At the FLY Convention, I was privileged to teach an elective on leading worship. Many people who attended were from churches with no established “contemporary” services (I’m not a huge fan of that word, more on that another time.)

We all want to build up our worship teams to full bands someday, but most of the time that tends to be difficult, especially if you are in a small church or city with limited resources. I want to spend the rest of the week talking about what to do if you’re missing an instrument that can help you fill in the hole without worrying about finding someone to play that instrument right away.  So let’s start with the bass, or rather, the lack of bass.

• Almost everyone has another piano player in the congregation. Find a keyboard that can simulate a bass sound and have another pianist playing the bass part on the keyboard.
• If you only have one piano player, and/or no budget to get a keyboard, teach the piano player how to play the bass notes in the chords. Often times you will see something like D/F# on a chord or lead sheet. This simply means that you play a D chord with your right hand (D-F#-A) and play an F# on the bottom with your left hand. These subtle changes in the chord will make the music sound much more interesting.
• Perhaps you have an overabundance of guitar players. Teach one of them how to play the bass. It usually doesn’t take them too long.
• The bass (and drums) usually carry the groove, or rhythm, of the song. Teach the instruments you have to know how to work together to create groove and tight rhythm before the bass player gets there.
• To think completely outside the box…perhaps you have a great bass singer – he could sing the bass part. Think “Tonic Sol Fa” or “Go Fish.” in the early days. (By the way, the original bass singer of Go Fish is in Tonic Sol Fa now)
• Have an organ?  Use the pedals!  I’ve been amazed lately at how nicely the low register gets filled out by adding an organ to the mix!
• See if there are any other bass players in your area that hold similar beliefs and principles as you do and ask if they would be willing to fill in while you keep looking for your own.

Hopefully these suggestions can help you as you continue to search. What have you done to help fill in the bass?

How are your transitions between songs in your set done? Do things flow well and seamlessly, helping ease distractions in worship, or are things choppy with awkward pauses? Here are a few do’s and don’ts when it comes to song transitions:

Don’t…

• …say “The first song we will be singing,” or “The next song will be…” More than likely, the songs are either listed in the bulletin, or the title is on the screen. The people are smart enough to figure out what the song is. This draws attention to the title of the song, rather than the content of the song.
• ...have silence between every song. Learn what keys go together and how you can flow seamlessly from song to song without silence. Sometime silence is good, but not between every single song.
• …talk in between every song. Sometimes songs can jump right into each other without a need for comment. Sometimes people are in a prayerful attitude, and just playing a simple chord progression with no commentary helps people be able to pray during the worship time.
• …say, “We’re singing this song because I like it so much.” I made this mistake my last day at a church and knew it was the wrong thing to say as soon as it came out of my mouth. Again, this draws attention to you and the song, not to the One that you and the song are supposed to be pointing to.

Do…

• Learn which keys relate to each other and pick songs that are in similar keys. This will help your transitions flow much smoother and create a unified song set.
• Use Scripture. Always bring people back to the Word. When in doubt of what to say, read Scripture and leave it alone. God’s Word will not return empty.
• Be careful to talk about personal issues. While some personal testimony can be powerful and appropriate, we are tools being used to magnify God, not call attention to ourselves.
• Learn to give up the reigns. Let others give a transition, even if you are the “official” worship leader for the day.

Hopefully these tips will help you construct a seamless, flowing worship set. Let me know if you use them or if you have other thoughts!

What do’s and don’ts do you have as you work on song transitions in your congregation?