r/worshipleaders

I'm a co-worship leader in our church and a drummer by trade. I had the idea to clap during part of a song where I playing on 2+4 on the bass drum. In the actual song they accent the bass drum with the floor Tom. Co-worship leader liked the idea so we planned to have our spouses clap along with us in the congregation to try to get things going. Typically, we are not a hand clapping or hand raising church. We are trying to stretch us in that aspect in worship. Our senior pastor is also on vacation so we couldn't run it past him if we could clap during the song. The elders said I was not allowed to clap during the song. I felt defeated, hurt, and angry when I was denied clapping. I feel it's something that shouldn't have to be run through leadership. It's something that should be allowed to happen. Allow the Holy Spirit to move in whatever way it wants. I wanted to do it personally because I'm trying to grow myself. I thought about leaving the church. I'm just looking for feedback. Maybe my heart posture is wrong and I should keep trying.

Not sure if this is the best place to ask about this, but long story short, I’m really tired of lugging around my Taylor Acoustic guitar around. Do any of you recommend a smaller acoustic guitar that still sounds decent and is easier to travel around with when I lead worship at different places?

It’s Friday, but Sundays coming, right?

Or, in my case, it’s already Saturday!!

What are you doing to prepare for worship this weekend?

My ideal is for “no sound of hammers inside the temple”, referencing that the noisy work of shaping the stones for rebuilding the temple was done off site -, meaning there’s no preparation work still being done when it comes time to worship.

It’s a lovely aspirational goal, but our people resources don’t work that way.

Our congregation is anything between 80-140, music team entirely self-taught-and-rarely-practices (including me, to be fair 😝)

I don’t run the roster, so I can’t explain why this week, the good drummer is playing learner guitar, which means the brass player will play …adequate drums, on the same day as we have the learner bass player, and because I’m leading, I’ll be at the low spec keyboard upstage not the baby grand at the back (eye contact) and only paying half attention to my fingers.

It’s going to be a joyful noise, I guess?

I have a running theme of God being good no matter the circumstance eg Blessed be the Name, and Praise (that elevation one) so I have scriptures on that theme that I need to print. I’ll distribute them ready to give opportunity for people to either pop up and share a testimony, or read the scripture they got.

I’m amazed at how many people who wouldn’t ordinarily speak up, will happily read a scripture, and the momentum of other people speaking seems to give courage to others to share something (as opposed to the awkward silence when you announce a testimony time)

The tech team are prepping today, they say have my list and visuals, there will still be some tweaking of arrangements in the morning as we run through/practice.

Even more so because half of the team weren’t able to make practice plus I switched out some songs we DID practice, because they went so badly.

Tonight my husband and I plan to go to the local beach to watch the sun set, which isn’t specifically part of it, just bonus.

TBH I don’t usually actually build worship into my prep. I should think about that!

What’s going on in your world?

I've noticed several times that a printed chord like a C2, or G2 leaves me wondering why it was suggested. Maybe it's the way my brain processes things, but it occurs to me that what's really being called for is a C9, or G9, and the reason is because the melody goes up to that note, and this way the guitar or keyboard in question can support that vocal interval.

I also know that it's not always convenient mid song to stretch a ninth on a keyboard, but it is if you're playing the first inversion of the chord, and you can also drop the root. So G9 becomes B-D-A in that order. I realize that there would probably be another way of notating it, but nothing that anchors my brain as well in terms of where the melody is going. Especially if I am the one singing the lead while I am playing.

Sorry if this is too Theory 101 for some of you, but I'm hoping it might help someone who comes across those '2' chords to see how they integrate with vocals.

Edit (one day later) -- Well, I've been schooled! After all these decades, I did not realize that C9 is shorthand for what I might have referred to as C79. Or Gm/C. As commented below, I was trying to "describe upper structures" on the keyboard especially; the ideal of supporting the vocalists with that extra note which breaks out of the original octave. How about G5/C? (Lots of parallel fifths there for the purists.) Working with non-professionals in our worship teams, I find that the vocal support needed simply isn't suggested by playing C2. The D-note is there, but sometimes it can feel like you're singing against the C major chord, whereas if you have the lead note actually being played in relation to where the melody has just been, it strengthens the note's (and thereby the lyric's) impact.

