Thursday, March 4, 2010
An update on the blog...
Trying to do four post a week was a bit to ambitious. Starting Sunday, I will be posting one blog a week on a subject. It is my hope that this blog will eventually take off enough that I feel the need to do more than one a week. So, the next post will be on Sunday.
Friday, January 1, 2010
New Year, New Style
Well, it's after midnight and sounds like a war zone outside. Means it's either Tuesday or it's New Years. I've posted a blog relating to New Years on my other blog under my profile. Go read it if you want. Anyways, it's the new year. Out with the old, in with the new and all that jazz. That also includes doing it with our playing.
When we play, we can one of two things. Play exactly like the recording, in every way and mannar. I admit, this is one thing I do probably ninety percent of the time. It's the ten percent where I don't, and I play in my own unique style that I've invented. This is called Sean Arseo style. I'm sure you play your own style as well, whenever you're just messing around.
As Christian music becomes more like the rock songs of the eighties, short songs with identafiable instrumental lines, we as musicians start to play them just as the original artist played them. There is little room for originallity in them. Oh, that's not to say that we don't put our own personal twist into them, our little musicial signitares. Then there are the somewhat older songs.
Take the Matt Redman song, Blessed Be the Name. When they put the music in front of me, I had never heard of the song, let alone Matt Redman before in my life. The lead guitarist had said play it as eigth notes with a pick, so I did. The whole song, simple eigth notes. No life. After our first drummer Aarron Black stepped down due to health reasons, we got a young drummer. This is a prime example to my comment for bassist that I made yesterday about listening to the drummer.
Aarron would be the first to tell you that he was not a drummer. He was a purcussionist with a resume that most would kill for. When playing bass along side him playing drums, I had a certain style. He would play more a Salsa style, so I would mould right in and play that style as well.
Enter our current drummer. He would be the first to tell you that he knew next to nothing about being a purcussionist. He was a really a kid (seventeen when he joined, I believe), and had only been play a few years. Rang a bell for me. What he lacked in experience, however, he made up for in youthful enthusiasim. So when we went and did Blessed again one Sunday, my simple "duh-duh-duh-duh" didn't work. It was far to simple. It was then when the craziest infulance came to me for the song.
I had recently boughten the Nine Inch Nails concert DVD Beside You In Time, and was watching it one day when I noticed the bassist was changing his picking position and style on the song The Line Begins to Blur. So I followed with the song when we played the chorus. It was enough of a mix up to give it a new life. I went even further and, during the actual set, played the pre-chours an octive higher along the D-string, hitting one note per word. The band said nothing, so I simply continued, eventually playing the bridge in a metal style, playing the occasional set of sixteenth notes while rising an octive when the bridge repeates.
I promies that I will now get to the point of that long and confussing piece. The point is, you need to move past simple "The song says play this so I'll play this." and experiment! I know that some songs have some killer instrument parts (coming to mind is the bassline in Dancing Generation), and if you find yourself playing that, then feel free to play it as it's writen. But if your playing something else, something that has been played just shy of a billion different ways by a billion different people, then feel free to play it your own way as well.
Well, the gunshots have fallen silent, so I will as well. I might continue this line of thought for a while, since I could probably write a book on this topic alone.
Happy New Years.
-Sean Arseo
12:54am, January 1, 2010
Next Post: Your New Style In New Songs
When we play, we can one of two things. Play exactly like the recording, in every way and mannar. I admit, this is one thing I do probably ninety percent of the time. It's the ten percent where I don't, and I play in my own unique style that I've invented. This is called Sean Arseo style. I'm sure you play your own style as well, whenever you're just messing around.
As Christian music becomes more like the rock songs of the eighties, short songs with identafiable instrumental lines, we as musicians start to play them just as the original artist played them. There is little room for originallity in them. Oh, that's not to say that we don't put our own personal twist into them, our little musicial signitares. Then there are the somewhat older songs.
Take the Matt Redman song, Blessed Be the Name. When they put the music in front of me, I had never heard of the song, let alone Matt Redman before in my life. The lead guitarist had said play it as eigth notes with a pick, so I did. The whole song, simple eigth notes. No life. After our first drummer Aarron Black stepped down due to health reasons, we got a young drummer. This is a prime example to my comment for bassist that I made yesterday about listening to the drummer.
Aarron would be the first to tell you that he was not a drummer. He was a purcussionist with a resume that most would kill for. When playing bass along side him playing drums, I had a certain style. He would play more a Salsa style, so I would mould right in and play that style as well.
Enter our current drummer. He would be the first to tell you that he knew next to nothing about being a purcussionist. He was a really a kid (seventeen when he joined, I believe), and had only been play a few years. Rang a bell for me. What he lacked in experience, however, he made up for in youthful enthusiasim. So when we went and did Blessed again one Sunday, my simple "duh-duh-duh-duh" didn't work. It was far to simple. It was then when the craziest infulance came to me for the song.
