Dear [[{First name}]],

Welcome to the February Musicademy Newsletter.

In this edition:

Here at Last
The Musicademy Worship Bass DVD

They’ve been a long time coming – due in part to the fabulous on-screen graphics – but the Musicademy Worship Bass Course is finally available.

There are three 2-hour DVDs for Beginners and three for Intermediates. The Bass Song Learners will be out in a few months. We’ve had huge demand for these products from aspiring and existing players as well as guitarists who are keen to transfer to bass. We don’t think you will be disappointed but if you want to check out the free trailer, click here.

The DVDs are taught and presented by one of the UK’s top Christian session bass players, Matt Weeks. Matt has played with Matt Redman, Tim Hughes, Chris Tomlin, Brian Doerksen, Paul Baloche, Graham Kendrick, Stuart Townend and many others.

There is also additional practical advice from worship leaders David Ruis, Stuart Townend, Chris Bowater, Leeland Mooring and others as well as input from professional bass players including Jesse Reeves from the Chris Tomlin Band.

Beginners will learn how to:

  • Play open, fretted, long and short notes and develop left and right hand technique
  • Create different grooves in time with the kick drum
  • Play worship songs in different keys using major and minor scales
  • Discover intervals, Nashville numbering and transposing
  • Use arpeggios, octaves, passing notes and harmony lines

Intermediate players will learn how to:

  • Develop their timing, technique and learn a range of new grooves
  • Play in different styles using slap, string skipping, damping, and chromatic runs, pedalling and harmonics
  • Develop music theory knowledge of intervals, major, minor and chromatic scales
  • Learn about chord construction, substitutions and inversions
  • Play by ear, in different keys using Nashville numbering
  • Improve their positional playing and left and right hand technique
  • Use 10ths and arpeggios for creating melodic bass lines
  • Create fills and licks using pentatonic scale shapes
  • Develop 16th note playing and sub division awareness
  • Improve their communication, dynamics and learn three steps to shaping a bass line

The DVDs also feature backing tracks and drum grooves as an ongoing daily practice tool. The on screen animated graphics and camera close-ups mean that by working through the DVDs the student can learn as easily as with one to one lessons with the added advantage of being able to pause and repeat the lesson whenever they need to.

Songs used include Blessed Be Your Name, Everlasting God, Here I am to Worship, Hungry, Holy Holy, Hosanna and Beautiful One.

Go to our webstore to buy. US orders will be shipped from Texas, UK orders from our office in Chorleywood.

Ask the Expert
Formulating guitar chords using CAGED

Terry Foss from New Jersey wanted some advice on electric Guitar chord formations that can be used on almost any song.

Andy Chamberlain advises:

“When constructing electric guitar chord parts I tend to use a system called CAGED chords. Many classic electric guitar parts have been built using the CAGED system and by learning CAGED you should be able to play any chord at any position on any part of the neck. Here’s how it works, most players who use bar chords generally play them using E and A shape chords, e.g. an E shaped G chord is a familiar one at fret 3 and a Bm at fret 2 is based on an Am shape. But fewer play chords using C, G and D shapes in conjunction with the first finger barring across the strings. So practice playing a C chord using fingers 2,3 and 4, shifting it up two frets and then barring across with your first finger to make it a D chord. If your first finger bars to the 3rd fret it becomes an Eb, fret 5 is an F and so on. A similar thing works for D and G shapes. So a D chord played up two frets in conjunction with a bar becomes an E, up four frets is an F#, 5 is a G etc.

The great thing about CAGED chords is they are all sequential in the way they spell out the word CAGED. So for instance if one guitarist is playing a regular C chord and the second player wants a different voicing, the next position up the fretboard to play a C chord is the A shape, then the G shape, then the E shape and finally the D. This will visually help you explore all the voicing options you have available within a single chord. Once you’ve got to grips with CAGED you’ll find there are so many options for creating interesting electric guitar chord voicings just by learning how to use those 5 shapes. CAGED is quite a difficult concept to explain in a short article like this but we consider it such an important building block to expanding your guitar knowledge we go into it extensively in the Intermediate worship guitar DVDs.

Ask the Expert
 Working with musicians at different competency levels

Bev Brassington from Queensland Australia asked for advice on working with musicians at extremely different levels of compentency. 

Andy replies:

I was recently talking to a big time Nashville session musician who said the key to making great music as a team was to find a simple and tasteful part that primarily tries to fit in with the groove made by all the other instruments. The problem of a band’s dynamics is often not with the beginner musicians but actually with the hobbyists who know a few chops and try to shoehorn them into any arrangement, whether those parts work or not!