Much of our notation grows out of jazz, and I can see where in that context, it might be more useful for the specific designation of the 9th interval to include a 7th (major or minor) but after all this happened yesterday, I asked someone to name the notes in a C9 chord, and they said the same as I had thought and were shocked that the 7th would be introduced.

Sorry. I was just trying to help. I won't delete the post however, maybe someone can learn from this after they untangle it.

To all Worship Leaders who main Electric Guitar, whether that be a Strat, Tele, Les Paul, PRS: How did you learn sensitivity and to effectively read the room? This is probably one of the most difficult aspects of Worship that I doubt gets spoken about much.

As someone who is still developing in this, and for all newer Worship Leaders / band members, what advice would you give to them?

I'm looking to understand the manual workload behind volunteer management. When a volunteer drops out 12 hours before a service, do you have a specific workflow to find a sub, or does it always fall back to you texting people one-by-one? How much of your Saturday is usually 'stolen' by this?

I’m in my mid-40’s (Gen-X) and I’m constantly blown away at the insistence of the older generations to bring back songs from the 80’s and 90’s. I completely get loving the songs that helped connect you with God in that timeframe. However, in lieu of a modern arrangement, there generally isn’t a way to make it work for anyone else. I just don’t get it. It generally seems more complex than just being self-centered or having a lack of self-awareness. I just don’t get it.

Hi everyone, I'm Manuel, a worship musician from Italy. A couple of years ago I noticed some distractions and technical problems when playing music in church, so I prayed about it and I started building my own app. It's called PraiseTune.

It's been used by worship teams here in Italy and the feedback has been really encouraging.
But honestly, I have no idea how it holds up against what you all are used to.

It does the core things: lyrics and chords, transposition, setlists synced across the whole team , song change in real time (no Wi-Fi needed), a built-in chord editor where you tap to place chords on syllables, PDF and ChordPro import etc.
But it surely misses a lot of things.

I'm thinking about whether it makes sense to bring it to a wider audience, but before I do I'd genuinely love to hear from worship leaders outside Italy. What would make or break an app like this for your team? What am I missing?

Happy to answer any questions or just listen. Just trying to build something actually useful.
Thank you so much.

praisetune.com if you're curious.

Edit: I forgot to add that since this doesn’t want to be an advertising post, I’ll offer a subscription for anyone that wants to try the app and give me a feedback!

I’ve been singing background vocals for my church’s worship team for about 3 years. I joined because a church elder kept encouraging me to. In the past, I’ve sung in choirs in and out of church. However, I still feel very out of place as a member of the worship team, even after praying on it. Every time I participate, I feel like I’m just singing the words to the songs and not engaging in the act of worship. No matter how much I try, I find myself thinking about everything under the sun like who’s in the audience. I also have an anxiety disorder so sometimes I’m also just too anxious to focus on what I’m meant to be doing. I’m considering stepping down because I don’t want to be doing this ministry with the wrong heart posture and be doing a disservice to God. I worry that I don’t have the passion for this. Can anyone provide advice?

Long story short(er): About two years ago, someone on our team was removed for a time due to a misdemeanor arrest and some other mental health issues. There was (sort of) church discipline, we were told to not discuss the situation, and, for the most part, the gossip was minimal.

Except, this person did NOT stop talking. Confessing to everyone who would listen things that weren’t disclosed to leadership from the start, airing dirty laundry about their marriage in very public spaces, etc.

After a year, the then music minister was asked to bring her back on the team, but he declined, citing this person’s behavior and lack of accountability taken. He was then told to retire. (Reasons given were not this specific situation, but the timing was curious.)

Now, we have a new director, who is fine, but this person is back. And I’m having a hard time, mostly because of things I heard them say, behavior I’ve observed, etc. Also my spiritual gifts are wisdom and discernment…so I’m always suspicious. 😆

I know we’re all forgiven sinners, but honestly I struggle to find true repentance. I think there are some leaders who want this person to be “fixed” so they can feel like they were part of the fixing, if that makes sense.
Add to that this person’s talent, and emotionalism, and you get all the feels, if you get my drift.

