How To Learn To Play Guitar

March 13, 2012 By jeanw Leave a Comment

How To Learn To Play Guitar?

Want to learn to play guitar? Once you know how, it’s really quite easy to play. I just had a fun phone conversation with a woman who picked up one of our Worship Guitar Class DVD’s. She was surprised how much fun it was to learn to play the guitar.

Her original intent wasto get guitar lessons for her kids, but instead she decided that it was also going to be fun for her to learn to play worship songs.

How to learn to play guitar is easiest with help. I like to begin new students with an understanding of the parts of the guitar, how to hold it, and then move into guitar chords. It’s easier to concentrate on changing chords first and then adding different strumming and finger picking patterns after you can change several of the chords.

I also think it’s more fun to start playing songs from the beginning. [Read more…]

How To Write Worship Songs

January 22, 2012 By jeanw 2 Comments

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 songwriting 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.

Thus says the LORD, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the LORD.

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.

This one is in the key of ‘D’. A common way to write songs is to alternate between verses and the chorus. Here’s the little song I wrote:

If you would like a few ideas of how to change a song, check out 4 Ways To Change a Song.

Walking Bass Notes

January 17, 2012 By jeanw 6 Comments

Walking Bass Notes

A common technique used to write songs is with using walking bass notes. It’s a style of writing music for literally hundreds of years. I think of the very famous Pachelbel’s Canon in D that dates back to the Baroque period in the 1700’s. Pachelbel uses a repeating descending bass line throughout the piece.

‘As A Deer’ is a well known worship song that uses a descending bass line in much of the song. There are several ways to write and make song arrangements. In the video below you can learn the walking bass notes for a number of different keys. I’ve filmed a 6 minute lesson for you. This is also in one of the Video Newsletters but I thought it might be easier to find on the website to have the lesson stand on it’s own, too. The video shows some walking bass notes in major keys, but it also works for minor keys.

If you would like to learn and apply many ways to write songs, you might enjoy our Guitar Music Theory course. I hope you enjoy the lesson. If you would like to learn more about Finger Picking, check out our Mastering Finger Picking course.

The Walking Bass Note Video

Guitar Practice Tips

January 7, 2012 By jeanw 4 Comments

Guitar Practice Tips

With a new year people often make new goals or New Year’s resolutions. Maybe you have made one around becoming a better musician this year. Here are a few guitar practice tips to help.

1. Pray First
In Scripture it says to pray without ceasing. We can, and should pray about all the details of our lives. Why not ask Him for help in playing music and in keeping focused on Him.

2. Have A Goal

It’s a good idea to have a goal. Do you want to learn a specific song, learn more chords, or play with quicker chord changes? It’s easier to accomplish a goal if you have one. Do you want to become a more skilled worship leader? [Read more…]