The Worship Guitar Skills Formula
Essential building blocks you need as a worship guitarist...
The one thing I hear from worship guitar players a lot is the fact that they feel overwhelmed with the gaps they have in their playing.
Either they’re struggling to make the shift from an acoustic guitar playing to electric or they’ve been playing rock, blues or jazz but can’t quite get their playing to translate well to the modern worship genre.
On top of that, most players have busy lives.
They’ve got a family with a wife and kids, a job plus a number of other commitments.
On top of all that and more they’re trying to develop their worship guitar skills so they can use their gifts and talents to glorify the name of God.
Add to that the fact that it’s not that easy to find worship specific guitar training, let alone coaching online.
Sure there are a ton of sites out there that will show you how to play the parts of the songs, but they don’t teach the inner workings of worship guitar skills.
With all that it’s no wonder they’re feeling overwhelmed and ill equipped to do the task at hand.
That is exactly the kind of problem we solve through our training and coaching, and that led me to create what I call the worship guitar formula.
It’s a simple formula that highlights all the essential building blocks that you need as a worship guitarist and it gives you a clear insight into what it is that you need to focus on.
That clarity alone is something most players have never had.
Once they have the clarity of what it takes to be a well rounded player that can play with confidence and conviction, we are able to break those elements down into easy to follow step-by-step lessons.
Now let me address the skeptics for a second.
What does a “formula” have to do with music?
Isn’t music a creative and artistic endeavour?
It sure is, however there’s a ton of math and science in music.
If you look at how chords and scales are built the math is stunning and once you know the patterns you will spot them everywhere.
Admittedly there are some people who won’t need this.
If you’re the kind of person that just naturally has an amazing ear for music and you can easily and quickly play what you hear then you probably don’t need this.
If you know exactly how the fretboard works and how all the notes have been laid out so you can find the perfect worship ready voicings and play the emotive melodic fills, hooks and solos you probably don’t need this.
If you already know how to dial in the perfect tone and have rock solid technique you don’t need this.
For the rest of us, a formula like this can come in very handy because it’s not about being formulaic in our playing.
It’s simply to get clarity on what exactly you need to focus on so you can break through any plateau and reach that next level in your playing, whatever that might be for you.
So let’s break it down real quick, starting with…
Fretboard
Whether you’re playing chord progressions or single note melodies in a song, it’s all comprised of notes played in a specific order.
And those notes live on the fretboard and you need a method for mapping it all out.
Reason being is that the guitar is not black and white like the piano and it has many repeating notes for the same note on a stave, which instruments like a piano or saxophone doesn’t have.
As you can see in the image on the next page, on the piano there’s only one place to play that specific E note. However on the guitar you have six places to play that exact same note. No wonder people are having a hard time figuring out the fretboard.
However once you know how the notes are arranged on the guitar you can then easily organize them into the right chords and scales which is where harmony and melody kicks in.
Next up we’ve got…
Harmony
Harmony deals with playing multiple notes together to form chords and then the chords go on to form specific progressions we use to play worship songs.
Melody
Melody is all about understanding scales and melodic patterns so you can play fills, hooks and solos on the guitar.
Next up…
Rhythm
Rhythm is what brings your chords and scales to life and in this section of the formula we look at powerful rhythmic patterns and techniques so you can add some life to your playing.
After that we’ve got…
Aural
Aural which is all about developing your ear so you can easily play what you hear. Specifically it has to do with hearing intervals, chord qualities and progressions.
T3
After that we go to the T3 element which is tone, theory and technique.
Tone deals with the different combinations of sounds you need in order to fit the worship genre.
Theory explains the concept behind chords, scales, improvisation and more. It gives you the mental understanding of why certain things work like they do.
Technique deals with the physical ability to play the guitar.
This is one area guitarists struggle with and it results in bad tone and poor execution.
The good news is that you don’t have to develop terrifying technique in the sense of sweep picked arpeggios all over the neck and being able to play fast alternate picked passages at 180bpm.
However you need to have basic techniques like string muting down pat, otherwise you will never be able to truly dig in to the guitar and that will always negatively affect your tone and performance.
That’s the main part of the formula and you can see our final element is PR which stands for…
Practicing
When you learn how to practice the right way you can make faster progress, in less time with less effort.
There are concepts like accelerated learning techniques and deliberate practice that will totally change the game for you.
Most people never learn how to learn and that puts them at a disadvantage when it comes to acquiring new skills and knowledge.
Let’s recap it quick.
Once you know the right way to practice you will be able to program your muscle memory more effectively and you’ll find it easier to memorize shapes all over the neck.
The list of benefits goes on.
So that is the formula and I can guarantee you if you focus on these areas your playing will improve in leaps and bounds.
Let’s recap it quick.
FB: Learn the inner workings of the fretboard so you can freely and powerfully play across the whole neck.
HM: Once you have a solid understanding of how the fretboard works and where to find all the individual notes it’s time to learn how to put the single notes together into chord shapes and chord progressions. It’s important to learn how to adapt the standard chord shapes into worship ready voicings. You also need to learn how to use the concept of voice leading when playing progressions.
ML: Next step is to see how you need to arrange the single notes into scales so you can access the melodic nature of music on the guitar. However it’s not just about the scale shapes but learning how to use the notes to play melodically.
RH: Next you need to focus on the right rhythms which is what brings your chords and scales to life. Rhythm is one of the three main building blocks of music. When you understand how it works, you can get a lot of mileage out of simple chords and scales.
AU: Aural deals with your ability to hear intervals, melodies and progressions so you can easily play what you hear which helps you when it comes to flowing and improvising.
T3: T3 is tone, theory and technique. It’s essential to be able to dial in the right tone that cuts through the mix and adds value to the sonic soundscape. Too many guitarists get this wrong which means they don’t cut through the mix and their sound is just adding noise to the sound.
THEORY GIVES YOU THE MENTAL UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT YOU’RE DOING, WHICH IS ONE OF THE KEYS THAT UNLOCKS THE NEXT IN YOUR GUITAR PLAYING.
Technique allows you to play confidently which makes drastically improves your tone.
PR: Practicing is learning how to maximise your practice sessions so you can make more progress in less time using accelerated learning and deliberate practice techniques.
So In Closing…
It’s not about becoming a formulaic player.
The formula is simply a framework that breaks down all the components you need to master to be a well rounded player.
When you use this you will be able to fill any gaps in your playing, which makes it easier for you to find your unique sound and voice on the guitar.
The reason this works so well is because you can see the gaps in your playing that has been keeping you stuck. Once this has been dealt with it your musical nature will be released and allowed to shine through.
So it’s not a matter of being born with natural musical talent.
Instead it’s about learning how to access that intrinsic nature you already have and then setting it free.
Think about it for a second.
THE WORD SAYS THAT WE NEED TO SING TO THE LORD A NEW SONG. I DON’T THINK GOD WOULD HAVE PUT THAT SCRIPTURE IN THE WORD IF IT WAS ONLY MEANT FOR A SELECT FEW.
Instead we all have a musical nature that’s just waiting to be unlocked.
In my experience the WGS Formula has been one of the most effective ways to unlock that for most people.
I hope this has been valuable to see how it all works together!