I really feel like I need an extended break because I cannot seem to get over this and I don’t feel like any of this is really my business to address? But also God has been dealing with me and my lack of perseverance?

How do you know when you need to step back?

Hey! Used to lead worship a while back with a different church. Only sang vocals, but I am with a different church now and I want to play acoustic with the team. I have only ever played causally and really for myself, but I am now joining a team that plays professionally. The advice I need is where do I start? Obliviously I will practice and put my best to prepare each week, but what advice and guidance can you give to a 1st time acoustic player in an established team. What routines and techniques do you guys use to stay up to date with today’s worship?

I’m curious how other MDs / playback people are handling weekly Ableton prep.

For church sets, the workflow I keep seeing is:

Planning Center setlist → download stems → drag everything into Ableton → set BPMs → add locators/sections → check guide/click → repeat every week.

For teams doing 4–6 songs, that can turn into a lot of repetitive setup before you even get to the musical stuff.

I’ve been working on a tool to automate that workflow, but I’m trying to sanity-check the problem first:

For those of you building Ableton sessions for worship/church sets, what’s the most annoying part of the process?

Stem organization? Locators? Tempo changes? Custom templates/routing? AbleSet compatibility? Something else?

Hey everyone, long story short the Worship Leader at my church was let go and I was asked by the Senior Pastor to serve as an interim Worship Leader while we figure out what our next steps will be. I will likely be in this position for at least a year is what I’ve been told.

I’ve been playing on worship teams for the past 12 years with my main instruments being bass and acoustic. I am able to fill any gap in instruments that come up though.

I have led the team when worship leaders were on vacation or sick but this is my first time being the person solely leading a team. I am looking for advice on things that I may overlook or just advice that others have learned the hard way. Some questions I have are:

- How can I help prevent burnout for team members?
- What is the best way to try and get more volunteers for the team?
- What are things that I can do for the team to show that their volunteering is appreciated and I see the time and effort they put in?

Feel free to give me any other advice that may be helpful.

We have what I would call an average size worship team (about 23 volunteers total) but are limited in our electric guitar and drum areas.

Hey everyone!

I have been on the worship team now for 3 years at our church. It has been great! I have always wanted the opportunity to be in a worship group, and when my husband and I began attending our church, they only had a pianist and guitarist/singer. We fit right in, since I have a background in singing and my husband is a drummer. It definitely was meant to be.

Our band is larger now, with a bass player and his wife who sings. She is an alto, and I am a soprano so it's been really fun harmonizing together.

I have made the decision, however, to quit the team. It's for several reasons not having at all to do with band mates. 1. I am the mom to an 8 month old, and it's becoming more difficult being able to rehearse and have her entertained for an hour. I have tried several strategies like having her in a play pen while rehearsing, but that hasn't worked. Also, it's been rough waking her up early in the morning and disrupting her sleep cycles on Sunday (we rehearse two hours before church starts). 2. I have been feeling a calling for some time to get back into children's ministry. That has always been my favorite way to serve, and with baby now getting older, I want to be with her in the nursery and helping out, and also begin a new outreach program using my skills for working with children. (I have degrees in children's theater, literature, and children's librarianship). The children's ministry leader seems very excited to have me on board.

I am ready right now to stop. I am very decided. What would be a kind way to tell the worship leader? Should I tell him I'll keep singing until the end of the month? I want to still offer that I'll be able to lead if he is ever out of town, or a big holiday like Christmas or Easter when it's beneficial to have more singers. Would it be rude to just let him know out of the blue that tomorrow is my last day?

Thanks.

Hi. I’ve been doing a lot of research and can’t seem to find what I’m looking for. I play modern worship (Elevation, Wickam, Tomlin, etc). I want to easily edit EQ, filters, and layer volumes on the fly, want smooth transitions (often a 3-layer/split sound to another 3-layered sound) without any noticeable cutoffs, I want to easily concentrate on God without having to adjust too many different knobs/faders/buttons on the fly. So simple controls is important to me for worshipping. I’d like something that will serve as my Sunday Keys (or Mainstage) midi controller and also be good for other situations.

