Leadership

1. Center your team.

2. Step out from the stand.
3. Memorize one new song a week.
4. Cut the number of songs.
5. Use a default form for each song.
6. Shorten your songs.
7. Be intentonal about creatng moments.
8. Practce spontaneity.
9. Practce the fne art of laying out.
10. Teach the team to learn a song by secton, by secton.
11. Limit your repertoire.
12. Zero in on your strengths.
13. Replace yourself.
Table of Tweaks
14. Raise up multple leaders within your team.
15. Push your people towards a unique, specialized calling.
16. Teach your players to underscore.
17. Rehearse with a metronome.
18. Create a true Sunday morning sound-check.
19. Video your services.
The Band: Bass
20. Work on rhythm before rifs.
21. Dont just play the roots.
The Band: Drums
22. Are your drums too loud?
23. If youre gonna drive the bus, know where were going.
24. Tempo. Tempo. Tempo.
The Band: Guitar
25. Acoustc Guitarists: Cut mids and lows.
26. Acoustcs & electrics: know the diference.
27. Watch your rhythm.
28. Learn inversions.
29. Use multple guitarists [the right way].
The Band: Keyboard/Piano
30. Dont use all ten fngers all the tme.
31. Determine what the song actually needs.
32. Get to know your keyboard.
33. Dont step on the bass player.
The Band: Altogether Now...
34. Bring in outside musicians to develop your team.
35. Approximate versus duplicate.
36. Turn of the monitors.
37. Create a two-headed monster.
The Vocalists
38. Stop singing all the tme.
39. Self-blend.
40. Tune to the bass.
41. Practce singing with just bass and drums.
42. Practce singing with ZERO vibrato.
43. Learn the microphone.
44. Practce singing without your music stand.
45. Be intentonal about your microphone stand.
The Sound Techs
46. Manage the tension between monitor and FOH.
47. Call the team on their blob.
48. Listen to the reference recordings of the songs.
49. Create a song map.
50. Create empathy training.
For Everyone
51. Develop your bench.
52. Check your ego.
Photo Atributons
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for the Leader
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1. Center Your Team
Ill be honest. I hear the word devotional and my 10th grade acne
comes back. Theres too much baggage there to unpack in this article
(plus Ill start breaking out), but I like to use the concept of centering
instead. Thats the whole point of the worship team devotional to cen-
ter ourselves on the glory of the Triune God. And thats the ultimate of
relational. If we as a team can reaffirm the truth and reality of our
place in Christ, that will set the stage for the rest of rehearsal to be
relationally-driven. So Im ready to give the team devotional center-
ing time for the sake of my complexion another shot. Here are some
practical ideas to make this time workread full article
From the Jons WorshipMinistry.com article, Quit Practicing at Rehearsals, Part 6 Acne,
Shark Jumping and Team Devotionals
Download a free 10-Week Team Devotional.
Tweak your team spiritually
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Tweak your stage presence
2. Step out from the stand.
Think about your relationship with the congregation. Do they
see you tucked safely behind a music stand, a mic stand, two monitor
wedges and a forest of fake ferns? Try this:
Take your mic out of the clip, step out from around the music
stand, and move to the front of the stage. You dont have to stay there
the whole time. Move around. Go back to your music stand when you
need to see the words. Or better yet, go with #3 memorize your music,
so you can be free of the music stand entirely.
But what if youre a guitar-playing leader stuck at your boom stand?
Consider a headset mic. The freedom of movement is incredible. The
ability to back off your mic for those big notes, not so much. Every-
things a trade-off.
Is that a little too Britney Spears for you?
Then learn your music well enough so your stand can be pushed
4
down and off to one side. That will help eliminate the barrier be-
tween you and the other worshipers.
And for you keyboard playing
worship leaders the freedom you
desire is just a keytar away. But then
youd have to buy Zubaz pants.
So the same idea goes for you
figure out a way to position your key-
board/piano to best connect with the
congregation. And learn your music
well enough you can lay down the key-
boards music holder or lose the stand
in front of you. Just lay your music flat on the keyboard and look at only
when you need to. Youll be amazed at the better connection you have
with the congregation is you lose the great wall of music in front of your
face.
And you might also want to consider a headset mic -- especially
if youre leading the band while leading worship. Youll like freedom it
gives you to connect with both. Regardless, think of your music like the
GPS in your car.
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Tweak the way you learn songs
3. Memorize one new song each week.
Encourage your team to do the same. But this is one youll have
to lead by example.
Start with memorizing your newest song each week. Why new-
est? Because it will be the one youre most apt to burrow your face into.
Also, if its a new song, youll likely be repeating it at a higher rate (or
you at least you should be). If you work at memorizing 50 songs over
this next year, how often will you be looking at your music stand? Very
little, unless youve got a ginormous repertoire. In that case, see #11.
