How to play worship guitar for metal players
If you love playing metal and you’ve decided to migrate to worship guitar so you can serve in your church’s worship team… congratulations! Your church needs you and your musical gifts to serve the Lord.
But maybe you’ve come to realize that you can’t just drag your Mesa Boogie Rectifier 4×12 Stack to rehearsal and blast out the chords to Hillsong’s “Oceans.” Maybe the sound guy threw some nasty looks in your direction as your team ran through the set. Or maybe your music director frowned at you during worship and asked you to play “quieter” or “calmer.”
It’s very discouraging when your particular set of musical skills are not appreciated, especially when you know this is what you want to offer. You love God, and you love expressing yourself by blasting out Gojira-inspired down tuned chugs, pentatonic riffs like Deep Purple, and technically complex runs a la Tim Henson from Polyphia. All on your beloved ESP Single Cut, of course.
If you’re having trouble reconciling playing at church with your love of metal music, then fear not, friend – you’re in good company. Here are six tips that will help you make the switch:
1. Listen to as much worship music as you can
Maybe you’ve sat through multiple worship sets at church, and thought, “Wow, there’s only like four chords in these songs! I don’t need to listen to these, I’ll ace it when we practice.”
Worship songs are deceptively simple, and it’s tempting to “cheese” it by relying solely on chord and tab sheets to get us through our set. However, there’s a certain feel to the music that we can only learn by familiarizing ourself with the genre. Worship guitar in songs from groups like Upperroom, Circuit Riders, and Hillsong Worship often exhibit these three qualities:
Worship guitar is extremely flow-y.
Worship songs are often very simple, which helps our congregation focus on God, and keeps the space open for spontaneity. Many worship groups like Upperroom intentionally leave very open and free flowing parts in their songs in case they take the song in a different direction when playing live.
Worship guitar encourages improvisation.
Because worship songs are free flowing, worship guitarists have tons of room to add whatever they feel is right for the song. In fact, we are encouraged to do so! It’s a fact that we uplift the congregation when we add our own flavor to a song. We let others know they are free to be unrestrained in their own worship.
Worship guitar embellishes more than drives.
In other guitar-heavy genres, guitarists have the responsibility of driving the song forward. Because we often relegate this to keys and acoustic guitar in worship, we give electric the role of filling the space with color and embellishments. We often achieve this with multiple effects to achieve a free flowing atmosphere.
Worship guitar is a craft – a seemingly pedestrian and simple one, but a craft nonetheless. The best way to familiarize yourself with it is to listen to worship music. Whether that be through the radio or streaming, listen to worship groups like Bethel, Elevation Worship, Passion, etc.!
2. Keep chugs and shredding to a minimum!
With groups like Elevation Worship adopting gospel influences, the good news is we can keep our arsenal of riffs and licks handy! However, it is up to us to decide when and where we use them.
Because worship music is fixated on atmosphere, we must be careful about not detracting from it. Chugs and shredding are showy and forceful – only use such techniques when the situation is appropriate, like during a particularly exciting part of a song. We can also play pentatonic fills in passing moments, like during the transition to the bridge from the chorus. Jorge Fajardo is a guitar player with New Wine and excels at interjecting shreddy, tasteful licks!
3. Learn moveable triad chord shapes
To those unfamiliar, a triad is a chord consisting of the root, the third, and the fifth. Unlike with your typical cowboy chords, we can play triads up and down the neck. They are the saving grace and mark of an intermediate guitar player!
Many guitar riffs and hooks in worship revolve around triad chord shapes. The chorus riff in “O Praise the Name” outlines a C Major triad, as does the final riff in “Raise a Hallelujah.” Once you learn triad chord shapes, you unlock most if not all worship songs!
4. Use more wet effects to fill the space
Sometimes we look at the ginormous pedalboard(s) touted by Nigel Hendroff and shake our heads. Surely, we won’t ever need THAT many effects for our worship sets!
It’s not necessary for us to have a huge studio board with industry-leading effects, but a high quality reverb pedal like a Strymon Big Sky can be a worthwhile upgrade. Dedicated reverb and delay pedals often feature huge bloom and long decay trails. Both are staples of the worship sound and we can use these to fill the space.
5. Experiment with low(er) output pickups
We don’t have to tear out the Dimarzio Super Distortion in our guitar if we’re averse to altering our gear. While there is no hard and fast rule regarding pickups, it’s worth exploring a signal chain with lower output.
A big part of the worship guitar sound is boosting a low output signal into an amp that is breaking up. We achieve this by using low output pickups like single coils and Filtertrons. The result is an overdriven sound that is clear and sits well in the mix!
High output pickups like EMGs sound good by themselves, but compress easily through an extensive signal chain. This produces a signal with squashed dynamics that other instruments can easily overpower.
It’s worth noting we can remedy the issue of dynamics by rolling back the volume. However, alternative pickups like Filtertrons have a character all their own worth exploring!
6. Consider using an amp modeling rig
With amp modeling becoming more and more ubiquitous, many churches are opting for these in lieu of real amps. We can argue for the quality of a real amp recording, but the benefits of an amp modeler is undeniable:
Amp Modeling is convenient.
Most amp modeling solutions, like the Line 6 Pod Go, are easy to use and feature hundreds of amps to choose from. They are lightweight and easily transportable.
Amp Modeling is quiet.
If not managed well, a loud amp can compete with other miced instruments. An amp modeler removes the real amp from the equation altogether and isolates your guitar signal, saving your sound guy a real headache.
Amp Modeling is affordable.
Putting together a pedalboard suited for worship guitar can become eye-wateringly expensive. A single dedicated unit like the Line 6 Pod Go can cost significantly less, have all the features you need, and requires less maintenance.