Glorious 2010

If you've followed my blog at all this past year you probably know that I'm a huge Paul Baloche fan!     This year (along with the past three years) I attended the Seminars For Worship conference back in November.  I know this post is late however it's better late than never (right?).  Anyway, what a great time!  As usual Integrity put on an amazing conference.  Paul Baloche, Kathryn Scott, and Brian Doerkson led the conference once again this year.  

Brian Doerkson started the conference talking about...you guessed it, worship.  He said as worship leaders we must lead the congregation in worship, and that can be very difficult at times.  He said it's not hard for people to worship, we all worship!  But the difficulty comes in turning peoples affection towards God!  We all worship something - it could be money, a job, a car, a house, a relationship, etc.  The difficulty is turning away all the distractions and focusing on God who alone deserves our worship!  I'm paraphrasing what he said, but it was great!  It reminds me of a skit the "Skit Guys" do!

Then Paul Baloche and band did his famous Worship Band Workshop!  If you don't have that DVD of his you need to get it.  It's a MUST HAVE for any worship band (more important than any piece of equipment have or need).  I could watch that thing a hundred times and still be reminded of something!  Seeing it live is such a blessing because you can interact and ask questions!  

Lastly all the breakout sessions and workshops were great!  I have been to a number of them throughout the few years I've been attending and they're all helpful!  Very informative and tailored to your instrument (Guitar, Bass, Drums, Keys, Lighting, Sound, Vocals, Music Theory, ETC). 

I think the best thing about this conference that's so unique from others is that you see the heart of each one of these guys and gal.  They are so genuine and down to earth.  It's not about hype or the latest and greatest equipment, it's about God!  It's about how to lead others in worship.  So thank you Paul, Brian, and Kathryn for doing what you do and for another great conference!

Serving Him,

Jimmy!

Great Home Recording Website!

Here is another great website I found about a month or two ago!  If you have a home studio or if your thinking about starting one, this site is a huge help!  Between the articles and the numerous video tutorials, this site is a grand slam!  And all for FREE!  

Graham Cochrane is the guy behind "The Recording Revolution".  His desire is to help others, "Make better music now!"

"My goal for this blog is to educate and empower a new generation of musicians and songwriters to make outstanding music with their home studio.  I hope to break through the hype and marketing that tells people they need to spend more money if they want better results.  I want to eliminate any and all excuses prohibiting great talent from making great recordings."

I was so thankful I had an opportunity to meet Graham a few weeks ago.  Simply to talk about recording and the endless journey of learning more about it.  Graham is a genuine guys who has a passion for music and a passion for the Lord.  He is the worship leader at Aletheia Church in Tampa, FL.  Graham also has a whole course on Pro Tools that you can order for a great price!  Make sure you take a minute and check out his site!

http://therecordingrevolution.com/

Serving Him,

Jimmy

Attaching Pedals!

Hey everyone!  I know I haven't updated my blog in a quite sometime now (sorry about that).  Anyway, I was looking for a new way to mount my new wah pedal and I came across a few different ideas.  Here's a little video illustrating a few of them.


Serving Him,


Jimmy!

Pedal Placement!

So I just rearranged my current pedal board and I thought it would be a good idea to blog about what order to put your pedals in. I'm constantly switching my pedals in and out of my board. I like to use different pedals for different styles of music. So as a result it's important to keep in mind the order in which you place them. You may be asking yourself why is it important to consider which order these things go? That's a good question!

The order of your pedals can play a significant role in the shaping of your sound and tone, not to mention the feel of the guitar!  If you put a flanger pedal before your delay it will sound completely different then if you put it after your delay!  

So here are a couple of tips to help aid in the process.  These are not set in stone, they're just some rule of thumb ideas.  

- Compression and Wah before Distortion

- EQ after Distortion

- Reverb, Phaser, Flanger, and Tremolo after Delay

- Volume pedals can be useful in a few different places, in the front, at the end, or even before the delay.

