Musicianship query

[Ronnie G]

Checking to see, amongst the active core here.

Anyone play an instrument(s)? Or sing?

If so, do you write, or record?

And if so. What sort of projects are you working on?

[Ronnie G]

I should also add, all that stuff notwithstanding: Do you play for church/service, even if you don’t do the above?

[MawMaw]

I sure wish I could play an instrument!
I do sing with the praise singers at my church.
I sing alto mostly or any of the "man" parts LOL!!

[n david]

Originally Posted by Ronnie G

Checking to see, amongst the active core here.

Anyone play an instrument(s)? Or sing?

If so, do you write, or record?

And if so. What sort of projects are you working on?

I help lead worship at church. Also play the keyboard. Thank God for MainStage and Sunday Keys. Now and then I play the drums. I grew up playing the drums and trumpet. Haven't played the trumpet in probably 30 years now. After I started playing the drums, I never went back to the trumpet. I can play very basic chords on the guitar.

I've tried writing songs but apparently I'm that singer/musician who can't write. I recorded a song with my church's choir back in the late 80s. Also recorded a song on a live recording at college in the early 90s.

[KeptByTheWord]

I have played both piano and organ in church and have written a few songs through the years, none ever published. I mostly enjoy playing the older hymns and choruses, and enjoy some of the newer music styles. I play by ear, and also can follow chord music, but have never had formal music lessons. I can read sheet music on a very basic level. Most of all, I love to worship the Lord, and many times I just sit at the piano and play, sing and pray.

[Michael The Disciple]

I play acoustic guitar. Used to lead praise and worship long ago in a Charismatic/Jesus People vein. In those days we took our guitars anywhere we went and praise and worship was pretty much non stop.

[Ronnie G]

Originally Posted by MawMaw

I sure wish I could play an instrument!
I do sing with the praise singers at my church.
I sing alto mostly or any of the "man" parts LOL!!

Well, without a doubt, the voice is first in the instrumental/praise Hierarchy

[Ronnie G]

Originally Posted by n david

I help lead worship at church. Also play the keyboard. Thank God for MainStage and Sunday Keys. Now and then I play the drums. I grew up playing the drums and trumpet. Haven't played the trumpet in probably 30 years now. After I started playing the drums, I never went back to the trumpet. I can play very basic chords on the guitar.

I've tried writing songs but apparently I'm that singer/musician who can't write. I recorded a song with my church's choir back in the late 80s. Also recorded a song on a live recording at college in the early 90s.

Not sure if those programs have the similar aspect as what I have been in contact with.

I recently gave a talk at a pastor's conference in Monterey, at a church a friend of mine pastors. He asked me if I would stay over and play for the music service.

The in-ear voile that drive the direction of the song was completely foreign to a guy that has played in bands his whole life--one in which direction is either give in real-time, or, in the case of most of my circuit-play--directed by head-bobs, lol.

I'm assuming Mainstage has the ability to compensate for missing band members--in other words, if you have a drummer, the drummer is dropped from the mix, and so on.

My problem was, the songs we played had like three or four "lead guitar" tracks, so it was a smorgasborg of clang.

And by "clang," I mean the "overt and odd musical osmosis that modern praise and worship has made with the style of U2." Nearly all of the Hillsong/Jesus Culture/insert-whomever here guitar technique involves the continual "down-pick" technique with no nuance. The riffs are all diatonically correct, but they sound harsh.

Now, I have never found that style completely off-putting, but at the same time, it seems to have a sterile and passion-less middle setting. For a guy that grew up on the dynamics of what a guitar can offer, it really set me back.

[Ronnie G]

Originally Posted by KeptByTheWord

I have played both piano and organ in church and have written a few songs through the years, none ever published. I mostly enjoy playing the older hymns and choruses, and enjoy some of the newer music styles. I play by ear, and also can follow chord music, but have never had formal music lessons. I can read sheet music on a very basic level. Most of all, I love to worship the Lord, and many times I just sit at the piano and play, sing and pray.

I'm thinking of starting a songwriter's thread--I'm writing a project right now, tentatively called "Outcasts." These are songs written from the perspective of the people Jesus healed in the Gospels, but then you never really hear from them again. It's blues based, with an acoustic foundation. I've got partial demos I could link to, but I'm still new here, and I don't want to waltz in all hoity-toity and trip the collective gag-reflex. Not that my music would be objectionable, I just don't want to be that annoying person that shows up to open-mics and reads seventy-four reams of post-modernist poetry, either.

So far I've written songs from the perspective of

-The blindman Jesus healed on the Sabbath
-The leper
-The demoniac (Yes, it's possible, and possibly the best song I've ever written called, My last night in the Gadarenes.")

[Ronnie G]

Originally Posted by Michael The Disciple

I play acoustic guitar. Used to lead praise and worship long ago in a Charismatic/Jesus People vein. In those days we took our guitars anywhere we went and praise and worship was pretty much non stop.

I have had interactions with both Glen Kaiser as well as Darrel Mansfield. Darrel is suffering from dementia and no longer active. What a nice guy.