Over the years, I’ve had to learn quite a few new songs for church. Some are easy, and others take more time and effort. In either case, I’ve found that good preparation up front saves rehearsal time with the band later. Band rehearsal time is not ideal for learning a new song anyway. Do yourself and your band mates a favor by following this guide to maximize your time and effort learning a new worship song.
Listen
Listen to the song without your guitar. Listen to it multiple times – while driving, running, etc. You’ll subconsciously learn how the song sounds and how it is structured. This will give you a head start on the next phase of learning the song.
Look
Look at the chord charts while listening to it (still not playing yet). This allows you to match the chord changes up with the chart you have. This is especially handy if the chords are not written above the right lyrics, which is common with many online free chord charts these days.
Play It!
Now that you’ve focused on the sound and timing of the chord changes, it’s time to play it yourself! Practice playing along with the track while you look at the chord chart. This will reveal any difficult spots for you to play. Focus on any rough parts of the song until you can play them smoothly.
Lather, Rinse, Repeat
Play the song as many times as you can with the track. At this point, start playing it by memory as much as possible until you can play it completely without looking at the chart. This is my favorite part. I’ve stayed up until 3 am practicing songs before. Time really does fly when you’re having fun!
Memorize
Play the whole song by memory without the music. Not only does this help you memorize it even more, but it also will show you any parts you may be playing wrong or don’t know that well. Fix those parts if need be. You should be able to carry the whole song yourself and freely switch between different parts of the song. Many times it is the role of the acoustic guitarist to be the foundation and follow the worship leader’s changes, so you need to be prepared.
Practice In Your Head
Congratulations! From now until you play this song in the worship service, you can practice in your head. When you find time to listen to the song, visualize yourself playing the chords along with the song. My favorite time to do this is while driving. I’ll use the steering wheel as the neck of the guitar and the center console to strum on. I’ve used this many times to get more worship practice time in before a Sunday morning service.
Summary
- Listen first without playing.
- Look at the chord chart while listening (still not playing).
- Practice playing with the recording and the chord chart.
- Play with the track over and over, playing by memory as much as you can.
- Once you can play the song by memory, practice in your head while listening to the song.
Don’t worry if you can’t do all of these steps right away. The important part is that you practice. Like anything in life, you get out of it what you put in. Once you can work your way up to practicing in your head, you’ll be free to learn more songs in less time.
Question: Do you have your own tried and true worship practice method? Do you like one of the ways outlined above? Leave a comment below. Join or start a conversation.
Thank you. Your post is very helpful.
I’m finding I’m not getting enough time to learn new songs and practice others before Sunday Worship at church as our worship leader who picks the songs doesn’t send them until Friday and as I am working, I don’t pick them up until the evening or even Saturday. There is no band practice in the week so the only time we play together is an hour before the service. Most of the other band members are his family, so they probably get to practice at home together. Any tips on what I could say in a polite way?
Hi Mandy! Thanks for sending in this question. It’s hard for me to say exactly what you should do since I’m not fully aware of the whole situation and your relationship with your worship leader. However, the word, “unity” came to mind as I was reading your comment. So I found Ephesians 4:13. It’s a good chapter to read as you prayerfully prepare to talk to your worship leader. Here are some thoughts I had while reading Ephesians:
1. Pray for your worship leader. This will guard you from unforgiveness and any hint of bitterness. Just pray for God to bless them & help them, and it will bless you.
2. Remember we are all part of the same body, and the head of that body is Jesus. Whenever we have issues with other body members, Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father making intercession for us. So you can bring your concerns and requests before him, knowing you can go straight to the Father who is good and will not withold good things from us. See Matthew 7:7-12.
3. I ended up reading all of Ephesians :-) I’m glad you sent in a question! You got me reading! Ephesians 6 reminds us that we wrestle not with flesh and blood but with spiritual forces that try to distract and disjoint the body of Christ. I’m not saying this is spiritual warfare, but be careful that you don’t give place to bitterness and resentment, which is a tool of the enemy.
At my church we don’t have band practice during the week anymore (I’m not currently the worship director or leader). This makes some things better but can introduce other challenges like you’ve described. Maybe you could ask your worship leader if they have a list of songs they’d like to do over the next several weeks or months. If they can give you a bigger list of songs & resources, maybe that would give you some time to start listening to those songs to begin preparing for them.
The fact that you’re seeking counsel on this issue means that your heart is in a good place and you want to approach this the right way. I think it’s reasonable to let your worship leader know the challenges you’re facing, and then the two of you can reach an agreement on what might solve the problem. I assume you both want to serve God in what you’re doing, and one of the best ways we can serve God is by loving & serving one another. There may be things you can help your worship leader with beyond playing guitar. Jesus said that we would be known by the way we love each other (within the body of Christ).
I hope this has been helpful. Approach it with grace & love and with the intent to help and serve someone else, and I think God will work through you in ways you did not expect.
I didn’t intend for this to be so long, but feel free to reply again or message me through the Contact form on the site. I’m here to help! I’ll be praying for you & your worship leader that God would lead you both according to His plan.
Hi Brad, Thank you very much for your reply to my question and for the time you gave in responding. Your wise counsel is much appreciated and helpful.
I have only recently started in the worship team after joining the church at the beginning of the year.
We are in a spiritual battle and I wouldn’t want the enemy to get a foothold.
I have been concerned that a root of bitterness/resentment has been springing up. Since praying for my worship leader (which I should have been doing anyway) and repenting of this, it’s starting to dissipate. A revelation since praying, of how busy he must be with commitments as an Elder, Home Group leader, running a business and having time to spend with his family is also helping me have more understanding of why we receive the songs late in the week.
Before I started, I asked the worship leader’s wife who sings, if she had a list of songs. I was told there are so many but she kindly printed me off a few and some weeks ago I asked our Assistant Pastor (as his wife mentioned they have a list of songs) if he could send me a list of songs. He said he would and I hope to get them soon.
Due to a medical reason – tingling down my right arm, thumb and index finger every day on and off for a few weeks, I have decided to step down from playing guitar for the time being but hope to continue singing.
It’s good to be reminded that Jesus is making intercession for us at the right hand of the Father. What a wonderful God we have!
I will read Ephesians again as you advise. Such a great book!
I want to serve God by loving my brothers and sisters well in the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
I only came across your website a few days ago and so glad the Lord lead me there.
Thank you for your kindness, wise counsel and prayers.
May the Lord bless you abundantly.
Mandy
Hey Mandy! I read this comment reply a while back and I just came across it again. I’m glad this was helpful and a blessing to you. I wanted to let you know that we just opened up the Acoustic Worshiper Community in Discord. You can get more info here, and you can join it for free if you’re interested. We have a good group in there, and it’s growing. You can get insight and help from more than just me through our Community: https://acousticworshiper.com/community