Currently my pedal order is as follows:

Boss-TU2 - Keeley Compressor - Dunlop Wah (True bypass) - Fulltone OCD - Fulltone 69 - BYOC Screamer Clone - BYOC MXR Distortion + Clone - BYOC Shredder - Boss DD-20 With Tap Tempo - Cusack Tap-O-Whirl Tremolo - Xotic Effects RC Booster - BYOC MXR Phaser Clone!

Serving Him,

Jimmy!

Stompbox Spotlight: Loop Station

I have been meaning to start this series of video blogs for some time now and I have finally started to do it.  Here is the first one!  In this video we take a look at the boss Loop Station.  A "looper" pedal will let you to record multiple layers of loops and allow you to play along with them.  In this example I plug in 3 different loops and play a melody line over top of them.  This is a very simple example of what a looping pedal can do.  I need to preface the fact that you'll need to turn up the volume on your computer or listen to it through some headphones.  Hope you enjoy it!

Serving Him,

Jimmy!

All The Earth Will Sing Your Praises Guitar Solo!

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Here's my first attempt at the whole video blog world!  This is an instructional video for the Paul Baloche song  "All The Earth Will Sing Your Praises"(guitar solo).  It's in the key of "F" and starts with a double stop at the thirteenth fret.  Please let me know what you think in the comment section below.

Serving Him,

Jimmy!

Don't Rest On Your Laurels!

A classic phrase with a classic truth!

  

The laurel wreath was used in greek athletic games dating back to the 6th century.  It was used to crown the victor!  You can still see them inscribed in olympic medals today.  In fact in the 2004 olympic games they crowned the winners with laurel wreaths (the games were held in Athens, Greece).  

This phrase simply means that we shouldn't rely on past accomplishments to propel us into the future!  It can be applicable to any situation of growth, learning, or accomplishment.  I would like to apply it in two very specific ways today.

First off in our craft!  Whether you play guitar, drums, bass, keys, or didgeridoo, this can apply to you!  When you started playing you spent countless hours practicing and working on your instrument.  As you progressed you became more proficient and more confident in your abilities.  However there is a tendency to "rest on your laurels" when you reach a certain point in your playing.  You can play most common songs and do a "decent" job at it.  However we should always strive to do our best, not just "good enough," particularly in the area of worship!  God deserves our best!  Sure there will be times where we mess up or make a mistake.  We don't have to pretend to be perfect, however we should give our best!  Psalm 33:3 says, "Sing to Him a new song, play skillfully with a shout of joy!" 1 Chronicles 25:7 says, "all of them trained and skilled in music for the Lord!"  We should have a desire to our best for God!  So lets continue to practice, learn, and grow in our instruments.

The second area I would like to focus on is our spiritual growth.  When you first accepted Christ into your life you probably had a strong desire to grow spiritually.  And just like playing your instrument, you reach that point where you start "resting on your laurels."  You know most of the Old Testament stories and have read through most of the New Testament.  Again, there is a tendency to slow down and stop growing.  This is dangerous!  Paul talks about this in the book of 1 Corinthians:

"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.  Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize."

Paul uses this illustration of running a race and it reminds me of something I loved doing as a young boy.  I loved escalators and I loved running up them backwards.  If you read my last blog post you're probably thinking, "like father, like son."  Anyway I loved the challenge of making it up to the top!  However there's a funny thing that happens when you slow down or stop on that escalator.  You start going backwards.  You become counterproductive very quickly.  Well, that's exactly what happens when we start "resting on our laurels." We quickly start to lose ground and start becoming ineffective.   

I don't know about you but I don't want to lose ground. I don't want to become ineffective for Christ.  So let me encourage you (as I encourage myself) to not "Rest On Your Laurels!"  Keep growing and working on your instrument and on your relationship with Christ!  

Serving Him,

Jimmy

Backwards!

Have you ever gotten anything backwards before?  I know I have!  If you are a guy and you're reading this, you've probably put something together without reading the directions first.  And just when you're ready to put that last piece together you realize something is wrong.  You realize that one piece is backwards and it simply messes everything else up.