Try this with your team: choose one song and say to the band
and vocalists, lets shoot to do this one by memory. Have a fun contest
in rehearsal to see who can go without looking. Remember, lead by ex-
ample. And be a fun example.
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Tweak your worship planning
4. Cut the number of songs you do per Sunday.
Cut down the number of songs you do per Sunday by at least
25%, if not 50% - just for a short season (a month to three months).
How does band respond to fewer songs? Do you find theyre more
prepared?
How does the congregation respond?
What does your senior pastor think?
Does it give your service more breathing room?
Consider other using other mediums of worship to replace your
missing songs: public reading of scripture, scripture prayers, medita-
tion, videos. Or just end earlier so you can beat the rush at Golden Cor-
ral.
After the season, evaluate: Do we return to more songs? Slowly?
All at once? Not at all? Its up to you and your leadership to determine.
But its a worth-while experiment.
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Tweak your arrangements
5. Use a default form for each song.
Figure out the standard arrangement you want to use for each of
your worship songs. Is it how they do it on the CD? Great. If not, deter-
mine what song order you want. It can be written out simply with ab-
breviations. Heres my teams default order for Our God by Chris Tomlin
(which also happens to be the order from the CD, sans a repeat of the
chorus at the end).
Intro
V1
V2
Ch
V2
Ch (or just C)
Ch
Instr (or just I)
Brdg (or just B)
Ch
Ch
Brdg
Ch
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I like to see the song forms ver-
tically. I think theyre easier to digest.
So I add them to my teams lyric sheets
in a text box along the side.
If possible, redo your chord-
charts or leadsheets to reflect this. If
thats not possible, make notes for the
rehearsal that spell out how to deviate
from the chart.
Finally, why? Why a default? If
youre naturally a seat-of-the-pants
kind of person (like me), you might re-
sist the default song form (like I did).
But I realized it served the team better (especially my brothers and sis-
ters with more structured personalities). And when I do go off the res-
ervation, theres a standard form from which to work. It allows me to
communicate more clearly how were changing the song.
Get deeper into charts here. And here.
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Tweak your arrangements again
6. Shorten your songs.
Have you listened to a Jesus Culture song lately? They dont ar-
range for the radio. And thats alright. Their 8 10 minute arrange-
ments work for the Jesus Culture um, culture. But your church may
not be there yet (or ever, and thats totally OK).
If you choose to do a song from a longer live version of a Hill-
song or Jesus Culture tune, look for ways to shorten it. Cut a couple
chorus and bridge repeats. Cut
the instrumental (especially if
you dont have a lead instrument
to insert a melody). Shorten the
intro. The last two suggestions
are especially pertinent if youre
congregation doesnt know what
to do during non-singing times
like intros and instrumentals.
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Its OK to leave people wanting more. And as you see your wor-
shipers wanting more, create strategic moments where you can lin-
ger and enjoy another chorus or bridge. Dont just add an extra chorus
willy-nilly. See #7.
One last tweak within a tweak: dont be afraid to just do the cho-
rus, or the chorus and bridge, of well-known songs. For example, tack
on a chorus-bridge-chorus of How Great is Our God after the hymn
How Great Thou Art or the song Your Great Name. It will be a great
moment for people to sing from their hearts and respond to the depth
of truth contained in either of those songs.
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Tweak your fow
7. Be intentional about creating moments.
Create intentional times of extended worship. What song in the
set will people most likely want to dwell in for awhile? Journey to-
wards that song and moment by using shorter songs and scripture to
get there. And teach your band to linger and lay out. Nothing will kill a
moment like a rogue guitarist stepping all over the quiet keyboard pad.
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8. Practice spontaneity.
This sounds like an oxymoron akin to government intelligence. But we
can prepare to be spontaneous:
You can often guess where the moments will be in a song and in
a service where you might want to linger and be open to where the
Spirit takes you. Communicate that to the band.
Teach your team to listen to verbal cues from you that indicate pause
or change in direction.
Create simple hand signals for typcial additions or changes: 1 more
chorus, tag, etc.
Instruct them to learn the four chord in every key. In the key of
C, thats F. In the key of Bb its Eb, etc. Why? I call it the lingering
four chord. It doesnt feel final like the one chord or root. And it
doesnt want to resolve like the five chord.
Tweak your freedom
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9. Practice the fne art of laying out.
Challenge your players to look for opportunities to let someone
else shine. Remind them that it honors each others gifts and talents. It
also makes their playing stand out more when its not heard the whole
time.
How do you teach this?
Force them to lay out until the 2nd verse of the song. Most play-
ers can handle a verse, but theyll start getting twitchy around the mid-
dle of the chorus.