I‘d like to use it for a worship team setting with a sound system (likely as a midi controller), to lead the prayer team (10-20 people) in worship during their prayer meetings, occasionally at small group, occasionally at retreats, and special events like a Christmas party.

I’m open to the used market. I need something fully weighted, I’m not too fussy on the key bed. I’m not a big organ player and I find devices (computers/ipads) distracting.

I want a Nord Stage 3 or 4 that isn’t red and way cheaper. I think a Yamaha CK88 is almost perfect but doesn’t have smooth transitions between ”livesets“ and that’s important for me since transitions is usually my role. I want a Roland RD-2000 that is easier to move around, has onboard speakers, and is cheaper.

Am I just trying to find something that doesn’t exist?

Any recommendations or advice is appreciated! Thanks!

I’m trying to get tracks for worship sets, multitracks are so expensive and I can’t afford them, if anyone could help me get a library going that would be awesome!

##Hey all — building my first live keys rig and want feedback before I drop money.

Context: Drummer for 25+ years, switching to keys at my Jewish/Messianic church. Worship is klezmer-influenced — accordion, clarinet, sax textures, lots of modal/minor stuff. Already own Mac, Ableton, Logic X, MainStage, NI Komplete. Want ONE UI to manage everything live, samples on external SSD to keep the laptop light.

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##Hardware

• Controller — Studiologic SL73 MK2.
• Audio interface — Focusrite Scarlett Solo 4th gen. Standard, two ins enough.
• Expression pedal — Roland EV-5. Critical for SWAM winds (CC11).
• External SSD — Samsung T7, APFS-formatted. Sample storage.
• Skipped: Numa X Piano. Felt redundant when Mac is already in the rig.

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##Software architecture:

MainStage 3 as the only live host. Logic X / Ableton stay studio-only.

• Live host — MainStage 3 ($30). Patch-based, foot-switch transitions, single UI.
• Piano — MainStage stock (Vintage EVP88, Steinway). Pianoteq 9 optional. Stock covers most live needs.
• Pads / synths / organ — MainStage stock (ES2, Sculpture, Alchemy, Vintage B3). Plenty for worship pads.
• Winds (clarinet / sax / flute) — SWAM by Audio Modeling. Modeled, expression-pedal driven, klezmer-essential.
• Accordion — Best Service Accordions 2 OR Sample Modeling The Accordion. Klezmer must-have. Torn between the two.
• NI Komplete — loaded via Komplete Kontrol inside MainStage. Surgical use only — never raw Kontakt UI live.
• Free — Spitfire LABS. Pads, textures.

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##Things I deliberately decided against:

• Sunday Keys. $299 + hidden Omnisphere requirement ($499) = $800. Wrong genre target (US evangelical, not klezmer/Messianic). MainStage stock + SWAM + accordion VST seems to cover my actual context better.
• Going all-in on NI Komplete patches. I think MainStage stock carries ~85% of what I need. NI is for specific timbres I can't get from stock — not a default.
• Numa X Piano. See above — duplicates the laptop.

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##Where I'd love pushback:

1. SL73 MK2 vs alternatives — anyone gigging this keybed regularly?
2. MainStage as single host — anyone hit walls with this in a live worship context? Should I be looking at Gig Performer or Camelot Pro instead?
3. SWAM for winds — actually playable live with just an expression pedal, or do I need a wind controller (EWI/Aerophone) to make it sound human?
4. Accordion VST — Best Service Accordions 2 vs Sample Modeling The Accordion for klezmer specifically? Anyone A/B'd these?
5. NI Komplete inside MainStage — am I right that Komplete Kontrol is the sane way to load Kontakt instruments live, or is there a better workflow?
6. Anything load-bearing I'm missing? Specifically for klezmer/Jewish worship — strings? Brass? A specific organ patch I should know about?

Budget-conscious but not cheap-out — willing to spend on things that matter, want to avoid spending on things that don't. Appreciate any holes you can poke.