I had a good friend call me this week (actually he was returning my original call) and he told me about this conversation he had with a friend of his.  He went on to tell me that his church is going through a transitional period and that his friend was not all about it.  He said that his friend started saying things like, "I don't like this, I don't like that, I'm not being fed"and so on.  He said to me, "Jimmy I didn't know what to do or what to say, I was just frustrated with the conversation".  He asked me, "What do you say to that?"

After thinking about it, my mind went to this picture I took of my son.  He was so excited that day!  He had gotten himself dressed and was so proud of himself!  He said, "Dad wook at me!"(He still can't say his "L's" right.)

You see it's so very easy to get things backwards, isn't it?  My friend's friend had one common theme in his words.  Did you catch it?  It was the word "I".  His focus was upon himself and not on God.  Too often we think that the church is supposed to be all about "us".  And that it should meet all "my needs".  The only problem with that is that it's not all about us.  In fact that kind of thinking is backwards!  Church is about God!  It's about worshipping a Holy God!  Not worshipping our likes, or tastes, or preferences but about worshipping our Creator.  We need to come to church in an attitude of surrender and offer our lives to Christ.

Romans 12:1 says,
"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship."


You see our purpose in life is to worship God!  To offer up our lives as a living sacrifice!  Not just to simply please ourselves, but to please God!  But in our market driven world it's so easy to get it backwards. Companies spend million's of dollars each year to try to convince you that YOU need their product.  YOU deserve this.  YOU deserve that.  Have it YOUR way.  All these things focus on our own selfish desires and that can spill into the church.

The funny thing is, is that we (as Christians) have become masters at "over spiritualizing" these things and we actually try to make ourselves sound more spiritual when we say things like "I'm not being spiritually fed,"or "I'm feeling led by God to go here or there."  Many times we can sound so spiritual and yet we can be so sinful because we're focused on our own selfish desires and not Godly ones!

It's much like my son's shorts.  When I first saw him I didn't realize they were on backwards.  Everything looked fine at first glance.  However when I took a closer look I realized something wasn't right.  It was then that he said, "Dad something doesn't feel right".  I think this is what my friend might have been feeling during his whole conversation with his friend.  Something just doesn't feel right?  That's because it can sound so "spiritual" and yet it might not be.

So lets always try to be careful about how we view our church and our attitude as we come into a worship service.  May we always come in with an expectation of worshipping God and not simply to do the things that we like or prefer.  Make sure that your shorts are on right (not backwards)!  Because it's not about us, it's all about Him!

Serving Him,

Jimmy

Integrity Music Livestream!

Yesterday as I was checking my email got an email that said the Integrity Music was going to be doing a series on Livestream.  Paul Baloche was live from his home in Lindale TX.  It was really cool!  He gave some great practical advice for worship leading!  They are highlighting the "Seminars For Worship Conference" ( I highly recommend this conference!!!).  I don't think they are archiving these live casts so you have to watch in real time.  They start at 9:00PM on Tuesday evenings!  Here is the schedule for the next upcoming couple of months!

Highlights!

-Music Theory - Steve Bowersox

-Media - Stephen Proctor

-Drums - Carl Albrecht

-Guitar - Ben Gowell

-Live Sound - David McCauley

P.S. You can now share this blog via Gmail, Blogger, Twitter, Facebook, and Google!!!

Pedals Pedals Pedals!

For a long time now I've been wanting to post a picture of my current pedal board set-up.  The only problem is that my board doesn't always stay the same.  My pedal board is in a constant state of motion (if you will).  I change out pedals depending on the songs and sets I'm playing.  This week we are getting ready to go off to camp with a bunch of high school and middle school students!  I'm a Youth Pastor and our student band is playing all the worship for camp.  Sometimes when I travel I use a short board and only use five or six pedals.  Anyway I started piecing together the board I will use and I thought I would just take a picture of all my pedals and post it.  I have approximately 6 or 7 distortion / overdrive pedals.  The reason for this is because they all play differently and sound differently.  Each pedal can sound completely different every time you switch guitars or amps.  And when you record everything changes.  So with that said I always try to have two or three different distortion / overdrive pedals with me.  Anyway its safe to say that some of these I use more than others.  I have an envelope filter that is so cool but you can't use it all that often.  You get the idea.