If you have an overly active drummer, have him play I Will Rise
just like it is on the Tomlin recording. Laying out for of the song could
be therapuetic. Or he might just start climbing the walls of his Plexigas
cage halfway through the second verse.
Tweak your over-players
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Tweak the way you learn songs
10. Learn a song section by section.
Most inexperienced musicians
will view a song as one long, linear
piece instead of realizing its made up
of bite-size, repeatable sections.
Learning a song this way al-
low you to change the arrangement
easier (#5), and be more spontane-
ous (#8). This also is great way to
memorize the song (#3).
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11. Limit your repertoire.
The song catalog for most churches includes choruses from
the last 22 years and every hymn deemed worthy in their tradition. Un-
less your team is full of top-notch, session-player level musicians, they
cant remember 200 songs. And a lot of session players cant do that
they just know how to read a chart and make it sound good.
What if your team played the same 30 50 songs on a regular
basis? Theyd know them better. So would your congregation.
Consider not only limiting the number of songs, but creating a
system that introduces new songs and retires old songs.
For more on this, download the free resource, Whats in Your
Playlist for more on this system.
Tweak your worship planning
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12. Zero in on your strengths.
Are you a better upfront leader, or better at leading the band? You
can say both, but you probably lean one way or the other. Identify and begin
developing someone to complement your strengths, and not just in those
two areas.
Tweak your leadership
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13. Replace yourself.
OK, that doesnt sound like a tweak. But it starts as a tweak.
If someone can do something 80% as well you, let them start taking
the reins. Whether its leading upfront, leading the band or vocal team,
coordinating the schedule, planning worship sets, etc.
If someones only at 40% (or some other randomly assigned
percentage), but she has potential, develop her.
This isnt about you and your longevity or legacy. This is about
being a good steward in the Kingdom. Leadership is temporary, so work
at multiplying and replacing yourself. Its a process, not an event.
Tweak your future
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14. Raise up multiple leaders within your team.
Additional worship leaders
Vocal team leaders
Tech team coordinator
Lead musicians/music directors (those who lead the band
and rehearsals.)
Administrative coordinator (the person who handles your
communication, schedules, files, etc.)
I was dumb for the first decade of my min-
istry and tried to do it all. Dont be dumb. And see
#12 and #13 thats what leadership develop-
ment is all about.
Heres a resource that can help you
develop multiple leaders.
Tweak other leaders
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15.Push your people towards a specialized calling...
...even if that means off the team.
We have a volunteer problem in our churches (everything from
the nursery to the youth ministry to worship team). People are recruited,
harangued, harassed, guilted, and tricked into the wrong ministry ev-
ery week.
Help people find out how theyre wired spiritual gifts, person-
ality, strengths/talents, etc. Help them find a ministry based on their
passion and wiring. It might even mean releasing a decent musician
to go be an incredible mens ministry leader. Or a fantastic passionate
nursery worker. Or the person that uses their evenings and weekends
to reach their neighbors for Jesus through intentional hospitality.
Will I lose people? Yes. But the Kingdom is advancing. And you
may find that you have a more passionate and focused core of musi-
cians and techs on your team.
Tweak your volunteers
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16. Teach your players to underscore.
Keyboard players and guitar players (especially acoustic, but an
electric guitar can work, too) need to know how to underscore prayer
and other quiet moments.
Call it a musical bed, an under-
score, holy noodling--whatever. But
just make sure someone knows how
to do it. Here are some tips:
Avoid a melody when the pas-
tor or leader is talking or pray-
ing. The congregation may rec-
ognize it and think about the
song more than what the leader is saying/praying.
One word: Rubato. Its Italian for stolen time. Playing rubato
means playing with freedom. Sometimes playing with a strict
Tweak your musicians
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tempo and rhythm draws attention. Let notes and chords ring
out. Dont draw attention to the changes.
Dont move through a progression so quickly that people began
to predict where its going.
Keyboards layer strings under the piano or use some sort of
synth pad.
Guitars dont be busy. Use finger-picking if possible. If youre
strumming, try losing the pick and using the side of your thumb.
That will soften your sound.
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17. Rehearse with a metronome.
Being tight as a band has less to do with playing together a lot
and more to do with playing in the pocket. You learn
to play in the pocket by having a both good sense
of time and feeling the music.
So rehearse the team with a click. If your
musicians struggle to keep on time, hopefully
that will push them to practice at home with a
metronome.
Tweak your tempo
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18. Create a true Sunday morning sound check.
I would venture to guess that the
average Sunday morning sound
check is just a re-rehearsal with
the sound guys dialing in all the
more-me requests in the moni-
tor.
Here are a few suggestions to
start steering in a new direction:
Work with your team (techs and musicians) to have a true sound-
check. That means your band needs to have a ready to play time
and stick with it.
