KEYS
HOW TO PLAY ALONG | David Pfaltzgraff
Photo by Luis Morera on Unsplash
I’ ve been playing keys at church a lot more, lately. My wife and I moved recently. We’ ve deeply enjoyed getting more plugged in to the worship team at a local church. This church has an active rotation and some truly incredible musicians, which has made it a joy to participate as a volunteer.
It’ s also kept me humble and helped me realize a lot of areas where I can improve. Because these teams are so excellent, everyone is contributing parts and dynamics that are quite intentional. That level of intention being the base expectation has helped me consider every week how well I can‘ play along’.
I’ ve been a part of teams before where the hope, across the board, is that band members will spend as much time as possible listening to the original recordings for a given setlist and exactly replicate those parts. As a worship leader myself I’ ve even tried to enforce that standard with teams I’ ve led.
The problem with that standard, as you probably know, is that the level of effort folks put into learning and replicating those parts will vary to an extreme level. You’ ll have one guitarist who clearly spent hours learning the deep nuances of all their parts show up right alongside a drummer who clearly listened to the setlist for the first time on the way to soundcheck this morning( no shade to the drummers, but you know who you are).
All this recent experience has me thinking about how important a skill‘ playing along’ is for any worship keys player in a band. Let’ s dig in.
PLAY ALONG WITH TRACKS
Many churches these days are quite comfortable using tracks every weekend, providing consistency, structure, and a fuller sound. But playing keys alongside tracks can be a difficult or even frustrating experience if you’ re not careful. If you simply learn all the keys parts you can based on the original recording and bring that to church you’ ll often end up unintentionally doubling synth parts, piano riffs, or ambient pads already covered by the tracks. This is a fast track to a muddy mix, or worse, getting muted in the house in favor of those keys tracks.
Instead, you need to take the tracks into account as you prepare. For instance, if the tracks handle the pad ambience, consider focusing on defined piano voicings or melodic elements. Conversely, if lead synth lines or bright piano hooks are covered by tracks, you might best contribute with supportive textures and spacious pads.
Usually, there’ s some flexibility to adjust track mixes ahead of time or during rehearsal. Instead of seeing tracks as competition or resenting them, chat openly with your worship leader or music director about which elements you can comfortably cover live. Tracks often include multiple keyboard layers; muting or lowering some ensures you’ re filling the right space, live.
PLAY ALONG WITH YOUR BAND
When you rehearse to the original song at home it’ s hard not to play the version of the song that’ s running through your head from the original recording when you’ re on stage with your band, but the original recording doesn’ t account for your bandmates, their unique strengths, their style, and even their limitations.
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