Hello, all.

This month, I'd like to discuss my approach to leading worship with the acoustic guitar which is, personally, my favorite instrument to lead worship. I like to think of the acoustic guitar as a very natural and, if I may use the word, organic sounding instrument. When I lead worship with acoustic guitar in a band setting, I try to think of it as the guiding instrument, with the effect being to establish an overall feel or mood for the song.

During rehearsal with the band, I make sure to work out the different sections of the songs; where I will be playing, where I will not be playing, intensity levels, volume, tempo, etc. In other words, dynamics. And, by applying the acoustic guitar in this fashion, playing in some sections and 'laying out' in others, it helps to change the 'texture' of the parts of the song(s) where I choose to play or lay out. This creates even greater dynamic potential and you need to be aware of this aspect of how to apply the different instruments.

To expand on this, if I may... What we are touching on here is arranging (a huge topic). When you bring instruments in and out of a song, you are affecting the arrangement. This can be a very powerful way to set the overall mood, even changing the 'color' of the mood a bit, when you have instruments drop out at certain points to 'open up' the section, making it less musically cluttered and therefore putting more emphasis on the words in that part of the song.

But it can also be easy to overplay when you’re using the acoustic guitar, to the point where you may end up with too much going on musically. You want to avoid a kind of droning or buzzing undercurrent that can 'muddy' the sound up. So be sure to take time to work out parts, listen to the other musicians' suggestions, singers,etc., to help enhance your overall performance as a band. This will ensure a more pleasant listening experience for the congregation as well as helping to create a more inviting atmosphere for people to engage in worship.

Another tip that is helpful when working with the acoustic guitar, is to make sure you get your guitar's overall sound set and ready to go - before the service begins. Whether you have a pickup installed on your guitar, an internal or external microphone, be sure to work with your sound tech to get the appropriate adjustments for your tone, volume in the monitor (or IEMs) and to minimize feedback (a really big deal). Also try to communicate to the sound tech the placement, the overall way the acoustic guitar 'sits' in the mix, how 'present' you want it to be, either subtle, up front or somewhere in between. The goal, of course, is to create a nice full sound where all the instruments have their place in the mix. Proper equalization is part of what makes that possible.

Again, the idea in a worship service is to create an inviting atmosphere and mood for people to worship in, so it’s well worth your time and effort to work out all of these details in advance. And then, make sure you take notes on settings and everything because you may not have the same sound tech next time out. This way you can help them to know how to set your acoustic guitar up because you took the time to do the hard work to make it sound right - and you want that consistency from performance to performance.

Next month, we will discuss leading worship with acoustic guitar as the only instrument, when there’s no band, just you and your guitar.

Until next time, keep on worshipping the King!

JB