Stagger the sound check. Bring your instrumentalists in at 7:45
and your singers in at 8:00. By 8:10, youre ready to roll with less
stopping for monitor adjustments.
Tweak your sound check
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When you sound check the band, go without monitors for a song
(#36). This lets the tech get a great FOH mix. Then add into the
monitors only what you need to keep the band in time and on
pitch.*
Is this easy?
No.
Will it frustrate your band?
Oh yeah.
But it will force them to listen to each other in a brand new way?
Yep.
And they just might realize they need less of themselves.
*Thanks to Kent Morris for the introducing me to the concept of adding only what we
need to stay in time and on pitch. Hes brillant.
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19. Video your services.
Football teams do it. It helps them
know what they did right. It shows clearly
where they dropped the ball, literally and
figuratively. And its a great team building
event as the players watch the game tape in
the locker room and give each other crap.
Sounds like it could work the worship team
except the part about the locker room, and
we wont use the word crap if it offends any-
one. Promise.
Here are some tips:
Get an open air recording. Dont run a line from the board,
because that will skew how the mix really sounds. The sound
quality probably wont be great, but youre not looking at
broadcasting this. And you dont want to spend a ton of time
Tweak your post-game
26
editing or dubbing sound from another source. So just use
the onboard mic on the camera, or set a up a mic at the back
of the house to feed into the camera.
Use a wide shot so you can see everyone. Then
Use a high definition camera so you can post-production
zoom in to reference lousy or outstanding stage presence.
If you dont have one, invest in an inexpensive Flip or Kodak
PlaySport type for less than $200.
Please dont do this every week with your team. It could focus
them a little too much on your stage presence. Actually, itll make them
flippin neurotic. So use this technique sparingly, but do use it.
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for the BAND
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Tweak the bass
20. Work on rhythm before riffs.
Bass players: dont sacrifice your role as the one-half the foun-
dation of the rhythm section just to try some fancy riffs.

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21. Dont just play the roots.
Listen to the recording and see what the bass is doing to move
the song. Get tab or try to find someone doing it on YouTube if you cant
play by ear well.
So do #20 first. But once you get the rhythm down, then learn
the great riffs. It adds soooo much to the song--if youve got the rhythm
down. Did I mention that already? Having the rhythm downyeah, I
think I did.
Tweak the bass more
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22. Are your drums too loud?
Drummers: you have four options, five maybe:
Learn to play to the room. I know, easier said than done. But
spend $20 and get a dB meter from RadioShack to truly get some
concrete feedback. Use it during rehearsals. Repeat a song to see
if you can bring down the level, but keep the intensity.
Use different sticks, like a lighter weight stick, or the Hot Rod
bundle sticks (plastic or wood), or a pair of plastic Fisher-Price
sticks. If youre really loud,
you may want the Fisher-Price
drumset too. Just a suggestion...
Electronic drums I know, they
just dont sound right. But for
some rooms, theyre the only
thing that works.
Tweak the drums
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Use a full shield. Not just the acrylic panels, but a full surround
with a lid and acoustic absorption. If you cant afford it all at once,
buy or make some absorption panels and see how much that cuts
down. Some churches have even built semi-permanent drum
rooms on their stage. The materials used to do that are likely less
expensive than a full Clearsonic or similar shield.
Check your heart. That might actually be the issue sometimes
being repeatedly told to play quieter starts to wear on a person.
There might be some passive-aggressive pounding going on.
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23. If youre gonna drive the bus...
...know where youre going.
Memorize the default form of the song (#5), and find out if the
worship leader has any changes planned. If you, the drummer, are go-
ing to drive the bus, you need to have the
road map of the song down cold.
Tweak your song knowledge
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24. Tempo. Tempo. Tempo.
Perfect your timing. And dont be afraid to call your team on
tempo issues. But do so in a loving way.
If youre better with sticks than people, work out a code with
your worship leader or lead musician
to communicate problems with tem-
po during rehearsal.
Tweak your tming
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25. Acoustic guitarists cut the lows & mids.
Dial back the mids and lows on your guitars EQ when playing
with a band. Will it make your guitar sound like a $50 First Act iCarly
guitar from Walmart? Almost. But save the rich acoustic sound for play-
ing solo or with smaller ensembles.
Rolling back the mids/lows accomplishes two things those fre-
quencies wont muddy the mix, and the percussive highs of the acoustic
will find nice tight niche in the sonic spectrum.
Tweak the EQ
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26. Acoustics & electrics: know the difference
Generally, the acoustic guitar is more of a percussive
instrument. The electric guitar is one part texture, one part
mood, and one part melodic. So dont strum your Les Paul
like youre Peter, Paul or Mary (the folk artists, not the
Biblical folks).
