Thinking of Leading with an Electric Guitar?

Posted by AllAboutWorship on Jan 15th, 2010 in training, videos, worship leading, Worship Leading Tools | 8 comments

We have received questions from some of our listeners on how to lead with an electric guitar vs. an acoustic guitar. Since neither Wisdom or Ben lead “plugged in”, we asked Troy Kennedy if he wouldn’t mind sharing with you all his set up and any advice he might have for a leader making that transition. HUGE thanks to Troy for taking time to share with us. (BTW: Troy will be at the upcoming AllAboutWorship retreat) Check the video below for a great rig walk thru with Troy then scroll below for a detailed list of his set up:

The best thing I can say is to keep it very simple, especially at first. It can be very distracting if you have too many elements to juggle while you are leading. Some guys should never get too deep into this stuff. It can be a hole in the ground in which to pour money. So only pursue this stuff if you need to, it is fun for you and it doesn’t derail you as a lead worshiper. Consider yourself warned! (Actually, it is a lot of fun in an OCD kind of way for me.)

Start off with a Telecaster and a good low powered amp like a Vox AC15 or Fender Deluxe Reverb (Either the Hot Rod or the Reissue. I like the reissue.) Even with those amps, it is unlikely you will get the amp loud enough in your church for it to be breaking up on it’s own. You will need pedals for any kind of overdrive or distortion.

Also, the digital modeling route is a great, cost effective way to go. Can sound great if you spend time dialing it in. For most churches, may be the best way to go. The Line6 X3 Live would be my recommendation. Plus, you can download artist patches online from guys like Lincoln Brewster who have it very dialed in. Great for all levels of players and the price is right!

The options are endless but here are a few ideas. Remember it can get expensive very fast. Keep it simple and take your time developing your rig. Don’t add to it until you are very comfortable with your basic setup

Basic entry level, inexpensive setup:
Telecaster
Vox AC15 or Fender Deluxe
Line6 M9 for effects (distortions, delays etc..)
(or bag it all and get the X3 Live!)

Mid Level:
Strat or Les Paul type guitar
Vox AC30, Fender Twin, Marshall (these are LOUD amps)
Line6 M13 (more effects options)
Fulltone Fulldrive 2 Overdrive or some tube screamer variant
Ratt Distortion, and some kind of Fuzz. Zvex (Only buy these kind pedals if you don’t like the distortions/OD’s in the M13. Most people will never exhaust the possibilities of the M13)
Volume pedal.

High End:
Boutique guitars like Suhr, Anderson, Tyler, Fender Custom Shop.
Effects: Either the M13 or the Fractal Audio Axe FX. There are a TON of great pedal makers out there.
I like Suhr amps for their flexibility, quality and amazing sound. EIther the Badger 18, Badger 30 or PT50/100. The Badger amps incorporate something called power scaling that allows you to get power amp break up at low volumes. VERY COOL! Also a hand wired AC30 is really nice.

This is my rig (right now):
Guitars- Suhr S1, Suhr M2, Anderson Atom – elixir strings and cable.
Effects – M13, Lovepedal Eternity, Suhr Koko Boost, Radial amp switcher.
Amps – Suhr Badger 18 through open back 2×12 with a blue and H30. Suhr PT50 (3 channels) through 2×12 closed back with Scumback M75′s (better versions of a celestion greenback to my ears.)

warning! – I play my amps at very high volumes because we keep the cab’s in iso boxes backstage. Otherwise, I would stick to the Badger, power scaled amps or a direct rig like the Line6 X3Live or Fractal AxeFX. Most popular amps like the Ac30 are just too loud for church applications without a tone of baffling.

-Troy

No related posts.

http://missionwaychurch.org robertgover

I have been leading from electric lately and we have been battling the stage volume issue between the drums and the 2 amps for the electric guitars. Love the Isolation Cabinets in the back. We meet at a high school, but I think we may have to figure a way to build our own isolation cabinets. Not only do we have the amps competing, but we use 4 floor monitors for the band. We really need to get a Cat5 so we can do in-ears and setup the cabinets, that would help us out. This was a very helpful post. Thanks for sharing!

