Playing in Church.

[Minininjarob]

On 30/04/2023 at 22:21, Owen said:

Yep, paying more always gets nicer. However, we are trolling along happily with phone/iPod cameras so thinking there has to be something out there which will fit the bill without a massive bill.

In smaller rooms it’s amazing what an iPhone can do, it’s difficult to spend more when then work so well. We make a lot of our church videos from iPhone footage. 

[Owen]

Thanks MNR. We have just bolted a couple of phone holders underneath our balcony and we will just run with the iPods for a bit to see how it feels. We might yetupgrade. However, I can only dream of a full D&B front of house and proper in-ears!

[Minininjarob]

1 hour ago, Owen said:

Thanks MNR. We have just bolted a couple of phone holders underneath our balcony and we will just run with the iPods for a bit to see how it feels. We might yetupgrade. However, I can only dream of a full D&B front of house and proper in-ears!

We started with very little. Just the kit the musicians owned in a small room. God really blessed us over the years, music is really something we have developed quite a lot. 
We have 4 bass players at the moment but could do with one or two more as we don’t like people to be on all the time so they can be in the congregation themselves sometimes. Spread a bit thin at the moment as we are providing some musician support to a church in Bradford - so wonderful going there, a small place but with a great heart. 
We had a couple of bassists move onto other things which was a shame as we lost a couple of really good ones. 
I’m a beginner but I’m practising with the person who is playing on a Sunday to try and learn the songs myself. Definitely hard work but hopefully worth it. 
 

The IEMS- we were having issues with a very noisy stage in our last building and when we moved into this new one we decided we wanted a completely clear stage - we do hire the auditorium out so being able to clear it completely  is a lot quicker and easier with no amps or monitors on stage. I suppose it was easier to covert to IEMs for us as we had a custom install put in so could design it from the ground up. 
The lead guitar normally has an amp in a separate room which is mic’ed up but the bassist runs through a DI box or preamp. 
 

I suppose it was a lot of money to install it all but it means we can hire it out for big Christian and non Christian concerts so it does make some money back. 

[Risk101]

Really interesting to read all this and to see how other churches do things from an AV perspective I'm surprised 4 bassists aren't enough really, unless maybe you are running multiple services each Sunday (which we did for a while)? I find if I'm not playing at least every other week or so, its much harder to stay familiar with the songs and to have a sense of "team". I'd be interested to know what other bassists think about the optimum playing frequency. 

 

Crack on with your learning and in addition to learning from your current bassists have a think about getting some lessons maybe? I had been playing for years when I decided to get some lessons from a pro-bassist and it absolutely transformed my playing - was also great to get an external "secular" perspective on playing bass as so much worship stuff is repetitive and predictable so you can end up playing in the same way the whole time.  Sounds a bit of a contradiction, but its made it easier to worship while playing! It was also nice to share some of our music with him!

[Minininjarob]

8 hours ago, Risk101 said:

Really interesting to read all this and to see how other churches do things from an AV perspective I'm surprised 4 bassists aren't enough really, unless maybe you are running multiple services each Sunday (which we did for a while)? I find if I'm not playing at least every other week or so, its much harder to stay familiar with the songs and to have a sense of "team". I'd be interested to know what other bassists think about the optimum playing frequency. 

 

Crack on with your learning and in addition to learning from your current bassists have a think about getting some lessons maybe? I had been playing for years when I decided to get some lessons from a pro-bassist and it absolutely transformed my playing - was also great to get an external "secular" perspective on playing bass as so much worship stuff is repetitive and predictable so you can end up playing in the same way the whole time.  Sounds a bit of a contradiction, but its made it easier to worship while playing! It was also nice to share some of our music with him!

it’s mainly cos we have a lot of rotas and people tend to be on multiples of them, if you’re not careful you can never be in a service as a member of the congregation. It helps with swaps and extra services too. 
We have multiple “bands” who always play together which helps a lot with consistency. 
 

We generally have drums/2x guitar/bass/piano/2x brass every week, sometimes adding a synth player, extra brass or violin depending on the week. Plus 6x BVs and choir once a month. 
 

I’m learning to play all sorts of music, would like to be in a band myself, don’t want to limit myself. 

[Richard R]

This popped up on FB this morning and for some reason amused me far more than such an obvious joke should 😅

 

 

 

 

[Risk101]

Thought I’d share this as there was a lovely time of worship (using the song “make room” at the end of our service and the sound (on decent headphones!) was pretty good.