Take time to listen to songs and watch live
worship videos on YouTube. Assess what the
different guitars are doing. And
learn how to complement other
guitarists (#29) in the band.
Tweak the guitarist
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27. Watch your rhythm.
Guitarist, dont step on the drummer. Be dead-on with her
rhythm or complement it. Listen to the piano, as well. Talk through
whos playing what rhythm.
This is especially true for us acoustic guitarists. We often have
had to be the band, or at least hold a mediocre one together. But when
we get with decent musicians, we need to stop strumming so much and
allow the drums to carry the rhythm.
Tweak your strumming
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28. Learn inversions.
Inversions (aka slash chords) can bring a quality to the accom-
paniment that root chords lack. It also creates forward motion in the
progression.
Play this progression:
G D2 Em G C2.
Now play the same progression with
these two inversions:
G - D2/F# - Em G/B C2.
Which one moves better?
Yep. The inversions.
Tweak your chords
For an extensive look at
inversions, check out
Worship Guitar
Workshops
Chord Voicings DVD
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29. Use multiple guitarists [the right way].
Theres nothing worse than a stage full of guitarists playing the
same rhythm on the same chord on the same frets. OK, a stage full of
Lady Gaga impersonators could be worse. But lets talk about some
multiple guitar issues:
One acoustic. One electric. Just know your roles (#28).
Two electrics. Lincoln Brewster calls it the big guy and the high
guy. Generally speaking: one guitarist plays the big, low power
chords. The other heads up the neck to play triads or add some sort
of harmony or countermelody.
Two acoustics: send one of them up to the 4th fret or higher with a
capo. Vary your rhythms. One strums while the one finger picks, ar-
peggiates, or strums only on the changes. Heres a free capo chart.
Three acoustics: Um...teach one of them bass? You probably need
another bass player, anyway.
Tweak the guitarists
Tweak of the guitarist:
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Want a fun way to address some issues with your
guitar players? Send them to this artcle:
A Leter to Me, the Guitarist
(An Open Leter with My Younger Guitar Self)
Its an honest, but fun, way of saying the things most
worship leaders and team members would love to say
to their ax wielders, but dont.
Tweak of the guitarist:
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30. Dont use all ten fngers all the time.
Keyboard players and pianists:
youve got more notes and a wider range
than anyone in the band.
Dont be a musical bully!
Find a sonic niche that comple-
ments the guitarist(s). Dont be afraid to
ask him, Where are you going to be play-
ing? If he gives you a blank look, just say,
Jesus loves you and try your best to play
around him.
For him to play in an upper regis-
ter means moving up the neck to foreign
territory. Its just not in his bag of tricks.
This is a carry one anothers burdens moment. Maybe think about buy-
ing him the Chord Voicings video for Christmas. Just a thought.
Tweak your fngers
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31. Determine what the song actually needs.
Is the song piano-driven? Great, go Coldplay on us or 80s Mara-
natha (back when you could use all ten fingers all the time). Whatever
the style calls for, play that way and drive the bus.*
Or is it guitar-driven? Then let the guitarist do his thing. Watch
your rhythm dont be too busy. Learn how to pad. Consider playing
a synth, string or organ patch instead of acoustic piano. Electric piano
can work, too. (Just dont start busting out the Law and Order theme. Unless
your pastor is using that title for a sermon series on Justification.)
Tweak the song
*Driving the bus is a term for leading the band
and/or being the driving instrument. The way some
players drive it (guitar, drummer, keyboard, bass are
all included here), youd think they were driving the
short bus on feld trip to the crayon factory. (OK, it
was either that metaphor, or I say they need to quit
playing like a girl. But that gets me in trouble, too.)
Botom line: driving the bus is one part confdence,
one part feeling the groove, and one part knowing
where were going.
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32. Get to know your keyboard.
Find patches and sounds that work. Figure out how to navigate
to them quickly.
Learn how to EQ your sounds. Just like the acoustic guitarist, the
lows and mids of a keyboard can muddy up the mix. Ask your sound
tech to guide you to
the right frequen-
cies.
Tweak your butons and knobs
If controlling your keyboard
feels like this, it might be
tme to ask for help. Or
read the manual. Or tell
your leader you quit and
are going to go work in the
nursury.
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33. Dont step on the bass player.
Let her lay down the low end.
No bass player? Practice locking in your left hand with the kick
drum (thats the big drum with the foot pedal).
So what do I do with my left
hand? Tuck it under your leg so it wont
be tempted. Lift it in praise. Or if youre
really neurotic about needing to play
with it in the lower register, ghost (i.e.
pretend youre playing with the left, but
just touch the keys while not actually
playing them).