RG
http://missionwaychurch.org robertgover

I have been leading from electric lately and we have been battling the stage volume issue between the drums and the 2 amps for the electric guitars. Love the Isolation Cabinets in the back. We meet at a high school, but I think we may have to figure a way to build our own isolation cabinets. Not only do we have the amps competing, but we use 4 floor monitors for the band. We really need to get a Cat5 so we can do in-ears and setup the cabinets, that would help us out. This was a very helpful post. Thanks for sharing!

RG
http://newworship.com Troy Kennedy

Someone asked how I approach actually “playing” electric while leading worship. Here is a brief response:

We work hard with our arrangements so that everyone is clear on their part. One of our mantra’s is “play the part, not the chords.” Sometimes the appropriate part on electric amounts to “cowboy chord” sometimes not.

Since I am singing and leading the church most of the time, I try to play parts that don’t require me looking at my hands too much. That is kind of a disconnect as a leader. So, depending on the song, I will try to come up with parts that are more or less stationary on the fret board. For example, on “All Because of Jesus” I play the dotted eighth delay rhythm parts from the 5th to 7th frets on a good portion of the song occasionally jumping down to first position for heavier parts mixing the delay in and out via expression pedal. The other guitar will play the moving melodic parts and other parts up around the 12th fret.

On Michael Gungor’s “Never Stop” I play the heavier melodic hook on the intro and turn arounds, layout out in the verses, and play the heavy chords from 1st to 7th frets on the chorus. In the bridge, since I’m not singing in the instrumental bit, I will jump up and drop in some Police-ish delayed parts.

Very often, I wil have one of the other singers leading a song or 2 in the set, which will cut me loose a bit as a player. I wil drop in and out vocally as the song and the worship environment requires.

It all really depends on the song and being very conscious of what everyone in the band is doing while not letting the guitar take too much focus away from my primary job as lead worshiper.

Is that helpful?
http://newworship.com Troy Kennedy

Someone asked how I approach actually “playing” electric while leading worship. Here is a brief response:

We work hard with our arrangements so that everyone is clear on their part. One of our mantra’s is “play the part, not the chords.” Sometimes the appropriate part on electric amounts to “cowboy chord” sometimes not.

Since I am singing and leading the church most of the time, I try to play parts that don’t require me looking at my hands too much. That is kind of a disconnect as a leader. So, depending on the song, I will try to come up with parts that are more or less stationary on the fret board. For example, on “All Because of Jesus” I play the dotted eighth delay rhythm parts from the 5th to 7th frets on a good portion of the song occasionally jumping down to first position for heavier parts mixing the delay in and out via expression pedal. The other guitar will play the moving melodic parts and other parts up around the 12th fret.

On Michael Gungor’s “Never Stop” I play the heavier melodic hook on the intro and turn arounds, layout out in the verses, and play the heavy chords from 1st to 7th frets on the chorus. In the bridge, since I’m not singing in the instrumental bit, I will jump up and drop in some Police-ish delayed parts.

Very often, I wil have one of the other singers leading a song or 2 in the set, which will cut me loose a bit as a player. I wil drop in and out vocally as the song and the worship environment requires.

It all really depends on the song and being very conscious of what everyone in the band is doing while not letting the guitar take too much focus away from my primary job as lead worshiper.

Is that helpful?
http://electricguitars12.blogspot.com/ Electric Guitars

These are great suggestions. My brother has a rig that’s very similar to yours haha.
http://electricguitars12.blogspot.com/ Electric Guitars

These are great suggestions. My brother has a rig that’s very similar to yours haha.
http://www.flashingbeacon.net Flashing Beacon

i prefer transistorized power amplifiers over those tube amps. tube amps are not energy efficient ang generates lotsa heat:::
http://www.flashingbeacon.net Flashing Beacon

i prefer transistorized power amplifiers over those tube amps. tube amps are not energy efficient ang generates lotsa heat:::

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