Ask the expert Archives

Ask the Expert – Advice for guitarists with small hands

By Andy@Musicademy | August 9, 2019

Julie Fox from Cambridgeshire in the UK asks: “Thanks for a great site. I have been playing the guitar on and off for the last 30 years, but I find so many of the chords really hard to play because I have small hands. No amount of stretching for instance gets me to play a proper […]

Ask the Expert – our new (young) drummer gets a bit carried away

By Andy@Musicademy | July 31, 2019

Richard from Weymouth in the UK emailed asking for some advice: “We have a Church family with a 15 year old who is learning drums at School and has taken a couple of percussion exams… . He has just started to play in Church with a set of Premier Resonators that my son used to […]

Coaching classical singers to sing in a contemporary style

By Chris Steynor | September 17, 2018

A singer in your congregation has a passion for worship, and has approached you about joining your music team. You have a heart to use people’s gifts, and this person is clearly well-trained musically, has a genuine faith, and is keen to serve. But it soon becomes clear that their singing style is very ‘classical’ […]

How to transition from traditional to contemporary worship

By Marie@Musicademy | September 2, 2018

In an era where many congregations are facing dwindling numbers many churches are turning to a more contemporary approach to attract and retain people. They see the success that churches such as Hillsong and Bethel enjoy with rock concert style music and seek to bring at least some of that style to their local setting. […]

Ask the Expert: Is it possible to receive too much direction from your Church Leadership?

By admin | September 6, 2017

Worship and worship leading are often considered to be ‘high profile’ ministries by virtue of their ‘front and centre’ position in church meetings. Musicians/worship leaders should reasonably expect to be held to high standards, and receive a certain amount of direction & input from the church leadership when it comes to the delivery of […]

How can two chord charts be so different for the very same song?

By Andy@Musicademy | April 6, 2016

We recently had a customer pose a very good question. They’d been looking at the song ‘How He Loves’ and had a number of different chord charts for it, some aimed at guitar and some aimed at piano. Some were from official paid-for channels, others were freebies comped off the internet. The thing was, although […]

Ask the Tech Expert: How to stop our old speakers picking up the signal from our hearing loop?

By admin | February 29, 2016

Hearing loop problem Neil Coode from Cranleigh in the UK asked us for help with a T-Loop problem. He says: “We have a rather nice hearing loop installed in our church. We also use one or two (depending on band) older wedge speakers for foldback. Unfortunately the wedges pick up signal from the hearing loop […]

Ask the Tech Expert: 5 tips for avoiding feedback and 2 things not to do

By Guest Blogger | February 8, 2016

We ran an open question on the website and Facebook recently inviting you to submit your questions in relation to common problems with church sound for the crack team at SFL Group to solve. Rowland Elliot asked about a situation in which he encountered “a very loud screech” every time he turned one of his […]

Ask the Expert: Best recording mic (in a noisy room)

By admin | January 26, 2016

We had a slightly strange “Ask the Expert” email from Mike Barco which our friends at SFL Group have done their best to answer. “I’m trying to capture the best recording on a quite creaky floor noise coming through the wall… Which microphone is best for this?” Now we’re not too sure if Mike is […]

Ask the Expert: Can we keep everyone happy by putting a contemporary keyboard in a wooden cabinet?

By Marie@Musicademy | January 22, 2016

We received a fascinating email from Liz from South Ruislip, UK who had been to one of our training days and had asked for advice on what keyboard to purchase for her church. We’d suggested the Roland RD800 which their Leadership Team agreed to. However, the proposed move to a more contemporary instrument has not pleased everyone. […]