Drumming for worship has got to be one of the funnest and most fulfilling activities that a human being can do, in my oh-so-humble opinion. Granted, I do make a living hitting the ol’ skins so I may be a tad biased, but my point still stands. I mean, at drumming’s most basic level, who doesn’t like to hit things really hard and make loud noises? It fulfills a childlike desire to cause chaos…controlled chaos ideally, but thats easier said than done.

Unfortunately, hitting on a drum loud and fast does not qualify one as a good drummer. In fact, I would venture to say that a sign of a good drummer is nearly the opposite: being able to control one’s volume whilst maintaining speed consistency. Let me “unpack” this, as they say.

First and foremost, a drummer’s job is to hold down the tempo for the rest of the band. If the drummer isn’t doing this basic task, everything falls apart in a heap of jumbled notes and missed cues. You can have all the fancy Neil Peart fills and Carter Beauford stick maneuvers, but if you’re not keeping tempo well, you’re showboating your way to a frustrated band. Not only that, but if your primary venue for playing is in a place of worship, you’re not only distracting the band, but you’re distracting congregants from focusing on the real object of their worship: Jesus Christ.

The solution is simple: Play to a click. Some songs may require the click to be set to quarter notes, while others require eighth-note-separation to continue hearing the click through the band. Regardless of note-length-preference, playing to a click will make the task of locking in with a drummer much easier for the rest of the band, and certainly helps lessen distractions for congregants with a musical ear.

Chances are, every drummer has heard the dreaded phrase, “Yeah…if you could play a little softer, that’d be great…” in some fashion. We all hate it, and we all just wish sound guys and complainers would make peace with the fact that music is best heard at ear-piercing decibels. However, as much as we wish the world were a giant rock concert, that’s not realistic for every situation and every venue. To be a truly diverse drummer, one must gain control over their strike velocity, and learn to play just as well with less “umph”.

But it isn’t as simple as just playing softer – there’s more to it than that. For instance, hit cymbals with different strength than you would the snare and toms so they don’t drown everything out. Maintain volume levels when transitioning through a drum fill so you don’t scare the pants off of those around you. Learn the art of Dynamics. I could go on and on about this, but the point is this: volume control, volume control, volume control. It really is the easiest way to identify a seasoned drummer.

In the end, worship drummers should desire two things: To worship Jesus with their playing, and to help others to focus on Jesus in worship as they do so. The former is a matter of the heart, while the latter is a matter of practice…and minimizing the chaos in both the latter and in the former will result in one of the most fulfilling activities that a human being can do (in my oh-so-humble opinion).

Moving Back to Austin

Sarah and I have had an awesome year here in St Louis. We’ve met lifelong friends, and learned things that will stick with us forever. As most of you have heard by now, we’re moving back to Austin at the end of this month. We have come to this decision after extreme caution and prayer. As moving day commences, we’re becoming sadder to leave, and are growing even fonder of our friends here. Stephen and the band have been like a tightly-knit family for us, and The Journey has been an incredibly integral part of our sanctification. There’s no way we ended up here by accident, nor was it a mistake to come. We’ve been blessed, challenged, trained and blessed again.

We feel the Spirit leading us back for many reasons, but the main one (for me) is to contribute in ministry to my family back home. Some of them have been through very rough times lately, and God has positioned me to be a helper to them.

Because of my job, I’ll get to visit StL about once a month, and I hope to remain friends with you all, and visit The Journey frequently.

Please pray for us. Pray that we will not lose sight of the mission on which God has us. My biggest temptation is to go off and make this move about me. When you think of us, please pray that our lives bring glory to God, and not ourselves.

StL, thank you for welcoming us so warmly. We love you, and we’ll see ya soon.

-Wes and Sarah

Why do all modern worship guitarists play the same style?

Though I don’t subscribe to this belief, it seems to be a popular discontentment in my line of work. I have some thoughts about this argument that I feel like I should share…

First of all, as a guitarist, I can better distinguish between my favorite worship guitarists, since I have so much invested in the art form and I pay much more attention to nuance. I’m not trying to say that I’m better, or more cultured than anyone. The latter, I’m sure is almost laughable. I’m just saying I study this stuff under a microscope while most simply use it as a means for worshipping Jesus (the point of it all). So it’s hard for me to empathize with folks who say, “All you guys just sound like U2″.

This question leads to the overarching question, “For that matter, why does most popular modern worship music seem to have such a narrow range of genre?” I will agree that the style of guitar playing, as well as the musical genre, is very focused – possibly too much so. But I perceive the motive behind this to be very valid.

To begin stating my case, I’ll choose an example genre that I can most easily get away with picking on: HAIR METAL!!!!! This genre is a fast-paced sort that is electromagnetically charged to attract tight neon-colored stage costumes, the fastest guitar solos that a MIDI keyboard has ever played, and lyrics filled with womanizing and not-quite-satanic-but-really-wish-they-were limericks. Now obviously, as long as our culture has associations between the sounds and rhythms of HAIR METAL!!!!! and it’s myriad of social faux pas, we shouldn’t be putting God-fearing lyrics to the tune of “Welcome to the Jungle” in our corporate worship services. Worship shouldn’t be corporately expressed with a musical style that largely brings derogatory or tempting thoughts, by way of association, to the worshippers’ minds.

So that’s the first part of my case, but what is it about the neon spandex and the shredding MIDI guitar solos that cause this genre not to lend itself to worship? It’s the amount of showmanship, not only on the stage, but in the very music itself, that makes worship of Jesus (the point of it all) less accessible through this medium. This is where other genres, ones far less-frowned-upon than hair metal, can also become less effective in corporate worship. Subjectively, many people may have problems singing songs of praise to God in certain genres because of the rich musical complexity, showmanship or creative genius that causes them to stand in awe of the songs themselves rather than the Creator of all music. Worship guitarists, likewise, constantly wrestle with our egos to keep our playing simple, while maintaining a sound that reflects the power, presence and grandeur of God.

We shouldn’t all sound like U2, but the songs we play absolutely must be opaque enough to see Jesus through them. We don’t want our songs to be sung TO, we want our songs to be sung THROUGH.

WELCOME TO THE CHAPEL

D
Welcome to the Chapel
D
We got love and praise
D
He’s got everything we want
D
Honey, He knows our names
A
This is the place that you can find
A
Groups of communities
A
Anointing oil made of honey
A
Might attract some bees

Chorus:
F
In the Chapel
G
Welcome to the Chapel

Worship brings you to your
A
Shananananananananananana

Knees, knees

Mwah!

You better watch those BEES!

…That’s all I got.