spacious , how open , how transparent , the music becomes ?
Please understand that I ’ m not trying to get rid of a keyboard player from your team . I ’ m a keyboard player , and I often play pad parts on my team . The point of worship pad products is that they can bring the beautiful textures of pad parts to your worship team if you don ’ t have a keyboard player who can provide pad parts .
The takeaway for us keyboard players is this : let the makeup of these worship pad tracks influence our own playing of pad parts . What do you hear when you listen to the tracks ? You generally hear the 1 st , 2 nd and 5 th notes of the scale , and those notes are held for quite a while , as I mentioned earlier . Ask yourself what you play when you are playing a pad sound . If you ’ re playing full 3 note chords for each chord you play , your pad part isn ’ t bringing the unique character that pad parts can bring to your team .
Make this practical . Make this your own . Next time you ’ re rehearsing with your worship team , call up your favorite pad sound . Orient yourself somewhere in the middle register of your keyboard , not too far below or above middle C , and find the 1 st , 2 nd and 5 th notes of the key you ’ re in . Hold those notes as the rest of the band plays the song . You ’ re now providing what the worship pad tracks were providing . Unique to what you bring to the team , as opposed to what the pad track provides , is the ability to follow the song ’ s chord progression . You can , for example , play a bass note , giving definition to the progression . This can be especially effective as an intro to a song , when the bass player might not have yet entered . Generally , though , when your bass player has entered , avoid lower notes , since they ’ ll compete with what the bass player adds , and they can make the music sound a bit muddy .
Three notes . Yep . Spend some time experimenting with keyboard parts that are limited to these notes . Whether pad sounds or piano sounds , the result can be a satisfying addition to your worship team ’ s sound .
Notes in Scale KEY 1 2 5 C C D G G G A D D D E A A A B E E E F # B B B C # F # F # F # G # C # C # C # D # G # F F G C Bb Bb C F Eb Eb F Bb Ab Ab Bb Eb Db Db Eb Ab Gb Gb Ab Db Cb Cb Db Gb
Ed Kerr Ed lives in Seattle with his family . He serves as Worship Arts Director at First Free Methodist Church , teaches keyboards in Paul Baloche ’ s leadworship workshops , and is a clinician with Yamaha ’ s House of Worship . He also manages the Yamaha Worship Facebook Group and invites you to join the group . www . KerrTunes . com