KEYS
KEYS TO COLLABORATION | David Pfaltzgraff
Have you ever seen a guitar gently weep ? What about a guitarist ? As worship keyboardists we have an ever-evolving role in the band . It wasn ’ t much more than a decade ago that we were expected to cover rhythmic piano parts and the occasional orchestral or synth brass riff . But these days we ’ re just as likely to bring swelling , shimmery pads and ambience to the mix as a bright grand piano and often asked to play a lead part that defines the sound of an entire song .
What does that have to do with tearful guitarists ? Trends in worship music come and go , and right now we ’ re in a time of transition and often overlapping shared responsibilities . In this article I ’ d like to discuss three ways to ensure your musical collaboration with your six-stringed bandmates is fruitful , effective , and that the only tears that result are because of how beautiful you sound together .
WHAT ARE THEY PLAYING ?
For this article I want to focus on an important and under-utilized skill- listening . Specifically , as the keys player in the band you can deepen your ties with your guitarist ( s ) by proactively listening to them first , before you ask them to do anything differently and even before you consider making changes to your approach .
Start with the most basic question- what parts are they playing ? Do they lean towards rhythmic strumming or big , strong lead lines ? If your team has multiple guitarists , take the time to digest how each of them approaches their role in the band . As you do , you ’ ll begin to identify ways you can support and enhance their approach and undoubtedly also learn some areas where they ’ re not leaving much space and you should ‘ stay out of the way ’.
Each guitarist is different , as is each Sunday , so of course you can ’ t adopt this practice once and call it good . Rather , actively listening to understand is a habit that turns into a mindset , and it all starts with the basics of all music , note choice .
WHEN ARE THEY PLAYING IT ?
Once you understand the way they approach their instrument , the chords , shapes , and techniques they gravitate towards , you can start to identify how they apply those skills over the duration of a song and over a setlist .
As you listen , you may notice they tend to play straight through from the count-in of each song to the final chord , or that they often leave space during specific song sections . Look for trends you can learn from that might present opportunities for you to fill space they ’ re leaving
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