Paul Baloche - Choosing a bass player for the worship team

Paul Baloche - What to look for when choosing a bass player for your worship team. Paul's "Modern Worship Series" DVD's contain practical instruction for worship leaders and teams and are available at leadworship.com

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Music

Tags:

• Paul
• Baloche
• leadworshipdotcom
• leadworship.com
• choosing
• bass
• player

[hopezer0]

Please listen to the whole thing and comprehend what he's trying to say.

1. Learn the basics of bass first: Tempo.

2. Don't distract the worshipers with your bass playing.

3. If your an advanced bassist, go ahead, just don't distract the worshipers.

4. Keep in mind what the mood of the song is suppose to be and stick to it. Playing funk in a slow song is gonna be distracting and you FAIL as a musician.

[lockcutter]

As a bass player.. i do feel contemporary Christian music has become just that..a mold. More often than not, song these days seem to sound the same ala 8th note bass lines with deafening guitars overdrives..and therein lies the appeal as it requires minimal skill to execute. In my humble opinion, the golden age of worship and musicianship was with ron kenoly and the band (abe,justo,alex). But then again, no worship band i know has ever managed to pull off his songs anywhere near that quality.

[daverockgtrist]

@potatoman I agree. I think Paul's message here is to an entry level player. But as a worship leader myself, there's nothing like a GOOD bass player who can TASTEfully throw in passing tones, scale walks, and octaves without it feeling like "overplaying." There's a big call in worship ministry to "oversimplify," and yes most songs are simple in their construction, but a good player can make them more interesting. I wholeheartedly agree - bring on the TASTEFUL skilled players!

[4dabottom]

I think the message here is to play what is required for the song you are playing, and the worship leader you are serving under. For Paul's music and others in this style the instruction he gives is on the money. Bass players can display excellence in how they execute 8th notes believe it or not. Does it mean we should not pursue jazz theory, classical etudes, or world music styles on bass, no. But overplaying can be a great distraction, in secular music, and especially in the church.

[Kuuuks]

Good tips but not in the world of Gospel music like Hezekiah Walker and Marvin Sapp etc, their songs don't usually use 8 and 16 notes.

[potatoman]

The ideal in this video is the reason why many highly skilled bass players are not taken seriously in contempo/modern worship. When they look for a bass player In a worship band, they will just get the first kid in tight pants who can barely hold a decent tune together, while the truly skilled bassist is deemed as unnecessary and ignored. I like Adam Clayton's bass playing (U2) but don't conform to his style. I say It's time to bring in the truly skilled bass players to contemporary worship!

[KicksAndSnares92]

I'm trying to learn bass for the team, barly learning the basics and practing

any advice fellas?

Glory all goes to the father :)

[gracefuladornments]

Not sure what to make of this. I am EXACTLY the kind of bass player he is describing (even though I'm a girl, lol), but the worship leader I am under is pushing me out of the "worship box". When looking for vids to help with that I came across this one. I think I prefer my worship leader to this because I want to glorify God more and more instead of playing a few different ways only. However, I wholeheartedly agree that too many bass players don't have the basics down when they should.