Texas, they met in Austria and planned to get married in 2019 in Solihull. Things got very complicated with visas, so they were actually married in July 2019 in the Cayman islands with just parents as witnesses, the plan being to then celebrate back here in 2020. Other things got in the way. So having been married nearly three years they finally had the church wedding celebration. A good day - and a really nice change from all the funerals I have done tech for over the past two years.

 

[Sardonicus]

12 hours ago, Richard R said:

and a really nice change from all the funerals I have done tech for over the past two years.

 

 

I can only imagine the toll that must take on you.  I played acoustic and sang lead vocals last Sunday and it was the first baptism service that I've played in, the atmosphere was electric, it's always a joy when someone commits their life to Christ. 

[bass_dinger]

1 hour ago, Sardonicus said:

 

I can only imagine the toll that must take on you.  I played acoustic and sang lead vocals last Sunday and it was the first baptism service that I've played in, the atmosphere was electric, it's always a joy when someone commits their life to Christ. 

 

It's made worse when one knew the person in the çasket. It is very much more personal. 

 

 

[Matt P]

i'm alternating between acoustic and bass at the moment (never both on the same Sunday though)

 

for my acoustic i'm using a T-Rex Soulmate Acoustic (a fantastic bit of Kit) as an interface and for the Bass i'm using a micro pedalboard with Tuner, EQ, Compressor, Bass Soul food and a chorus with a radial DI at the end of the chain.

 

I'm thinking of slightly simplifying the bass input with a rack preamp as there is a small rack case just next to my usual stage position and occasionally there will be a different bassist on a sunday and they don't have any pedals/preamps.

 

we went to IEM's during lockdown so the lovely Trace head and mismatched cabs that were in use before have gone (the trace is now mine) when there was a bass rig it was easy for anyone to just plug in and play, i'm thinking that a simple preamp that looks like a regualr amp would make it equally easy for other bassists to plug in (as well as giving me the chance to slim down my bass pedalboard even further)

 

What preamps/interfaces are people using for their bass? 

 

Matt

[bass_dinger]

21 hours ago, Matt P said:

What preamps/interfaces are people using for their bass? 

 

 

 

In church?  An amp, a cable. . . .  And I have a Boss TU2 tuner, used as a mute switch.

 

Anything more complex would be too difficult when a different band play in the following week. 

[LukeFRC]

22 hours ago, Matt P said:

What preamps/interfaces are people using for their bass? 

HX stomp into desk 

[Owen]

TC Spectracomp. Way too many other variables between the 3 of us who sit in the bass chair. 

[Richard R]

I use a tuner pedal, then usually DI into the desk. Anyone with a passive bass uses the Behringer BDi21, either just as an active DI to buffer the signal or as an amp modeller.  Cheap and cheerful, but actually pretty good.

[LukeFRC]

5 hours ago, LukeFRC said:

HX stomp into desk 

In which I'm mainly using a tiny bit of compression, an amp sim (and it's eq) and then a EQ block that makes it approximate the output of a cab. (Possibly an cab sim or IR would work as well or better) 0 the helix is overkill really but does let me send a signal to the desk that is fairly close to what a bass into amp and cab would sound like. 

[xgsjx]

8 hours ago, Richard R said:

I use a tuner pedal, then usually DI into the desk. Anyone with a passive bass uses the Behringer BDi21, either just as an active DI to buffer the signal or as an amp modeller.  Cheap and cheerful, but actually pretty good.

That’s what I use. For church, it was Korg Tuner, PSK Distortion, Boss Chorus & Behringer BDi21. 
There was a point where I had a Soundblox SA143 filter, which ended up being used more as an EQ, but I sold that. 
 

[Sardonicus]

On 05/07/2022 at 18:14, Matt P said:

 

What preamps/interfaces are people using for their bass? 

 

 

I plug a lead into my bass and that then goes straight into a Peavey TKO 115, a line goes from the amp into the desk for front of house sound.  Nothing complicated but it works.  I'm looking forward to playing again soon as I missed a couple of weeks thanks to finally getting covid.

[bass_dinger]

Over the weekend, one of the drummers wanted to work on his rhythmic chops.

 

He had heard Toto's Roseanna shuffle, and had found out that it was based on John Bonham's Fool in the Rain.

 

I rather like it too, so, that is our homework for the next few weeks.

 

 

[xgsjx]

47 minutes ago, bass_dinger said:

Over the weekend, one of the drummers wanted to work on his rhythmic chops.

 

He had heard Toto's Roseanna shuffle, and had found out that it was based on John Bonham's Fool in the Rain.

 

I rather like it too, so, that is our homework for the next few weeks.

 

 

& next month you can play some Led Zep to the congregation? 😂

[Dad3353]

58 minutes ago, bass_dinger said:

Over the weekend, one of the drummers wanted to work on his rhythmic chops.

 

He had heard Toto's Roseanna shuffle, and had found out that it was based on John Bonham's Fool in the Rain.

 

I rather like it too, so, that is our homework for the next few weeks.

 

 

 

I had a quick look (intrigued...), and it's a simple concept (RLRRLR triplet hand pattern...) astutely applied. Very effective, and easy to (start...) learning. Getting up to usable speeds is only, really, a question of putting in the effort, with a click or such, building it up. I like it, so that's my week's sessions sorted. Thanks for sharing. 

[bass_dinger]

7 minutes ago, xgsjx said:

& next month you can play some Led Zep to the congregation? 😂

Stairway to Heaven.

 

Thank you.  I'm here all week...

 

 

I think of it as musical exercise - if I can play Led Zeppelin, ABBA, Stevie Wonder, Chic, and Bach, then I will be able to manage whatever else I am asked to play. 

 

However, if all that I can play is Hillsong 4-chord songs, then the music will sound very samey. 

 

 

[xgsjx]

3 hours ago, bass_dinger said:

Stairway to Heaven.

 

Thank you.  I'm here all week...

 

 

I think of it as musical exercise - if I can play Led Zeppelin, ABBA, Stevie Wonder, Chic, and Bach, then I will be able to manage whatever else I am asked to play. 

 

However, if all that I can play is Hillsong 4-chord songs, then the music will sound very samey. 

 

 

Hillsong & Bethel played a big part in me leaving. The songs are dire & after seeing many of their shenanigans, I don’t want to associate myself with them. 

[Sardonicus]

I meant to post this a few weeks ago but I managed to get myself a month long ban from the Basschat Overlords which ended yesterday 🤦🏻‍♂️, moving forward, the Elders of my church decided to change things around (without consulting us) and created 2 worship bands, their decision puts me on 6-string in my band until February but worse than that…..they’ve put ‘The Learner’ bass player in my band (only uses E and A strings, doesn’t tune the D and G strings and can’t remember where the lead plugs in).

 

It’s caused upset all round, I demanded more bass time, most want the old ways reinstated and one person is on the verge of leaving.  WTF were they thinking?