Jammin' for the Lord

ok.. i am back, i survived. got back saturday evening from the retreat, then church and my nephew's graduation party on Sunday. back to work yesterday and now i am back in the groove..

so, the worship band is really coming together. rehearsal tonight and it should be a good one. So far everything i have thrown at these ladies they have handled. we played a tune, Ancient of Days last Sunday and boy, they nailed it. It has very quick chord changes, but they were on top of it. we are finding our groove. I am going to throw some curve balls at em tonight.. oh yeah.

sometimes i think it must be hard to play with me. i learned to play guitar by listening to alot of Grateful Dead. Their music always changed, never playing a song the same way twice. Music stays fresh that way, but if you don't listen to the Grateful Dead, i guess you can get lost or confused by how i look at a song. I try to only sketch out parts and then, on Sunday, we play the song by the leading of the Holy Spirit. I guess its almost like on Sunday morning we are just jamming for the Lord. Can't box in a song. A song can say so many different things. Maybe today the song wants to be an all out praise song, but tomorrow wants to be more of a reflective/surrendering to God type song. Jerry Garcia used to say, "let the song breath", which i always took to mean, let it have its own life. Let the Holy Spirit get involved and really take the song where God wants it to go. Where I want it to go might be the wrong direction for the people in the seats on Sunday morning. God knows what they need, I don't. So, music should be allowed to change and move and breath and say what it needs to say each time. I think the worship team needs to get locked in a room for a weekend and be made to listen to the Dead the whole time. Swirling sounds, changing time signatures, shifting tempos, loud, then soft, forceful, then reserved.. then they will know where i am coming from. hahahaha. Being a deadhead is coming into good use as the worship leader. God is using all my past musical experiences for His glory. As long as the people can follow along and sing along and worship God with the song, then why box in the Spirit.

Tonight will be great, i can feel it.

Peace

Tony