I had recently boughten the Nine Inch Nails concert DVD Beside You In Time, and was watching it one day when I noticed the bassist was changing his picking position and style on the song The Line Begins to Blur. So I followed with the song when we played the chorus. It was enough of a mix up to give it a new life. I went even further and, during the actual set, played the pre-chours an octive higher along the D-string, hitting one note per word. The band said nothing, so I simply continued, eventually playing the bridge in a metal style, playing the occasional set of sixteenth notes while rising an octive when the bridge repeates.
I promies that I will now get to the point of that long and confussing piece. The point is, you need to move past simple "The song says play this so I'll play this." and experiment! I know that some songs have some killer instrument parts (coming to mind is the bassline in Dancing Generation), and if you find yourself playing that, then feel free to play it as it's writen. But if your playing something else, something that has been played just shy of a billion different ways by a billion different people, then feel free to play it your own way as well.
Well, the gunshots have fallen silent, so I will as well. I might continue this line of thought for a while, since I could probably write a book on this topic alone.
Happy New Years.
-Sean Arseo
12:54am, January 1, 2010
Next Post: Your New Style In New Songs
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
It's all about You, not you.
When I first picked up a bass, I truly had no idea what I was doing. My parents were upset with me for buying it, and I didn't help much with having it plugged into the amp and practicing at two in the morning. However, in the four and a half years since I bought that Squire Affinity P-Bass in June of 2005, I've grown to become a decent bass player. This can lead to all kinds of problems.
The first time I was able to play Money by Pink Floyd, I had wants of being a professional musician. When I started to play to play some church music with a guitar accompaniment, that want only grew. It was a year after I got that bass, in June of 2006, that I had my first real taste of having a regular gig with talented musicians that had been playing longer then I'd been alive.
When you start to play something that others can't, or do something that others don't wantt to do, it starts to do something to you. It's not a good thing. It's very bad. It all starts to go to your head. You stop saying things like "Oh, I'm learning to play bass." and start saying "I'm a musician."
Pride is an ugly thing. You start taking for granted things that God has given you. For me, is was the ability to play music. It was the ability to pick up and instrument and learn it in weeks. I had learned to play bass in a matter of months. Violin in a matter of weeks. I was playing guitar the first day I picked it up and writing a love song (admitidly only three or four chords) by the end of the week. As for piano, my instructor has told me that I could easily pick up and learn just about any piece I put my mind to. Pride was my weakness, which is where the title for today's post comes in.
We've all heard the song The Heart of Worship and I'm sure some of us have even played it. The chorus says:
"I'm coming back to the heart of worship/'Cause it's all about You/It's all about You/I'm sorry Lord for the thing I made it/'Cause it's all about You/It's all about You Jesus."
The worship is not to glorify ourselves. As a worship member, we are not supposed to play under a spotlight for applause and glory. The glory has to be to God, not to you or me. For teenagers being drawn into worship, either through youth group or conscripted from another ministry like me, they want the spotlight on them to be more than just a lighting effect. As the young musician grows, they start to realize that the glory is for God, that the spotlight that happens to be shining on them is not for a five minute guitar solo.
I can't speak for everyone. I've been playing for the church for about three years total now. It would be thee and a half had I been able to wrap my mind around this concept. In September of 2008, I left the group, quitting. I played a few times as a session musician, and made it clear that was all I was, to the point of unplugging my bass after the set and walking off the stage with it. I'd have my case stowed in the back with the sound board, where I would pack it up and leave. In late April of this year, I was asked to come and play with the youth by one of the few people there I considered a friend, and agreed. The first week of July, I was asked to come back, as the groups final electric guitarist has left. I went back to play one time, and having thought it through for some time, agreed to come back on as a full time member.
It's human nature to want the spotlight to be on you in some compasity. While I could care less about being the center of attention, a part of me wishes that it was me the people singing the songs were there to see. A part of me would love to play for a sold out stadium filled with thousands of people there to see just me. However, I now know that is wrong. Playing worship songs in church is not supposed to be playing for a crowd of screaming fans (even if the youth group can get loud). It's not supposed to be self-centered.
It's not all about you. It's all about Him.
BASS TIP OF THE WEEK:
Listen to the drums! While a more experienced bass player will go "Well, duh!" it's the newbies that this one is for. While the other instruments and the vocals will tell you where you are in the song, it's the drums and the bass that's the backbone. If you and your drummer are not in perfect (and, since we're talking music, I mean PERFECT) sync, then everything will be off. And even the most musicialy challenged person will be able to tell. While any glory is not for us, and any noise is to be a joyful noise, that is not to say that you can play anything you want. The music must still flow.
