GUITAR
HOW TO THINK LIKE A WORSHIP GUITARIST | Chris Rocha & Jonathan Diaz
photo : Blue Amber
As ironic as this may seem , we actually have to learn how to think like a guitarist . What this ultimately means is , how to fit in within the context of a band without anyone getting mad at you for overplaying , or not playing enough . The truth is most of us as guitarist won ’ t be the front-man , we will be the rhythm and support to the band and / or the song . But sometimes we can show off our skills when we get a chance to solo . So , the question begs to be answered , how and when is the right time to do all that ? And also , how do we get our playing to be the right kind of support that the band needs , while also sounding like the background power house that we want to be ?
I wanted to team up with a good buddy ( Jonathan Diaz ) to write this article and really explain the best we can so that you guys can grasp this concept clearly .
Here are a few words of advice on getting there .
LEARN THE SONG This is one of those things that I love to emphasize , and I will gladly repeat this over and over again . Sadly , I have worked with many guitarist that will show up to rehearsals , or worse to service , not having learned the song . Yet they want to show off as if they are at a concert playing one of DC talk ’ s solos . So help me God ( true story ). Unfortunately , that ’ s not how it works . If they were being tested they would have probably failed . Not because they ’ re incapable , but simply because they didn ’ t learn the material .
The fact is , the better we know what we are playing , the better decisions we can make on what we are going to play ( in terms of chords and voicings ) and how when the right time is to pull off the cool little hidden licks that ’ ll add to the song without taking away the focus .
But before adding anything to the song , we should learn the core of the song .
Key , Chords , song structure , any important phrases , learn to play the main melodies on the guitar just in case etc .
PLAN AHEAD Now that we know the song well , we can start to find the right places to sneak in all the cool little lines and phrases that can help push the song to the next level . The first step is to not only know what chords were playing , but also learn all of those chords in every position possible , whether it ’ s all in root position on different strings , or inversions of a chord that has a different timbre , we should be looking