Tweak your low end
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Tweak your teams musicianship
34. Bring in outside musicians to develop your team.
Plan training events at least twice a year. You can do them more
often if some are instrument-specific rather than a full band/team
training. Expect (require, actually, but expect sounds better when youre
dealing with volunteers) your team to participate in each training thats
applicable to them. It can take awhile
to create this culture of development.
But after a couple years of regular
training events, people will either be
board or have jumped ship.
Besides developing your team,
heres the golden by-product: if you
open these events to anyone in the
church, voil! these become recruit-
ing/growth tools. You may find some
musicians (or potential musicians)
45
hiding in the pews.
If your church is smaller, this isnt out of your reach. Combine
with a few other churches in your area, especially when doing instru-
ment-specific events. God has placed local musicians and worship lead-
ers nearby with a heart to help. Trust me on that and start to make
some calls.
Also, this works great for the tech and vocal teams, too, not just
the band. And dont forget - theyre all part of one big team. You may
want to do an annual All-Team Training that deals more with heart
issues and/or team dynamics.
Check out WorshipTeamCoach.coms optons for training and developing your
team. You might just be surprised how workable it is.
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Tweak your arrangements
35. Approximate versus duplicate.
Theres an awful good chance that our teams dont have enough
instruments, loops and techs to sound just like the CD. So approximate
rather than duplicate. Figure out the most important parts. Cover a sec-
ond guitar part with the keyboard. Or vice-versa. Get creative.
And use it as a time to grow as a band: listen to an arrangement
together and talk through how you can reproduce, omit or change the
various parts of the sound by your current team. Remember, less is often
more.
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36. Turn off the monitors.
During rehearsal, turn off your monitors and listen for only the
house and natural stage volume. [One exception, make sure the drum-
mer can hear something like the lead voice or instrument.] Going sans
monitors will force your team into listening to each other and learning
to play confidently without MORE ME. Then after a song or two, start to
add in only what they need to stay in time and on pitch.
Take time to talk about it afterwards. Youll probably have some
frustrated players. Some heart issues may come to the surface that can
finally be reconized and dealt with.
Tweak (of) the band
48
37. Create a two-headed monster.
Encourage the bass-
ist and drummer to become
a two-headed funky monster
that can drive the band. If
these two play as one, youve
got the foundation for a great
band. Here are some tips:
Put them beside each
other ideally the bass-
ist on the drummers
left side.
Help them find ways to practice together without the other instru-
ments.
Practice songs with just those two playing. This not only will help
Tweak your rhythm secton
49
the drummer and bassist, but it will help the rest of band and vo-
cals recognize the foundation theyre playing on. (see also #33,
#40 and #41)
Dedicate specific sections of certain songs to be just those two
playing - no one else. Verses of faster songs lend themselves to
a drum/bass-only groove. This keeps the often busier lyrics of a
verse from being buried by too much instrumentation.

50
for the Vocals
51
38. Stop singing all the time.
Just like we dont want every instrument in the band playing ev-
ery note, we dont want every voice singing every moment of the melo-
dy and every part of the harmony. So like the instruments, learn the fine
art of laying out (#9).
Why? Sometimes a song, or parts of it, call for one only voice.
Like during a heavily syncopated or complex rhythm found in the vers-
es of Revelation Song. Or a song that is easily reinterpreted by a lead
vocalist. Here again, think Revelation Song.
Featuring one voice does a few other things:
It allows anothers gifts and talents to minister.
It gives the congregation a break from the aural onslaught
of multiple voices.
It changes the mood or feel of a song.
Tweak your vocal arrangements
52
So if Im not singing, what do I do?
Sing off-mic. Step back and worship, but not so loud that it
can be heard over the lead vocals.
Close your eyes and worship through listening.
Step back and watch the lead vocalist but not in a creepy
Will this verse ever get over so I can start singing again?!
kind of watching.
Recognize and embrace these times of non-singing as a matur-
ing agent in your life. Its part of a process that will grow you as a musi-
cian as well as work to change your heart.
53
39. Self-blend.
Your sound tech likely doesnt know the difference between an
alto and an Altoid. And if he does, hes got enough other things to worry
about. Dont make blending the BGVs his job. How to do this:
Keep all the BGVs on one monitor mix.
Balance your volume against the other
singers.
As a vocal team, work off mic and away
from the band to create the blend. Then
try to achieve that same sound in your
monitors.
Add into your monitors only what you
need to stay on time and on pitch (#41).
Tweak your blend
54
40. Tune to the bass.
Gary Lunn, professional bass player/producer/writer in Nash-
ville explains that the bass creates a fundemental tone reference for
singers to tune to.*
So make sure your bass
player is tuning to a tuner. If he
doesnt have one, that might be
a good collaborative Christmas
present for him.