Next Post: New Year, New Style
The first time I was able to play Money by Pink Floyd, I had wants of being a professional musician. When I started to play to play some church music with a guitar accompaniment, that want only grew. It was a year after I got that bass, in June of 2006, that I had my first real taste of having a regular gig with talented musicians that had been playing longer then I'd been alive.
When you start to play something that others can't, or do something that others don't wantt to do, it starts to do something to you. It's not a good thing. It's very bad. It all starts to go to your head. You stop saying things like "Oh, I'm learning to play bass." and start saying "I'm a musician."
Pride is an ugly thing. You start taking for granted things that God has given you. For me, is was the ability to play music. It was the ability to pick up and instrument and learn it in weeks. I had learned to play bass in a matter of months. Violin in a matter of weeks. I was playing guitar the first day I picked it up and writing a love song (admitidly only three or four chords) by the end of the week. As for piano, my instructor has told me that I could easily pick up and learn just about any piece I put my mind to. Pride was my weakness, which is where the title for today's post comes in.
We've all heard the song The Heart of Worship and I'm sure some of us have even played it. The chorus says:
"I'm coming back to the heart of worship/'Cause it's all about You/It's all about You/I'm sorry Lord for the thing I made it/'Cause it's all about You/It's all about You Jesus."
The worship is not to glorify ourselves. As a worship member, we are not supposed to play under a spotlight for applause and glory. The glory has to be to God, not to you or me. For teenagers being drawn into worship, either through youth group or conscripted from another ministry like me, they want the spotlight on them to be more than just a lighting effect. As the young musician grows, they start to realize that the glory is for God, that the spotlight that happens to be shining on them is not for a five minute guitar solo.
I can't speak for everyone. I've been playing for the church for about three years total now. It would be thee and a half had I been able to wrap my mind around this concept. In September of 2008, I left the group, quitting. I played a few times as a session musician, and made it clear that was all I was, to the point of unplugging my bass after the set and walking off the stage with it. I'd have my case stowed in the back with the sound board, where I would pack it up and leave. In late April of this year, I was asked to come and play with the youth by one of the few people there I considered a friend, and agreed. The first week of July, I was asked to come back, as the groups final electric guitarist has left. I went back to play one time, and having thought it through for some time, agreed to come back on as a full time member.
It's human nature to want the spotlight to be on you in some compasity. While I could care less about being the center of attention, a part of me wishes that it was me the people singing the songs were there to see. A part of me would love to play for a sold out stadium filled with thousands of people there to see just me. However, I now know that is wrong. Playing worship songs in church is not supposed to be playing for a crowd of screaming fans (even if the youth group can get loud). It's not supposed to be self-centered.
It's not all about you. It's all about Him.
BASS TIP OF THE WEEK:
Listen to the drums! While a more experienced bass player will go "Well, duh!" it's the newbies that this one is for. While the other instruments and the vocals will tell you where you are in the song, it's the drums and the bass that's the backbone. If you and your drummer are not in perfect (and, since we're talking music, I mean PERFECT) sync, then everything will be off. And even the most musicialy challenged person will be able to tell. While any glory is not for us, and any noise is to be a joyful noise, that is not to say that you can play anything you want. The music must still flow.
Next Post: New Year, New Style
Monday, December 28, 2009
Into the Unknown
While I don't really pretend to be the end-all and know-all of music, let alone worship music, I do know a few things. These few things always grow into more knowledge. Of course, the more one learns, the more they realize how little they know.
I don't play for sold out stadiums, churchs packed with people there to hear me play the music I wrote, or anything like that. I've had only one paid gig in my life, and that's it. What I have done, though, is play in front of a large congregation enough to know the problems of it starting to go to your head.
I don't know how this will be taken. I really don't. It is, however, my hope that if you're reading this blog, you might come to learn something about playing music in a small church setting.
Postings (provided nothing happens) will be most likely four times a week, on Monday, Wednsday, Thursday, and Sunday. And now, these days are not picked out of a hat. They are when I am in the church, be it playing or praticing.
Next Post: It's all about You, not you.
I don't play for sold out stadiums, churchs packed with people there to hear me play the music I wrote, or anything like that. I've had only one paid gig in my life, and that's it. What I have done, though, is play in front of a large congregation enough to know the problems of it starting to go to your head.
I don't know how this will be taken. I really don't. It is, however, my hope that if you're reading this blog, you might come to learn something about playing music in a small church setting.
Postings (provided nothing happens) will be most likely four times a week, on Monday, Wednsday, Thursday, and Sunday. And now, these days are not picked out of a hat. They are when I am in the church, be it playing or praticing.
Next Post: It's all about You, not you.
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