i am an offering

The most common thing I encounter when working with piano players in a church is that they are usually classically trained. This is a good thing and classical training on the piano should never be lost. However, in learning how to play modern worship music styles, piano players need to shift from being a piano player to a keyboard player. For more detailed information on this, visit this post and this post, but for now, what are some basics of being a keyboardist on a modern worship team?

• Learn to play chords and learn how to play inversions of those chords. You’ll not only create much more pleasing sounds, but you’ll save yourself from jumping all over the keyboard to get to your next chord.
• Listen and learn to play in the cracks. Listen to where there are gaps in the melody of the song and learn to add short and simple fills in that time. Don’t play fills over the melody. Listen to the other players in the band and communicate who will be adding a fill where. Don’t play over each other.
• Apply classical teaching to create fills. Remember all of that Mozart and Beethoven you learned? Much of classical music is made up of melodies that use notes that pass from one key note to another, called “passing tones.” Learn to apply these concepts to creating fills. Get away from just breaking up the three notes of a chord and use some passing tones to create more interest.
• Listen some more and learn what register to play in. If the guitarist is playing in a middle register, play up high. If the guitarist is playing in a high register…you guessed it…play down low. If you an electric guitar playing high and an acoustic guitar playing in the middle, sit out and only play fills in the cracks of the melody.
• Know when to sit out. Piano players tend to be the ones that play the most often. Learn when to play out and when to hold back. If you’re unsure, ask your worship leader.
• Practice. Practice. Practice.