I want to start a monthly / bi-monthly section in my blog called "Stompbox Spotlight"  where I demo different pedals and give their strengths and weaknesses.  But for now here are some of the boxes I use!

Serving Him,

Jimmy!

Another Great Site!!!

So I was talking with a friend tonight (actually instant messaging) and he had some chord questions.  Anyway I googled "chord finder" and it came up with this site.  Its awesome!!!

http://www.chordbook.com/index.php

It has a chord finder, scale finder, tuner, jam tracks, and video's!  Check it out!!!

Serving Him,

Jimmy

www.?.com

Modern technology you gotta love it!  The internet has revolutionized our world in so many ways.  You no longer need telephone books, maps, or even an encyclopedia!  All you have to do is go online and, voila it's there.  In this post I would like to share with you some of my favorite websites and blogs that have helped my playing!  Please feel free to share some of the websites that you like in the comment section below!

http://www.musictheory.net/
This is a GREAT site!  You may not be into music theory but it's the building blocks of music.  This site is great for all aspects of music!  Ear training, note recognition, interval training, etc.  This isn't the flashiest site but its very helpful.

http://www.youtube.com/user/Guitartricks#p/u/22/pNzJmURoPuQ
I just found this site not long ago.  It's great!!!  They have all sorts of guitar lessons on their normal site and some free lessons on their youtube site.  Check it out!

http://www.guitarinstructor.com/
This site is cool too!  They have online lessons that you can view for only $1.99 per lesson.  Not a bad price!  There is a wide variety of lessons from professional players.  They have lessons ranging from rock, jazz, blues, to even guitar maintenance.

http://www.harmonycentral.com/index.jspa
Harmony Central is a invaluable website.  There are all kinds of user reviews on amps, effects, guitars and anything else that deals with music!  If you're thinking about buying some gear check this site out first to see what others think of it!

http://brokenheadstock.com/
I also follow a few different blogs.  This guy has a great blog!  I found his blog one day after searching for a tap tempo pedal schematic.  Check it out http://brokenheadstock.com/?p=82 . He discusses his gear and what's worked for him.

http://godgearandguitars.blogspot.com/
This is Chris Lockwood's blog, he's the guitarist from the band "33 miles".  I love the name of his blog, God, Gear, and Guitars!  They have some great songs too!


Ok so there are just a few websites that are very useful.  What about you?  What sites / blogs do you follow?  List them below!

Who's Your Influence?

Throughout my years of playing I've had people ask me, "Who are some of your influences?" and "What guitarists do you listen to?" This is always hard to pinpoint because you pick up all kinds of things from all kinds of players. And of course as music is always changing so is your playing. With that said some of the people I am currently listening to are Lincoln Brewster, Ben Gowell, and Nigel Hendroff. Each of which have their own style of playing.

Lincoln Brewster is probably one the most widely known worship guitarists. He has multiple albums and is an outstanding player! He is an extraordinarily versatile player who can adapt to any style of music. In his latest album he goes from rock, to blues, to gospel, and then some. It's a excellent CD and I would encourage everyone to buy it! He also has two instructional DVD's that are currently out. I have the first and it too is great! Also if you haven't heard his testimony and how he came to know the Lord you've got to read it!

Ben Gowell is currently playing with Paul Baloche, Michael W. Smith, and Sara Groves (All @ the same time JK). His playing is very super creative. You generally won't hear him scream out some lightening fast hardcore flashy solo (though I'm sure he could) however his creativity and consistency make him a very sought after guitarist. I love Ben's style that always makes you say, "How and where is he playing that?" I've had the honor of meeting Ben at a Seminars 4 Worship event and he is one of the most down to earth people you could meet. His love for playing the guitar and more importantly his love for his God comes shining through! Ben also has an instructional DVD out and it focuses on everything! From chord shapes, to scales, to music theory, to equipment, its all in there (like a good pasta sauce)! It's got to be the most beneficial instructional DVD I have seen (and I've seen a lot)! If you don't have it get it!