 

Jump to 1 hour 33 mins for the bit I’m referring to!!

 

 

 

[Richard R]

Ever get one of those weekends...?

 

The Friday Practice:
Friday was a dreadful day at work, I got shredded for the plan I had proposed so I was tired and not really with it for Friday's practice. I decided to give my "new" V-bass synth rig an airing, as there were some songs where long notes would be good and so I could try different sounds to see how they worked (think bass+pads), and use a modelled bass for the normal rhythmic stuff. The  setup is  an HB Musicman 5 string, fitted with the Roland GK-2B hex pickup and into the V-Bass COSM Modeller and synthesiser.  Link to my  post in Effects Thread  This band are all used to each other, and most of the songs we knew, and we had a youngster on cahon as well as the drummer, and double trumpets. I was looking forward to the practice to clear the fug of the day away. 

The practice was a car-crash!  Nobody was on form, we just didn't gel at all and it was just not right on so many levels.  I was struggling with the bass as the string spacing is much narrower than my normal one and it dives like a stricken submarine. Playing with the band was much harder than noodling at home - my left arm was killing me by the end of the practice and I was making mistakes everywhere.  I spent yesterday with a headache (I think I was just worrying) and I didn't have time to practice anything, I was dreading this morning.

 

The Sunday Service:

The practice before the service was much better than Friday. I struggled with "Come people of the risen king" and "Immortal Invisible, God only wise", but everything else was tolerable from me and everyone else was back on form.  Straight after we finished the practice I had to go and deal with there being no signal to the projectors for the congregation words and preacher slides, so I sorted that out just before the service but missed the band prayers.

We played the "pre-service" song ("On That Day", new to me) which was good and then, as the worship leader started to welcome everyone and introduced the service,  the sound engineer walked up onto the stage and told me there was no sound at all on the livestream. So I unstrapped the bass and resolved that  - which at least got me out of playing "Come People of the Risen King" as that was the first song.  The rest was OK, but I wimped out on "Immortal, Invisible", by playing fewer notes and almost no volume.  By the end of the service my left arm was on fire, even though I'd slathered on half a kilo of ibuprofen during the sermon.  I have no idea how the congregation felt about it, other than one lady who said how much she enjoyed "On That Day" as it was one of her favourite songs. 

 

The summary:

Good - the V-bass sounds are really good in a live context. The modelled "Active bass+TE Amp" sounded great and groovy and the modelled "8 string+octave" mixed in with the normal signal was just right for long sustained notes. So I'll definitely want to use that more and use some of the other options as well. Fretless and DB might get an outing. The 80's synths perhaps less so.

Bad - that bass! I can't really complain as it was free on the recycling thread and I  wanted something I could fit the hex pickup to other than my #1 Brawley. But how anyone can play something like that I have no idea. Had that been the bass I bought when I just started I would have given up. 

 

I know that most people won't notice or care about the bass sounds, but I am sure the V-bass is worth persevering with at church. I do need to find a new base instrument though. Or butcher that one.

 

[Risk101]

I think most of us can relate to this experience Richard although thankfully I’m not also responsible for sorting out our livestream or words projection !!! 

[bass_dinger]

On 12/03/2023 at 13:38, bass_dinger said:

All that took one hour of rehearsal. 

 

All in all, a recipe for disaster, but it worked out okay.

 

This seems to be my last substantive post in this thread - a contrast to the time when I was either moaning about the set up, and, before that, sharing how well the band was set up. 

 

Since being asked to stand down after complaining that the chord charts were late, the situation is very different.

 

The band has not had a mid week rehearsal since about May, and chord charts are not available until the morning of the service.  

 

As for me, I have learnt to keep my mouth shut, and smile and nod. It is rather refreshing! The new setup seems to work well enough. 

 

In other news, I have a new home practice setup 

Edited September 24, 2023 by bass_dinger

[Richard R]

2 hours ago, bass_dinger said:

As for me, I have learnt to keep my mouth shut, and smile and nod. It is rather refreshing!

 

Ooh!  Can I have lessons please? I've heard of people who can do that, they sometimes call it "Grace" I think. 

 

Nice setup, any good for metal?

[bass_dinger]

1 hour ago, Richard R said:

 

Ooh!  Can I have lessons please? I've heard of people who can do that, they sometimes call it "Grace" I think. 

 

Nice setup, any good for metal?

