Worship band players

I have a question… so I've been playing on Sundays for a few months now (mostly bass but sometimes drums). We usually do two upbeat songs as the introduction, and three slower songs during mid-service, and one or two closing songs. However, I've noticed that I tend to lose my concentration towards the middle of the worship set, during the slower songs. Do you have any tips for staying focused during these slower songs? If so, pray share them. Thanks

I played drums for our old church. It's easy to get distracted during slow songs.

You mentioned what I did a lot of during that time - pray. Also, how do you view what you're doing? Are you just playing drums, or are you worshipping God with your playing? Once I began to worship God through that skill, it was a whole new ballgame.

I used to play guitar (and sometimes bass) in the band at my old church. I too would tend to loose focus (ie get bored) during the less upbeat songs. It helped me to stay focus by making up silly words to the songs....Kind of a Silly Worship Songs with Larrry (ala Veggie Tales) kinda thing.

So kind of the opposite of what Ishy suggested. (lol)

To be a little more serious, I would say you need to focus on your dynamics on the slower songs.......most songs may be really quiet on the verses but build to a big chorus..........make the soft parts really soft and then bring it with all you've got in the louder parts.

bassdude wrote:

To be a little more serious.....

Ummmm I was being serious (well my suggestion might have been silly....but that is seriously what I did).

Ish: prayer's always a good idea eh? And how do you see yourself (mindset) worshipping as opposed to just playing?
Staybrite: fun suggestion, but I'm prone to breaking out laughing and it wouldn't do. Thanks but won't work for me
Bassdude: I'll have to keep that in mind, because I don't always watch my dynamics.

Thanks all! Keep 'em coming

I played in jazz and symphonic bands for years before i played for our church. I did this to entertain the crowd and for my own enjoyment.

But when I played with the worship band, it was different. See, leading worship isn't just done by the person singing the most while they play the piano or guitar. It's done by the whole band. If you play as if you're playing for the Lord, you're leading worship and the congregation sees that.

Here's an example of good dynamics from my worship band......I'm on bass, my friend Matt is on drums.

So my church switched me to headphones for drums… quite a different experience, kinda helped me keep focused.

When I used to play ohn a praise band, I kept my focus during slower songs by tryign to find ways to get some great embellishments and and little harmonic parts to just give some great layers and feeling to the songs. You don't want to get too busy with the bass during slower songs, but there are ways to really add to what is going on.

That's all I do now is the Worship stuff. Don't get boredom during slow stuff at all as many times the slower stuff is much more challenging to really play with dynamics right than the fast stuff is so??
Man many times in worship I'm shredding harder than I did doing the metal stuff so boredom is NOT a problem. May be the settings where I'm playing vs where you are.

alldatndensum wrote:

When I used to play ohn a praise band, I kept my focus during slower songs by tryign to find ways to get some great embellishments and and little harmonic parts to just give some great layers and feeling to the songs. You don't want to get too busy with the bass during slower songs, but there are ways to really add to what is going on.

Word on that and same with guitar or drums.
Learning what not to play is most important in worship but even in the slow open parts if you can play tastefully you can still keep things interesting.

For the Christmas Eve service, we did a few rocking tunes (me on bass, my brother on drums, our singer on keys, a senior on organ and a friend on acoustic guitar) at first. Then we switched to an acoustic-based gig for the second half, where the singer switched to acoustic guitar and I accompanied the two guitars. I actually hadn't played one of the songs until the service (Silent Night) so I got to make up a walking bass line on the fly. It was mostly arpeggios though.

Here was our set list:
[intro]
Hark The Herald Angels Sing
Joy To The World (Unspeakable Joy)

[mid-service]
Emmanuel (Hallowed Manger Ground)
O Come All Ye Faithful
Everything Changed

[near end, candlelight service, acoustic]
All This Glory
O Holy Night
Silent Night
Our King Has Come

Despite my having a cold, I did pretty well, I guess. Having my brother as timekeeper was another boon, because we know each other pretty well by now.