Playing guitar in a worship band can be one of the most demanding gigs as a musician. Personally, I know that if I do not take the proper steps in setting up boundaries and routines, the 3 services every Sunday and a 2 hour practice during the week often times takes an emotional, physical, social and spiritual toll on my body. It is also tempting to just sink into the background and take the mindset that; “It’s okay. It’s not like I am leading worship.” Well here is the deal you are leading worship. Anytime you step foot onto that stage the people in your congregation are watching you, learning from you, worshiping with you. While this is an incredible privilege and experience it is important for us to recognize and respect the responsibility that comes with that.
I remember back in college and playing at church I would stay out till 4 am on Saturday night, not practice before the Sunday morning walkthrough or prep myself spiritually through prayer and scripture. Looking back on those days I was effective at leading worship through my playing but not near as effective as I could have been.
Whether you play at multiple services, multiple times a week or your play 1 service a week there are steps you can take to make sure you are prepped and ready to lead worship on Sunday. Here are 4 tips that will keep you on your A-game.
Get Sleep
Get at least 8 hours of sleep on Saturday night. This will allow you to wake refreshed and in the right mindset physically and emotionally to take on the morning in worship. It will also make you more fun to be around at those 7am run-throughs. This is perhaps the hardest to accomplish because let’s face it, We are guitarists. We march to the beat of our own drum a lot of times. We like to be social. We enjoy a great cup of coffee after a Saturday night date. Even though it’s the hardest to implement it is our top tip for bringing your Sunday morning A-game.
Practice Your Parts
This part of being a worship guitarist is overlooked because of a variety of reasons; time, family, schedule, work, bad attitude. I see it a lot with musicians on worship teams. Since it is often times a volunteer position practice always gets put last on the list of priorities. I believe that it should not be last on the list but rather just a part of commitment of playing guitar in worship. We are called to bring our best to the Lord as an offering.
Malachi 1:8 – Then you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” says the Lord Almighty.
Would you show up to a meeting at work without preparing? Would you show up for an interview without first reading about the position and the company you are applying at? The answer is no you wouldn’t. Therefore it is not right for us to show up on Sunday mornings and not know your parts.
Now we know that it is hard to get practice in with family commitments and work responsibilities but we assure you that if you spend 15 minutes per song per week practicing you will start to see improvement in your playing and you will feel more relaxed and excited for Sunday mornings.
Show Up on Time!
You are a lead guitarist. It is likely not something you take very seriously. It is just the way we are! And the common excuse is; “I know my parts. I don’t need the practice.” Well here is the deal. You probably do know your parts and you probably do not need the practice, but the rest of the team does. You also need practice so that you know how to play with the rest of the team.
When you show up late to practice it tells the rest of the team that a: you don’t care and/or b: that they don’t need to show up on time either. It is crucial for morale that everyone shows up on time and is ready to go when rehearsal starts or rehearsals run over, schedules are shot, and the rest of the team is frustrated at you for making them stay late.
We recommend showing up 15 to 30 minutes before practice is slated to start so that you can be setup, tuned and ready to play when rehearsal starts. Of course if you are an electric guitar player who is obsessed with dialing in tone this could be an hour. Just have your guitar tuned and ready to go by the time practice is scheduled to start. Trust us your bandmates and worship leader will love you for this!
Spend time in Prayer & Scripture
It seems cliche and unnecessary to say this but it is not uncommon for worship band musicians to not spend any time in the word or in prayer outside of worship band practices and Sunday Mornings. Heck I have done it. To be in the proper space spiritually for Sunday mornings it is crucial that you are praying and reading scripture daily. This does not have to be a huge endeavor but you should try to spend 15 minutes a day focusing your mind on the Lord. You will not only feel more connected to the Holy Spirit during worship but you will be able to contribute and encourage your teammates more effectively.
We hope that these tips will help you bring your a-game on Sunday and if you have any questions or more tips on how you prepare for Sundays feel free to share them in the comments section below.
1 Comment
Great stuff! I have been on both sides of this article before; needless to say the side of me that follows in the steps of this advice is a much better guitarist, musician, and christian. Keep up the good work.