Picking Up Songs In Service

[dabeastleash]

I am 14 years old and have not started playing in church yet, because I don't think I know enough.  What do you guys think are the ways/tips for me to try and pick up songs during service so that I can start playing fluently???

[divinemusician]

this is funny because a few years and months ago i was in your same situation. Everybody told me this, i will never learn how to play until i take my keyboard to church (like during the week services) and just play. take what i do know and apply it the best way i can and it will come. i found this to be ture for ME.  i still wont play on sundays because i am tied up in doing some other things and because i am not that good yet but i do find that the more i play during bible study and prayer meeting the better i get as far as getting a feel for playing during church, playing with poeple singing, playing when people switch keys etc. i encourage you to just step out on faith and just go and play at church one day. grant it you will be really scared because i was (and most are) but when you play and you are playin for the right reasons God will bring all what you need to know to your rememberance. and that you don't know hey the church  will understand you are learning and they (well my church) will continue to sing whether i hit the right key the wrong key the all around key haha but they encouraged me to continue...

also if you have media minsitry one thing i do is that the tapes frm the sunday service and pop that sucker in and i start practicing at home as though i was playing in church... i mean i do everyting frm the "trying to play talk music" to the offering song, to the altar call song, to the shout music i just play with the musicians as though i am sitting right there with them and this helps me get somewhat of a feel of playing with our current musicians as well as a feel of somewhat playing on a Sunday...

[under13]

...

also if you have media minsitry one thing i do is that the tapes frm the sunday service and pop that sucker in and i start practicing at home as though i was playing in church... i mean i do everyting frm the "trying to play talk music" to the offering song, to the altar call song, to the shout music i just play with the musicians as though i am sitting right there with them and this helps me get somewhat of a feel of playing with our current musicians as well as a feel of somewhat playing on a Sunday...

This is exactly what I did. I got me a tape recorder, and taped every service with good musicians. I suggest you get a digital recorder, buying dvds of every service, is not cost effective.

[divinemusician]

This is exactly what I did. I got me a tape recorder, and taped every service with good musicians. I suggest you get a digital recorder, buying dvds of every service, is not cost effective.

oh yea this is true... i am sorry i should have said, that i am the president of the media ministry and not to mention i do the editting of the dvds cds etc so i get mine for free...  so listen to Under13 and buy yourself a digital recorder...

[under13]

oh yea this is true... i am sorry i should have said, that i am the president of the media ministry and not to mention i do the editting of the dvds cds etc so i get mine for free...  so listen to Under13 and buy yourself a digital recorder...

I wish I knew about the digital ones before, now I have dozens of cassette tapes that are very inconvenient to listen to and transfer to mp3. now I use my casio digital camera, and just transfer the wav file to my Hard drive. works good for choir rehearsal too

[dabeastleash]

What tips can you guys give me on making chords??? The reason is because I can find the melody but never learned how to put chords to it....like in devotional..

[divinemusician]

What tips can you guys give me on making chords??? The reason is because I can find the melody but never learned how to put chords to it....like in devotional..

BUDDY TO BE HONEST I AM STILL WORKING ON THAT MYSELF... LIKE I TOLD T-BLOCK I HAVE THREE CHORDS THAT HAVE GOTTEN ME THROUGH A LOT, LOL WITH THE ADDITION TO A FEW OTHERS BUT I JUST FELT MY WAY AROUND WITH THOSE CHORDS FOR THE LONGEST. NOW I AM TRULY TRYING TO LEARN MUSIC THEORY AND LEARN IT WELL TO APPLY IT TO MY MUSIC SO YOU GOT TO GET WIT  THE BIG DAWGS ON THAT ONE, LIKE UNDER13, T-BLOCK, CHOVONNE, B3W, DDW4, AND THE LIST GOES ON AND ON THEY ARE THE JUNK AND CAN TEACH YOU A WHOOOOOLLLLLLLEEE LOT.

[under13]

BUDDY TO BE HONEST I AM STILL WORKING ON THAT MYSELF... LIKE I TOLD T-BLOCK I HAVE THREE CHORDS THAT HAVE GOTTEN ME THROUGH A LOT, LOL WITH THE ADDITION TO A FEW OTHERS BUT I JUST FELT MY WAY AROUND WITH THOSE CHORDS FOR THE LONGEST. NOW I AM TRULY TRYING TO LEARN MUSIC THEORY AND LEARN IT WELL TO APPLY IT TO MY MUSIC SO YOU GOT TO GET WIT  THE BIG DAWGS ON THAT ONE, LIKE UNDER13, T-BLOCK, CHOVONNE, B3W, DDW4, AND THE LIST GOES ON AND ON THEY ARE THE JUNK AND CAN TEACH YOU A WHOOOOOLLLLLLLEEE LOT.

Sorry but I'm not a "Big Dawg" (yet). If I knew theory, I'd share it with yall. but I'ma try to have a few teaching videos on youtube, hopefully by the summer time. I already got my camera and tripod, so now I just have to brush up on my theory and teaching (and playing) skills

[musallio]

DBL, I think the 2 "dawgs" here have done a good job in answering your question & I can't add much more to the answer.

Coming to chords:

Guys, these days there is a galore of chords to choose from & learning chords has never been easy (I'm still learning as well--I've only been playing for a year & a half for fun):
People have posted chords to songs here; there are midi  files to learn from (I admit, at times midi files can be intimidating for the beginner because you see all these notes being played & you don't know which notes to play with which hand, but I overcome that by playing whatever is comfortable for me)..