It is a course that is easily self-taught.   All you need is lots of people that annoy you, and a lifetime to learn the difference between not minding (a good thing) and not caring (not so good).

 

As for the setup, it was good for using up my daughter's old university desk (white bit at the bottom) and some wood-veneered mdf panels that were part of her bedroom furniture.  Self-made by me, but now no longer needed...

I could have cried, but instead, I smiled and nodded.

Edited September 24, 2023 by bass_dinger

[Risk101]

Sad to be asked to stand down over something so basic! Hope your leaders might see the light and ask you to get involved again !

[bass_dinger]

1 hour ago, Risk101 said:

Sad to be asked to stand down over something so basic! Hope your leaders might see the light and ask you to get involved again !

I am indeed involved again, playing, albeit less often.  

 

However, I am not as emotionally involved...

 

 

Careful observation of my work station will reveal the presence of an electric piano, an instrument that is not a bass.  This denotes that I am exploring other options  - certainly, I see that playing bass at church is not the peak of musicality (unless one happens to be Handel, or Bach....).

 

 

[bass_dinger]

On 13/06/2023 at 06:31, Risk101 said:

.... surprised 4 bassists aren't enough

 

.......

 

I'd be interested to know what other bassists think about the optimum playing frequency. 

If we had 4 or more bassists, I think that I would stand down. 

 

If I were the fifth best bassist in a group of 5, I would sit in the pews and enjoy the music.  And if the other 4 bassists were learning their craft, I would question (in my mind) the wisdom of the leadership. 

 

Playing 12 times a year is not enough to keep my chops up, especially if we have (say) 3 drummers and the rota will mean that I only get to play together once every 12 weeks.

 

 

There was a time when my church did have 4 bassists, but I defeated them all, Highlander-Style....

 

Actually,  the reality was that they turned up unprepared, turned up without a bass guitar, needed to be told where each note on the bass was, did not turn up, could not make certain events, needed someone else to tune their instrument.  I think that the leaders got fed up with that nonsense, and focused on the people who could do it without instruction. 

 

Once they had a band that loved to play, and could sound good with a one-hour run through, they decided to stick with what worked.

 

However, since then, there has been some noise about why others are not invited to sing, or why their children got a guitar for Christmas and know three chords but are not yet in the band.   Sadly, nobody had the courage to tell such people that they were previously turned down in the mix.

 

So for me, a small band and a spare set of musicians who are rotad in is enough for me. 

 

 

Edited September 28, 2023 by bass_dinger

[Richard R]

I think I have posted before that 1 week in 3 would be ideal for me. Currently about 1 in 12, but that's because of other commitments I can't shake.

[jimbobothy]

... I was playing about 3 out of 4, or at least 2 out of 4 minimum. New rota and I think approach and I'm on less, but seems with the only percussionist at our church. Suites me fine as I'm not a massive fan of just a vox, guitar and bass trio. Still love playing at church though 👍

[medpb]

How good is Andrew Gouche 

[Owen]

2 minutes ago, medpb said:

How good is Andrew Gouche 

Very, very.

[Richard R]

 

 

Very,  very indeed. 

Hillsong ain't got nobody who can play like this!

 

[bass_dinger]

9 hours ago, Richard R said:

 

 

Very,  very indeed. 

Hillsong ain't got nobody who can play like this!

 

If Hillsong had people who could play like that, churches would not have people who could play like Hillsong!

 

 

[Richard R]

17 hours ago, bass_dinger said:

If Hillsong had people who could play like that, churches would not have people who could play like Hillsong!

 

 

Good point!

[DJpullchord]

Does god play bass?

[Richard R]

25 minutes ago, DJpullchord said:

Does god play bass?

Yep.

 

Give it a while and  I'm sure we can find a very tenuous interpretation of a really obscure verse to back that up. 😉

[Richard R]

In the meantime I asked ChatGPT

"Write a short paragraph explaining why the Christian God plays bass guitar"

 

 To which I got the response:

 

"The concept that the Christian God plays bass guitar is a metaphorical or whimsical notion rather than a theological one. People often ascribe human characteristics or behaviors to deities as a way of relating to them or to emphasize certain attributes. In the context of this playful idea, one might say that the bass guitar provides the foundational rhythm and harmony in a band, much like how the Christian God is perceived as the foundation of the universe and life itself. Just as the bass guitar supports and uplifts other instruments, God is seen as the support and guide for humanity. It's a creative way to think of God's role in a musical context."