Music/Worship

So here’s something about me: I love music. I think that’s an understatement. I love listening to music, I love talking about listening to music, I love playing music, I love thinking about playing music. Music is a blessing and a energy-giving source in my life. In fact, while I’m typing this, I’m listening to the overture from Muse’s symphony. Pure brilliance.

That said, I play for my church on one of the worship bands. I play lead guitar, which, by the way, is a term that makes me cringe. It makes me think that I am limited to only doing cheesy 80s metal lead solos that involve double-handed tapping and rack-mounted reverbs. The term does not fit for a post-rock worship band. As the guitarist that does most of the non-rhythm stuff, I find myself doing more texturing in the mix rather than playing out in front of the mix. Am I high-maintenance/pretentious enough to call myself a “textural guitarist” instead of a “lead guitarist”? No. ….but not to say that I haven’t tried. It just didn’t take. :-).

In worship bands, there’s a definite niche for this style of playing, though. Are people going to be driven to their knees in Spirit-filled worship because of the U2-style dotted eighth notes I’m strumming out on the chorus or the analog delay-soaked atmospheric passages throughout the verses? No. But is it filling out and texturing the song so it feels more full? Absolutely. By filling that niche am i “playing skillfully” (Psalms 33:3)? I’d like to think so. It’s a fine line between distracting and texturing, though. One that’s not always easily distinguishable. It helps to have the right tools to do it right.

As I blog, every once in a while I’ll have posts that will be under the “Gear” category about gear and tone and the real geeking out will begin. 🙂

Until then, I continue to praise God for the gift of music not only as a hobby, a passion, but a means of communicating with Him that’s thousands of years old.

Awesome.

-Paul T Anderberg

~ by Paul Anderberg on October 14, 2010.