The key to getting musicians at any level to gel together is to get them to play rhythmically and simply with an emphasis on listening to each other and to play fewer notes in time rather than more notes out of time. So start with a basic groove with your drummer and get the other instruments to add their parts one at a time by fitting them in layer upon layer. Start with rhythm instruments like bass or the left hand of the keyboard. Then fit in a strumming pattern that works with the groove, then add textures, then vocals and lastly fit any lead instruments around the vocals without cutting across them. Remember for communal singing the key instrument that everyone needs to latch on to is the lead vocal line so if that randomly turns into a harmony or is disturbed by a flute part constantly trilling across it, it doesn’t serve the music or the worshippers in the best way. 

As musicians grow they should become more aware of their role in the team and the role of each player around them so even the more advanced players should seek to serve the team and song with simple, tasteful parts that fit in.

For the inexperienced players, encourage them to practice their parts well ahead and serve them as best you can by providing them with mp3s, sheet music, charts, basically as many tools that can help them learn the song well before they come to the team rehearsal. You may even want to go through it with them privately beforehand if you have time, which will also help you see how fast they are progressing. Also if they are really inexperienced they don’t have to play straight away or all the time. Often taking time out to look, listen and learn is more helpful than actually playing.

Ask the Expert
 How to harden up the finger tips for guitar playing


Rob Barton from Feltham in the UK asks:

“I’m learning to play guitar and have a problem keeping my fingertips hard as I go swimming etc which seems to soften them. Is it just to keep practicing? Any suggestions?”

We get lots of enquiries from beginner guitarists who are finding that their finger tips are very sore and that the muscles in their hand feel quite cramped from holding all those new chord shapes. Don’t worry as this is completely normal and the more you play the harder your finger tips will become but it does take a few months. Eventually activities like swimming won’t cause so much softening.

There are a number of professional guitarists who recommend different solutions to the sore finger problem. To be honest, I haven’t tried them myself so can’t guarantee them personally but you might like to have a go.

Some say to soak the fingers in a bowl of iced water for a minute or two after practising prevents blistering, likewise rubbing aloe will help the sore fingers. Various people recommend dabbing surgical spirit on the tips of your fingers which could help to harden the skin. If the nails keep breaking on your picking hand then try a cosmetic nail hardener. Rubbing olive oil into the cuticles also encourages healthy nail growth.

Lastly, if you do play an awful lot and your finger tips start to crack and bleed, there is one surprising solution. Its no mistake that superglue seems to stick skin together so readily – it was actually developed in the Vietnam war for sealing up wounds quickly – so many a professional player has used a dab of Superglue on the finger tips to keep the skin intact night after night. Stevie Ray Vaughn used to play so hard that rumour has it that in order to re-gain the pads on his fingers he would put a dab of glue on each tip , touch his fingers to the forearm until the glue had dried and then rip the hand away taking with it new temporary finger tip skin. Not to be recommended at all – but very rock!

Vocal athletics – caring for your voice

Laura Donohue, a Nashville-based professional singer and vocals coach to major label artists, Broadway stars and opera singers, has kindly agreed to contribute a guest article to the newsletter this month. Laura’s husband Chris appears on our new worship bass DVDs You can find out more about Laura at her website.

Singers are vocal athletes. Our bodies are our instruments and our vocal cords themselves are composed, in part, of muscle. What kind of athlete are you? A long-distance runner? A diver or figure skater? A rugby player, perhaps? Singers can learn a great deal from observing the lifestyle and disciplines of athletes. Every great athlete knows that how she lives, what she eats, how much sleep she gets, and how she trains greatly affects her performance. Can you imagine an Olympic gymnast stepping up to the uneven bars without a full night's sleep, adequate hydration, and a sufficient warm-up? I am constantly amazed at what singers expect from their bodies, and as it follows, their voices, without the proper preparation. Every singer, no matter what level, must know how to properly warm up and cool down his voice. Every singer needs to know how his speech affects his singing. Every singer needs to know how to care for his voice like an elite athlete cares for his body. Without proper care even the strongest voices will begin to suffer and many will experience vocal damage.  The greater the demands placed on the voice the more important it is that the singer understand his instrument and how to care for it.

Like the athlete, a singer's special lifestyle involves several components: 

  • Warm-ups and cool-downs, the "stretching" part of singing
  • Physical training in the form of vocal exercises
  • A lifestyle including healthy speech habits, nutrition, hydration, and rest

Of these three components I find the third is the most often over-looked. Very few singers know how dramatically their voices are affected by their lifestyle choices, from how much time they spend on their cell phones and how much caffeine they consume to the medications they take and the amount of sleep they get.

A frequent problem I encounter, particularly with established singers, is that they may sound fantastic on stage or in the studio but they know little about caring for their voices on a daily basis. And it is often the case that these are the singers that most need this information—they are subjected to exhausting tour schedules, long hours in the recording studio, radio interviews, meet-and-greets, and a number of other situations that all add up to a vocally taxing lifestyle. Understanding how all these factors affect one's voice and taking steps to counteract those effects is a huge part of the vocal athlete's "training".