*Gary Lunn, Basic Significance, Worship
Musician Magazine, Sept/Oct 2011.
Tweak your pitch
55
41. Practice singing with just bass and drums.
Speaking of whats need to stay in time and on pitch (#39 and
#40), this two-headed monster is where its at (#37). Many vocalists
have a choral background in which they relied on the conductor to set
the tempo and the other voices to carry them along. And thats great
for choral music. Also, if vocalists were raised on hymns in a traditional
church, theyre probably used to the loose, phrase-driven time.
But singing in a band requires us to be in the pocket a term
for not only being in time, but to also feel and be a part of the groove
of the song.
So practicing with just the bass and the drums gives us the foun-
dation of that groove. It forces us as vocalists to tune to the bass and let
the drums drive us.
Tweak your rhythm
56
42. Practice singing with ZERO vibrato.
Vibrato can get in the way of blending. It also causes a modern
sounding song to sound, well, not so modern.
After you find that you can sing without vibrato, work on slowly
allowing it to come back. But limit it and blend it. And be brave enough
to ask your leader: do I have too much vibrato in my voice? If he or she
squirms, even slightly, youve got too much.
Tweak your vibrato
57
43. Learn the microphone.
In rehearsal, listen to how your microphone responds when you
hold it differently.
Go to a big box music store and try out different mics. If you find
a good one that fits your voice, buy it.
What?! Thats the churchs job to buy microphones!
Did the church buy the guitarists pedal board and four guitars?
How about the drumset the drummer practices on at home?
Its part of your instrument. Take it seriously.
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58
44. Practice singing without your music stand.
Why?
If its there, youll look at it. So lose it.
You probably know the songs better than you think.
Youll be amazed at the confidence memorization brings.
And the people youre leading and modeling worship for will
respond better. They may not know it or can articulate it, but
theyll know something is different, and for the better.

Tweak your confdence
59
45. Be intentional about your microphone stand.
When should you hold the mic?
When should you put it in the stand?
Why do you do one versus the other?
Is there a better time to hold it instead of
putting it in the stand?
Should you and the other BGVs be uniform when
it comes to holding it or placing it in the stand?
Talk it over with your worship leader. Try different
ways. When you land on a philosophy, make sure you com-
municate it to new singers as they come aboard.
Tweak your stage presence
60
for the Techs
61
46. Manage the tension between monitor and FOH.
The potential for monitors and stage amplifiers to muddy up the
house mix is likely not going to go away in most houses of worship. So
its a tension to be managed, not a problem to be solved (completely, un-
less youve got a lot of money). But here are some tips to deal with it.
Learn to recognize the difference between monitor and house
sound. During rehearsals and sound checks, kill the house speakers to
get a feel for what kind of
monitor sound is bleed-
ing into the house.
Find ways to cut
stage volume. Turn down
or reposition stage amps
for keys, bass, and guitars.
You might even put them
in another room and mic
Tweak your stage volume
62
them. But that might also incite a riot, so tread carefully.
Drum shields work best if theyve got absorption panels, espe-
cially a lid. Thats expensive. So while youre saving for a Clearsonic Iso-
booth, work with the worship leader and drummer find ways to cut
drum volume. (#22)
Rather than raising the volume of a voice or instrument that
cant be heard, ask the instrumentalist or vocalist to identify something
that can be taken out or at least lowered in the monitor.
If the monitor mix is good, ask the band/vocals if the overall vol-
ume of their monitors might be turned down. Make sure they lower
their stage amplifiers as well. The drummer may even play quieter if his
monitor is quieter. But if he doesnt, lowering the others monitors will
just start the I could use a little more of... process all over again.
Sigh. May the Lord bless you and keep you...
63
47. Call the team on their blob.
The blob of sound happens when the team overplays or over-
sings. You can try to sculpt something out of it. But itd be easier if they
actually gave you something to mix.
Here are a few tips to Call the Blob:
1. Talk with the worship leader before rehearsal so youre
both on the same page when you do it.
2. Give them concrete issues. E.g. the guitar and pi-
ano are playing in the same register or it seems
like the vocalists arent listening to each other,
heres why... or the piano player is stepping on
the bass with his left hand or is the acoustic
guitarist having a seizure? Im just askin cuz his
right hand is moving so fast. (OK, maybe dont
Tweak (of) the band
64
say that...)
3. Put a wet finger to the wind. If the mood on the stage is blowing in
such a direction that a reproof from the booth would just further
the downward spiral, forget it. At times its better to deal with the
pile of poo than to step in it.
4. A little tact goes a long, long way.
65
48. Listen to the reference recordings of the songs.
How are the different instruments mixed on the recording?