Nigel Hendroff is one of the many guitarists who play for Hillsong United! He (like Gowell) is a very creative guitarist. Hillsong's music is very unique and different and consequently so is Hendroff's playing style. Nigel doesn't have an instructional DVD however you can find him on Youtube teaching many Hillsong songs!


All these guys are great guitarists! They all have shaped the way we play worship music today! They all currently play for their churches and have a heart for God! So there are just a few of my influences as it pertains to worship, how about you? Who are some people you're listening to? Who are the people that help shape the way you play? Please share them below!

Serving Him,

Jimmy!

Timing Is Everything!

I remember it like it was yesterday. We were in the batting cages and I was having the hardest time trying to hit that crazy baseball. For some reason I just could not hit the ball. I never had any trouble hitting a baseball when I was in little league. But as I got older that ball started coming at me faster and faster. One of my friends Brian was having the same problem at first but then all of a sudden he started hitting every single ball that came his way. I asked him about it and what he differently to start hitting the ball. He gave me a very simple answer, "Just keep your eye on the ball until it hits the bat." I thought, "thats it?" It seemed too simple, and yet it was the very thing that worked. You see I would look at the ball as it came towards me but then close my eyes as I swung the bat . I don't know why I did that, I just did. Anyway, the point is, is that I would inadvertently take my eyes off the ball and that would throw off my timing. When your trying to hit a baseball timing is crucial! If you swing a half a second early or late it can drastically affect where your ball will go. The same is true for music! Timing is everything- whether you're a guitarist, drummer, bass player, or even a nose whistle player, timing is everything! If you're a half a second early or late you very well may have a glorious train wreck on your hands. If you take your playing seriously you must work with a metronome on a consistent basis! It is so vital! I don't care if you can shred like a maniac or do a 20 minute drum solo! If your timing is off then it just doesn't matter all that much. This week I want to challenge you to work with a metronome for 15 minutes every day. Just strum along or play scales with it. Don't start off on 130 bpm. Take it easy and work with a section of a song at a time. If you're working a solo or trying to build up speed in your playing, play the part slow at first. When you can play it 10 times in a row without any mistakes, gradually speed up the metronome. If you're thinking, "I don't really need to work with one of those, I've got good timing" - than you need to work with one. I naively thought that at first and quickly realized how off I really was. If you don't have a metronome you can buy one at any music store for around $10. Or you can even work with one online for free. Just follow this link!

Serving Him,

Jimmy!

Recipes!

So my wife started two new blogs this past week and was very excited about them! She posted them and asked me to go and check them out, so I did. She did a wonderful job - the layouts and color schemes were perfect. She then proceeded to ask me if I actually read any of her posts. To be honest with you I skimmed them over but I didn't actually read them. The first one I saw was all about a brand new muffin recipe. Now as much as I like to eat I'm not all that interested in cooking. However it got me thinking about tone (because every self respecting guitarist knows that everything goes back to tone right?...JK:) Yes I know it sounds odd but it got me thinking about tone! You see when you find a good tone that you really really love its just like finding a great recipe! The guitarist, guitar, amp, and pedal setup all mix together to get that unbelievable sound! So I give my wife and her "muffin recipe" all the credit for starting this new blog!

Some of my favorite tone recipes are as follows;

American Telecaster - Mesa Boogie Rectoverb - MXR Distortion +

American Strat - 65' Fender Deluxe Reverb (Vintage Reissue) Pushed Hard

American Strat - 65' Fender Deluxe Reverb (Vintage Reissue) - Tube Screamer

Gibson ES 135 - Mesa Boogie Rectoverb - Fulltone OCD

I would like for this blog to serve as an ongoing conversation of ways to improve our effectiveness for playing for our Mighty God! So please use the comment section of this blog to give your ideas and thoughts! If you have a favorite "tone recipe" that you love please post it here!

Serving Him,

Jimmy!