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Your Questions 1

Answers To Your Questions:

Do you have a question? Email us, or leave it in the comments below this video and I'll try to answer those that may be helpful for others too. Here's a short video with a question from Del and Bonnie.

Del wanted to know how to figure out the key of a song that has already started. I suggest making sure the instruments lead out so the songs will be in the same key as the music. If that isn't possible, then ear training and knowing guitar music theory will definitely help.

Answering Your Guitar Playing Questions

He is also asking about playing without looking at the sheet music. That happens when you 'own' a song... when you've played it so much you no longer need the music. Again, knowing guitar music theory will be helpful here too since you'll actually understand the relationship of the chords to the song.

Bonnie wanted to know about transposing songs... [Read more...]

Guitar Nails

Guitar Nails - How Long?Guitar Nails: How Long?

One of the Worship Guitar Class students recently asked how to get a clear sound when holding down guitar chords. I decided to make a video for everyone about guitar nails and what's a good length for guitar fingernails. If your guitar nails are too long, it's near impossible to get a clear clean chord.

On the hand that holds down chords, your fingernails should be very short. Only the pads of your fingers should be touching the strings. You want to come directly down on the strings so no other string is damped.

The guitar nails of the hand plucking the strings are best, in my opinion, when they are quite short. Watch the short video below for closeup shots of my favorite lengths for guitar nails. You can hear the difference when tapping your fingers on an object, like the music stand in the video. You should not hear the  nail sound on the hand that holds down strings.

 

Big Screen Video Of The Guitar Nails

To see a super large picture, you can click the expand button on the bottom right corner and this video about guitar nails will fill the screen. It's located between the 'HD' and 'vimeo' at the bottom of the video. I hope this video will help those of you who may be having problems getting a clean sound. Let me know if this was helpful.

(For learning worship songs, try our Worship Guitar Class video lessons.)

Worship Set Ideas

Worship Set IdeasWorship Set Ideas: How To Put Together A Good Worship Set

I'm sure there are many ways good worship set ideas. This is one I learned at a worship conference that works very well in helping people to worship our wonderful creator God. It's good to start with 'call to worship' songs. Some good songs are 'Come Let Us Worship' or 'Come, Now Is The Time To Worship'.

In the Lord's prayer, it begins by focusing on the facts that God is our Father and He is Holy. Start with songs that talk of God's attributes and greatness. Songs like 'Indescribable' or 'Great Is Thy Faithfulness' are good songs to use.

My preference, and what they also taught us in the conference, is to start with faster tempo songs, then end the set with slower more intimate songs. A fast song could be something like 'Today Is The Day'. Slower songs to end a set could be songs like 'Above All', 'Calling Out To You' or 'How Great Thou Art'. One of my all time favorite songs to end a set is 'I Love You Lord.'

To break it down... here are good worship set ideas:

  • Call To Worship Songs and Songs Of God's Greatness in quicker more energetic tempos.
  • Slower more intimate and personal worship songs.

What are some of your favorite worship set ideas or favorite worship songs?

 

How To Write Worship Songs

In the Bible it says to sing a new song to the Lord in several of the Psalms and in Isaiah 42:10. Have you tried writing a 'new song'? In this article I'll share with you some ideas for writing worship songs. One of the best sources for song writing ideas is found in the Bible.

The psalms were originally songs sung by writers like King David. Using music to convey the truths in the Bible is a great place to get ideas for the lyrics. If you look at our most popular worship songs, they are based on God's truths. 'How Great Thou Art' is a beautiful illustration of this. Although the song was written in an earlier century, the song is still sung today and loved in many cultures.

You can put whole sections of the Bible to music or get take some ideas and create a song around specific concepts. A while back I wrote a little song on Jeremiah 9:23-24. That verse talks about not boasting about ourselves, but boasting about our relationship with our God who exhibits lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth.

There are simple chord patterns that work well with most songs called the I, IV and V chords. You can see these in the 'Common Chord Charts' that are free with our newsletters and it's also taught in Volume Two of the Worship Guitar Class lessons. Here's the little song I wrote:

If you would like the music... just request it from the form below.

 

Christmas Newsletter 2011

Ornament for Easy Christmas Songs For GuitarGiving the gift of music is a wonderful gift that has a lifetime of value to individuals. Especially for children... it helps with their brain development! Here is our latest Christmas Newsletter. It also includes inexpensive gift ideas that are either free or cost very little.

We have a good Christian Guitar Lessons program that can be an excellent Christmas gift. And for easy song this Christmas, we are still adding to the Easy Christmas Songs For Guitar program.

In the video above a couple of the items, like the quilted place-mats, were gifts I received this year. What are some fun gift giving ideas that you have?

 

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Jesus is LORD!