New series – Thoughts on church and worship, discipleship and more

By Marie@Musicademy | February 5, 2009

Given the recent discussion on our post “Bored of contemporary worship” we wanted to start adding some posts that help us examine our theology in relation to worship and church. Musicademy’s approach to DVD training has always been essentially practical and we want to bring some of that practicality to the discussion on worship theology. […]

Ask the Expert – recommended guitar strings

By Andy@Musicademy |

Tony Sackville asked what strings I use on my McPherson. It came with light gauge Elixirs (point 12 to point 53) which I really liked. Elixirs are coated with some kind of magic coating to make them last longer. According to their sales blurb: “They feature polyweb coating, a unique high technology polymer that provides increased […]

Buyers Guide – small, classy acoustic guitars

By Andy@Musicademy | February 2, 2009

This is the third post in my revisited series on buying acoustic guitars. It was written in response to a lady based in the UK so the recommendations for shops are UK based but in the US you can obviously try Guitar Centre as well as lots of boutique shops: “I have very small hands and […]

Buyers Guide – good acoustic guitars

By Andy@Musicademy |

In response to a question by Paula, I thought it would be helpful to re-work a couple of posts I wrote a while back. This one was written in reponse to someone who wanted to buy a decent acoustic guitar. These days with Far East production methods getting better and better, you can buy a quality instrument far more […]

Free MP3 – Angel Wave ambient instrumental track

By Sam Hargreaves | January 29, 2009

[Audio clip: view full post to listen] This ambient instrumental track, brought to you free courtesy of EngageWorship, could be used in all sorts of contexts – as background music for prayer stations, as the soundtrack to a video, accompanied by PowerPoint for meditation. It is 6.06 mins long, and features a relaxed trip hop […]

Free Video Lesson – 10 things to do with chords on a keyboard

By Tim Martin | January 27, 2009

Here is a free clip from our Intermediate Worship Keyboard Course. Tim Martin gives 10 ideas to make chords-based playing more interesting. There are six hours of great instruction like this on the full 3-DVD course. Volume 1 starts with some simple lessons explaining how to move from traditional to chords-based playing; it then shows […]

Bored with contemporary worship?

By Sam Hargreaves | January 26, 2009

We don’t want to say it. It sounds like we’re consumers, wanting more entertainment, and we know that’s not the problem. Worse, it might sound like we’re tired of God – when we know we’ve only just scratched the surface of the infinitely creative, dynamically relational being he is.

Ask the Expert – getting a cello sound from a bass guitar

By Andy@Musicademy | January 22, 2009

Tiffany Reynolds asked this fascinating question: “I know this is going to sound weird but I’m serious. I play bass but sometimes you want the bowed sound of a cello or an upright bass during quiet passages of a song. I want to take up cello but sometimes you can’t switch back and forth … […]