If you are a singer and don't understand the importance of your training, you are at best weakening your performance and at worst running the risk of damaging your instrument. Our voices are irreplaceable and therefore priceless. Learning how to care for your voice will insure that it will always be strong and healthy. Take some time to evaluate your lifestyle and learn about how the daily choices you make affect your voice, in both positive and negative ways. While it can be overwhelming to attempt to make dramatic changes in your lifestyle, increasing your awareness of vocally harmful behavior is an important first step. Reducing those behaviors and implementing even a few positive changes can make a huge difference in the way you sing.

There are lots of hints and tips about vocal health and vocal exercises on the Musicademy Worship Vocals DVDs and you will find plenty of warm up exercises on our CDs as well.

Free tickets for Musicademy workshops at the Christian Resources Exhibition

Musicademy has been working with the UK’s Christian Resources Exhibition who are wanting to make their seminars as practical as possible. We will be at the Heart of England CRE in Telford on 21-23 February. As well as exhibiting in the resources area Marie, Andy and vocals tutor Gayle Bamberger will be running a number of training seminars and workshops.

Tickets are normally £5 on the door but you can order them free-of-charge through our website.

On the Saturday afternoon, we will be running a 2.5 hour workshop delivering practical training for the whole worship team. It will be packed with ideas to help your worship team play together more cohesively and improve their sound and skills. Suitable for the whole team, the workshop is in four parts:

  • Vocals training – improve your vocal skills and learn to communicate the meaning of the words by exploring how we sing.
  • Building the groove – a practical session on how to make your band sound together and improve their arrangements by deconstructing rhythm patterns (bring guitars if you like)
  • Tips and discussion on worship leading skills, musical communication, creating a unified team and maximizing the effectiveness of your sound checks and rehearsals
  • Worship team Q and A - bring your questions

Marie will be presenting a seminar on the Thursday looking at releasing creativity in church beyond musical worship. With the average attention span reducing at an alarming rate, traditional service formats can fail to capture the full attention of their congregation. Many churches are keen to integrate 21st century culture and media into their services to help their people fully engage and also reach out to the wider community. This seminar will demonstrate some low cost achievable ideas to fire your creativity considering innovative ways of exploring classic themes. We will also consider the issues that such a change raises.

On the Friday Marie will be presenting a training session to resource church administrators. The seminar will look at the various aspects of church administration exploring:

  • The main challenges administrators face including the dreaded task of managing the rota.
  • How to use technology to best accomplish tasks and communicate effectively
  • Time management techniques
  • Establishing boundaries and the art of delegation
  • Using project management tools and techniques to organise events and projects
  • The administrator in leadership Click through to our webstore to order your free tickets and exhibition brochure.

Competition Result

Steven McLellan, Worship Pastor at Berean Assembly of God in Iowa won last month’s competition. We’ll let you know what he thought of the downloads in due course.

Matthew Blake (pictured) from Houston won December’s competition. He reviewed two of the lessons for us:

“I've watched extensively the Pentatonic warm-up and the "How Great is Our God" instructional video over the past several weeks.  I decided that these two videos would have the most immediate impact on my playing abilities. 

The most appealing feature of these videos is that they allow you to work at your own pace.  This is important for those of us who unfortunately have day jobs that keep us away from playing as much as we would like.  I can bring up a session, spend 20 minutes doing a focused group of exercises, and not feel like it was time wasted.  When I first watched the pentatonic warm-up video, I'll admit I was very intimidated by the speed at which Andy was able to do these warm-ups.  However, the more time I've spent on them, the faster I've become as well.  I've now memorized the patterns discussed. Now it's just a question of producing consistent, quality sounds.  

I chose "How Great is Our God" for the slightly syncopated rhythm contained in the verse and chorus. Even though its 4/4 time, the words don't exactly fall on the beat. I've played this live, before a worship audience, and felt my strumming could have been better. Fortunately, the audience was very familiar with the song, and the group singing provided the beat that kept us moving. You can imagine how excited I was to see Andy discuss the technique of strumming to simulate a "bass and kick snare" beat. This was exactly what I was looking for.  I'll be doing this song again live and I can't wait to use these new techniques.

These videos and lessons provide a quality toolkit to build better musicianship. I can't tell you how much of a fan of these videos and lessons I am.”

Win Five Free Song Learner Downloads

We really like to know what you think of our newsletter and the Musicademy products so please take a couple of minutes to answer these questions and e-mail them to us. One respondent will win five free song learner downloads and we’ll let you know what they think of them in the next issue.

  1. What did you think of this newsletter?
  2. Which articles did you particularly enjoy?
  3. Any questions for our “Ask the Expert” feature?
  4. Any suggestions for content that you would like to read in the future?
  5. Any suggestions for websites we could recommend people?
  6. Have you bought a Musicademy product or downloaded a lesson and what did you think of it?

Please e-mail your responses to enter the draw!

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