WORSHIP LEADERS
SONIC SOUP - GUITARS & BASS TUNING ESSENTIAL | Grant Norsworthy
Have you heard this one ?
A singer walks into rehearsal late ( again ). She notices a struggle ensuing on the platform . Two band members seem to be engaged in some sort of wrestling match . The bassist is holding the guitarist in an aggressive headlock !
The singer is totally shocked ! This type of physical violence is uncommon at “ worship rehearsal ”. She grabs the drummer and asks , “ What ’ s happened here ?” “ The guitarist put one of the bassist ’ s strings out of tune as a joke ,” the drummer explains . “ Okay , but this is a bit of an extreme response , isn ’ t it ?” she asks . The drummer replies , “ Maybe , but the guitarist won ’ t tell him which string it is !”
Being in tune is important . SUPER important . But not everyone can tell when we ’ re not .
If we desire to craft a sound that effectively invites our congregation to worship God through songs , we will need to be in tune with one another . Instruments and voices that are out of tune will produce the dreaded Sonic Soup . What ’ s Sonic Soup ? It ’ s that messy , gluggy , thick sound that many , well-intentioned teams of worshipping musicians often seem prone to produce .
There are many sources of this vibe-killing , participation-limiting Sonic Soup . I have been writing about the main sources over the last several months . Catch the first article in this series - with a good description of the general concept - in
“ SONIC SOUP OR A SONIC EMBRACE ”.
While I ’ m sure there is some naturally occurring predisposition for the skill , for the most part , the ability to hear notes that are in tune is learned . Some instrumentalists and singers are better at it than others . I ’ m not perfect at it today , but I am certain I am way better at it now than I used to be .
With our teams of ( usually ) volunteers , amateur church instrumentalists and singers we can expect - and need to work with - a range of ability with regard to being able to hear when notes are in or out of tune . But our Musical Directors ( MD ’ s ) and others in our teams who can hear when we ’ re out of tune need to help those that have not yet learned the skill .
Any of our instruments can be out of tune - the human voice , woodwind , brass , piano / keyboard , and stringed instruments : which includes our electric , acoustic and bass guitars . It ’ s less common for electronic keyboardists to be out of tune but it is possible . And yes , drums can be badly tuned too . With this being the case , there are things we can do - steps we can take - that will help reduce the likelihood of poor tuning . To produce a soup-free sound we all need to be in tune .
In this article I ’ m going to focus on our most common stringed instruments - the acoustic and electric guitars and the bass . Here are the items I would ask our guitarists and bassists to consider in order to be , and stay , in tune :
1 . If your instrument does not have an electronic tuner on-board , please purchase an external one . An electronic tuner tells us if our strings are sharp , flat or in tune , usually with a lighted , visual indicator . Green if you ’ re in tune . Red if you ’ re not . They tend to be more accurate than our ears . This is essential equipment . A little headstock clip-on tuner can work just fine , but I prefer a tuner in a pedal . I think it ’ s essential that we are able to mute our signal to the PA system