Whats the predominant lead instrument? How are the
vocals mixed? Talk to the worship leader. Ask her
if shes going for the sound on the recording, or if
shes arranging it differently.
Tweak your ear
66
49. Create a song map.
Create a song map (some sort of form) to note where each in-
strument should be mixed on each song. Note any solos or different
lead voices and where youll need to adjust those. If you dont attend
rehearsals, ask the worship leader to fill in the basics for you.
(Tweak 49 and a 1/2: Go to rehearsals. It gives you a chance to
get to know where the band is going and lets you experiment with EQ
and house mix without the pressure of Sunday morning.)
Tweak your prep
67
50. Create empathy training.
Work with the leader to create empathy training for musicians.
Schedule them to assist the sound and video techs a couple times a year.
This will give them a new perspective and empathy. You might even find
a great new tech. Youll definately hear less complaining from the stage.
Tweak their empathy
68
Darth wasn't like the other Faders...
69
for Everyone
70
51. Develop your bench
Developing new techs and musicans takes time - especially when
theyre complete novices. But the time is well invested. In one year, two
years, three years, youll be happy you did. No. Downright ecstatic.
Developing the bench isnt just for leaders. Musicians and techs
should be on the lookout for people they can train, develop, raise up,
etc. Here are some ideas to start
building your bench:
1. Start a (or tap into the) youth
band.
2. Hold a training instrument
or voice seminar and make it
open to anyone. (#34)
3. Encourage mentoring by ex-
perienced team members.
Tweak your future
71
4. Hold an open house or open rehearsal for interested people to
find out more.
5. If people tryout and arent ready, offer them a chance to be men-
tored and developed.
6. Use a farm-team system. If someones not ready for playing/singing
on Sunday morning, but they have potential, create other avenues
for them to play - kids worship, youth, small groups, etc. But be in-
tentional about developing people on the farm team. Dont use it as
a way to just get rid of people who dont make the cut.
72
52. Check your ego
with a few questions:
Do I get offended (even slightly) when
someone else gets the lead part or re-
ceives praise from others?
Do I find that Im critical (even if in my own mind) of others on the
team?
Is it tough for me to worship when Im not onstage.
Is it difficult to lay-out for a verse or chorus, or even a whole song,
if asked?
Do I feel threatened (maybe just a little?) when a new person that
plays the same instrument/sings the same part joins the team?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, congratulations,
youre human. And like the rest of us, youre in need of the grace of the
ongoing sanctifying work of Jesus Christ.
Tweak yourself
73
About the Author
Jon Nicol is a worship pastor, writer and the
only employee at WorshipTeamCoach.com,
the site he created and runs to help worship teams and pastors.
He lives in Lexington, OH with his wife, Shannon,
and their three kids,
Aedan (2005),
Addison (2007)
and Corbin (2011).
74
All content 2011 Jon Nicol/WorshipTeamCoach.com
Fling Wide Publishing
You may copy, use, or distribute this ebook as long as you dont sell it (you
really wont make that much), change the content without permission, or
remove the information and attributes of both author and photographers.
Photo Atributons
All Photos are Creatve Commons or permission was given.
(Except for the Two-Headed Monster. Yeah, Im prety sure I ripped of the Two-Headed Monster.)
Moog Keytar - Ethan Hein, Flickr
Scissors - Paul Kempin Stock.xchng, West Union, South Carolina, United States
Bite-Sized Smile - Julia Freeman-Woolpert, Stock.xchng, Concord, NH, United States
Noodles - Makio Kusahara, Stock.xchng, Kyoto, Japan
Metronome - Jean Scheijen, Stock.xchng, Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Handy Cam - Wouter Moons, Stock.xchng, Schoten, Antwerp, Belgium
Too loud - Hobvias Sudoneighm, Flickr
Snare Drum - Jason Aaberg, Stock.xchng, Edinburg, Texas
Keyboard (All Ten Fingers) - Diana Morales, Stock.xchng, Luque, Paraguay
Toy Bus - Davor Fanton, Stock.xchng, Zagreb, Croata
Cockpit Deiby, Flickr
Piano (Dont Step On Bass...) - Kevin Clouter, Stock.xchng, Alachua, FL
Blender Mark Anderson, Stock.xchng, Auburn, CA
Microphone - LitleMan, Stock.xchng, Belgium
Stage Ronan_C, Flickr, Musselburgh, Scotland
Headphones Nicol Shackelford, Stock.xchng, Mt. Pleasant, MI
Darth Wasnt Like the Other Faders Ronan_C, Flickr (completely awesome picture...btw)
Dugout Bench bradleypjohnson, Flickr
I heart myself Robert Aichinger, Stock.xchng, Austria
Contact Jon at jon@worshipteamcoach.com
www.WorshipTeamCoach.com