Caution: that being said, the true learning of chords is incumbent upon you..that is, playing a particular chord in a specific song will not be of much benefit to you if you do not know all the situations/ the condition(s) under which it can be applied So I advise you to study the context under which the chord is being played & listen to how it sounds & try to think of all the possible places you can play it in...(If you are not sure of what I'm talking about, I advise you to visit this thread http://www.learngospelmusic.com/forums/index.php/topic,54954.0.html & read my point on "[b#1[/b]" )

& for maximum benefit, you want to be able to play that particular chord in all the keys, so arrange the chord in all the keys & play it by either going up in half-steps, in the circle of 4th, circle of 5ths or in any random order you want..

For just a chord vault, I direct you to this site: www.beyond.dk ...over here, you can go to the chord chart & download/ print out all the chords in all the keys..you will notice that the B chord chart is not there, but instead, the H..that is because the guy has used German notation

Last but most important, I think that this will be of much benefit to you:

I believe that now is the best time for you to practice T-Block's nicely formed 7-3-6-2-5-1 Progressions in ALL the keys...You can play them in any order you want, but I would recommend modulating (or going up) by 1 key (1/2 step) at a time for starters...so if you start in the key of C, you modulate to Db--> D etc.

You'll find these exercises here:

http://www.learngospelmusic.com/forums/index.php/topic,18903.0.html

(you might find these challenging at first, but you must press on...in my opinion, these are what will give you a real feel of what it's like to play songs in all / any key.

The effort you put into practice this will determine how soon you will be able to play in all keys...
If you can play this in all those keys, it's equivalent to you having played Marvin Sapp's Never Would Have Made It in all the keys   

U13:

Why don't you convert those wav files into mp3s? you know you're consuming +/-7.5 times the space you should be!!!!
You can simply do that using Audacity..(don't forget to download the lame.dll files to enable mp3 exporting)..
I can kindly do it for you if you can't (but I'm sure you have the software anyway)..

[Fenix]

Sorry but I'm not a "Big Dawg" (yet). If I knew theory, I'd share it with yall. but I'ma try to have a few teaching videos on youtube, hopefully by the summer time. I already got my camera and tripod, so now I just have to brush up on my theory and teaching (and playing) skills

I wanted to ask when you were going to do that. I'll be looking out for them. Let us know once you have done it.

[spider5]

To be absolutely honest, the best thing to do is Pray and Let God lead you. When I first started playing in churhes I did not know but a few songs, and then I started to hear the progressions of other songs, and they sounded similar to some of the songs that I already knew, especially hymnals. Though I felt like I wasn't good enough people would ask me who I played for on different Sundays because they wanted me to play for them. I  did't jump on those churches right then, because some churches aren't for you if you know what I mean. However, I knew that I was beginning to get better. The most important thing is that I pray each time I begin to play the piano, because it helps me so much. Let God lead you man, and you will be o.k.. there are going to be songs that you have never heard before, but because you prayed and studied music by hearing the progressions and knowing your scales you will be able to play and people are going to be amazed. Playing is about ministering, so though you desire to be good at what you do, you want to be able to minister to people through your playing. this is a minimstry that people need. I know that I may not have completed answered your questions, but do this and watch your playing skills be lifted, I am a witness to this. I struggled when I first began to play in churches people laughed held their heads down, but I never gave up. Now I am not the best, but when I play people feel the true annointing and that is what it is about. We as musicians should concetrate on the true meaning of praise and worship and not what is hot. Some choirs that I have played for wanted to sing certain songs, and the songs sound good, but if you ask them why do you want to sing the song, they can't give you an answer beyond the song sounds good, and that is where we as musicians must play to lead souls to Christ.
 One more thing before I stop is don't let people discourage you. Some people are going to like your style and some aren't, but as long as your playing is under Gods Annointing then you will be fine and you will acheive greatness.     

[musallio]

To be absolutely honest, the best thing to do is Pray and Let God lead you. When I first started playing in churhes I did not know but a few songs, and then I started to hear the progressions of other songs, and they sounded similar to some of the songs that I already knew, especially hymnals. Though I felt like I wasn't good enough people would ask me who I played for on different Sundays because they wanted me to play for them. I  did't jump on those churches right then, because some churches aren't for you if you know what I mean. However, I knew that I was beginning to get better. The most important thing is that I pray each time I begin to play the piano, because it helps me so much. Let God lead you man, and you will be o.k.. there are going to be songs that you have never heard before, but because you prayed and studied music by hearing the progressions and knowing your scales you will be able to play and people are going to be amazed. Playing is about ministering, so though you desire to be good at what you do, you want to be able to minister to people through your playing. this is a minimstry that people need. I know that I may not have completed answered your questions, but do this and watch your playing skills be lifted, I am a witness to this. I struggled when I first began to play in churches people laughed held their heads down, but I never gave up. Now I am not the best, but when I play people feel the true annointing and that is what it is about. We as musicians should concetrate on the true meaning of praise and worship and not what is hot. Some choirs that I have played for wanted to sing certain songs, and the songs sound good, but if you ask them why do you want to sing the song, they can't give you an answer beyond the song sounds good, and that is where we as musicians must play to lead souls to Christ.
 One more thing before I stop is don't let people discourage you. Some people are going to like your style and some aren't, but as long as your playing is under Gods Annointing then you will be fine and you will acheive greatness.     

AMEN!!!!![/size]

[Virtuenow]

This is a good question, dabeastleash.  I believe it will help someone.  I agree with whoever said to start playing along at service.  That really got me going this past December; so I was in your shoes until just recently.  However, you want to first get down all of your basic scales and progressions.  In other words, get some theory under your belt.  I (or someone else) will link you to those pages if you have not done this step already.

[karendj]

I'm late on this one, but this blessing is right on time!

KJ