LOOKING FOR IDEAS
OK, so you’re leading worship with a guitar (full band or not doesn’t matter) and you feel that POP! Yes, that’s right your g-string just busted (or b-string, or e-string), it’s usually my g-string (no jokes, please). So, what do you do?
I used to not care that much, just keep going, but now that I’m doing this more seriously (besides the fact that I get paid for it). Obviously this is a snag many worship leaders deal with, but how… the only solution I could thing of it a backup guitar… but that’s even more money to spend on instruments, which I don’t always feel comfortable doing.
I play a custom guitar Breedlove made for me – amazing tone, just gorgeous. I have a telecaster as well that I got recently, which also sounds great, for an electric guitar. But I primarily play acoustic, and tonally, one cannot substitute for the other.
I was playing a gig a few weeks ago and just before our last song, I busted a string. So I switched to electric and it sounded great with all the guitars in the band being electric, but the song was Charlie Hall’s Marvelous Light. So it worked fine, but what about say… Made Me Glad, where you need acoustic guitar.
I just wondering if there’s any other alternatives for busting a sting in the middle of a service, without having to have another guitar? I have two old ones, but neither is in a condition to take on stage right now – one needs a complete fret job and neck overhaul – about a thousand dollars total, might as well buy yet another guitar…
I figured once I had a good sounding guitar that would be enough, but what about when it stops working in the middle of a service?
October 10, 2008 at 5:42 pm
Tuner pedal … re-tune using whatever strings you have left while you’re “playing the tuning song” or something. Perfection isn’t everything, and it shows a human element during worship that I think can be refreshing for some people. On the other hand, you could always have a “backup scripture” or story or something to tell in-between songs as you re-tune your guitar without the other string. I’ve had to do that before, and it worked fine. I have a BOSS ME50 that I use no matter which guitar (electric or acoustic) I’m using, but they make a chromatic tuner pedal that’s way cheaper if you just wanted that. Just a thought