Guitar Hymns Home
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Playing with Others Playing Hymns On Leading Worship Worship Planning
Figuring out chords
Notes on playing hymns with guitar and on leading worship music:
Format
All hymns are chorded using a mono-spaced font and should look right in any other mono-spaced font (like courier new). Only spaces (no tabs) are used between the chords.
I did my best to line up hymn verses "in-line" with the chords. I found it too hard to read the chords from one verse and jump back and forth to other verses down the page. It was especially difficult in hymns that have a lot of chord changes. While the words look widely spaced, in some cases, I have found it a much easier way to play them in worship settings.
I always set the chord name over the first letter of the syllable. This works best for me as a visual que for when the chord change comes. Here's an example:
G D C Bm Em D G Praise God, from whom all bles-sings flow;
Sometimes there's a chord change over one syllable. When that happens I extend the syllable with dashes without spaces between them. I could look sort of like this:
Dsus4 D Dsus4 G A-----a--a - men
You can print from your browser, or save the file to your hard drive. I suggest that after you find the hymn you want, select the text with your mouse (or any other way you want) and copy/paste it into any text editor including Notepad, WordPad, MSWord or WordPerfect (which I use). As an alternative, after selecting the text hit CTRL-P and at the print dialog box select "Print selected text" (a pretty cool tip for printing other stuff in the net, BTW).
ASCII Chords
Go to the full ASCII Chord Chart (It's big: about 81K)
Many ways have been found to describe how to write chord fingerings. Books for beginners can show both finger positions and the fingers one should use to make the chord. For example G might be shown like this:
0 0 0 or 0 0 0
G ___________ G ___________
| | | | | | | | | | | |
----------- -----------
| 1 | | | | | 2 | | | |
----------- -----------
2 | | | | 3 3 | | | | 4
----------- -----------
It really doesn't matter which fingers you use to hold down the strings. So for those who have moved beyond being a beginner, that information isn't necessary. Somewhere along the lines chords began to be written left to right on one line of text. Nearly always the lowest string (the 6th or "E" string) is on the left, followed by the 5th(A), 4th(D), 3rd(G), 2nd(B) and 1st(e). So the above chord can simply be written like this:
G 320003This means the chord is formed by holding down the 6th string on the 3rd fret, the 5th string on the 2nd fret, the 1st string on the 3rd frett and leaving the other strings open, sounding all the strings.
Sometimes a string should not be played. For instance you probably play B7 this way:
B7 X21201In this case the 6th(E) string is not played and that is shown by the "X."
Voicings
Find some voicings in the full ASCII Chord Chart (It's big: about 81K)
You don't have to play guitar long before you find out that there is often more than one way to play a chord. Not only are there different fingerings for the same way to play "G" (as above), there are also different ways to play the "G" chord. The above examples of two fingerings for "G" DO NOT represent different chord voicings. They are simply different fingerings. Here are some examples of different chord voicings for "G"
G 320003 G 320033 G XX0033 G 355433 G X55433 G 3554XXWhy talk about voicings? Sometimes a particular voicing is given because it is easier to move from the previous chord to that voicing, or from that voicing to the following chord. More often voicings are given because they add a different flavor to the chord. Try the different voicings of the G chord above and you'll hear what I mean.
Hymn Conventions
Hymns are unique in the way they are referenced. To find a hymn isn't as simple as finding a piece of Contemporary Christian Music. That's because hymns are old, have been revised in both lyrics and music, and sometimes lyrics and tunes mixed and matched. Without getting into a lot of detail, I've set this site up to enable you to search for hymns directly or by the name of the tune. Let me explain why we need to do this.
Take a an old hymn standandard, let's say: "O for a Thousand Tongues." If you look up this hymn in any typical hymn book you'll find some information that might look puzzling at first. It will look something like this:
O FOR A THOUSAND TONGUES
AZMON
Charles Wesley Carl G. Gläser
Arr. by Lowell Mason
(Note: This is probably set up a little different from your hymn book. I have 4 open to this hymn right now and none of them are set up the same!)
In this case, the hymn pages are set up to tell you that Charles Wesley authored the lyrics, that Carl G. Gläser composed the music, that the name of the music Gläser composed is "Azmon," and that Lowell Mason arranged the version of that tune present in the hymnbook.
Lyrics
Lyrics and the number of verses can vary from hymn book to hymn book. Always check with the hymn book you use before asking others to sing along with you.
Playing with Others
Although keyboardists who play by chords are encouraged to try these hymns out too, they hymns are chorded to play on guitar. Often this means I transposed from the key a hymn might normally be played in to a key that's easier to play on a guitar. I usually transposed down, so capoing up is an option. Always check key signatures and consider using a capo before playing with someone who uses sheet music or hymn books.
There are also variations in the way some harmonies are written. If you plan to accompany someone playing from sheet music or a hymn book, practice ahead of time to make sure the chords sound good together.
Playing Hymns
Many hymns are difficult to play on guitar (at least to play well)! I've put in some chord changes that, if you drop them, most folks won't notice. I like them this way (obviously), and find the challenge stimulating, but feel free to adapt them to fit your style, ability and situation. If you're playing with others, you'll have to adapt to their ability level(s) too. Do what you can do best together.
Hymns can often be "contemporized" by simply using a different strumming pattern. Experiment when using hymns in contemporary and/or blended worship settings. Also experiment with tempo. Fast doesn't always sound more contemporary. Whatever you do, keep the mood of the music in harmony with the lyrics! Please!
It sometimes sounds best to simply use one strum per chord. Don't be afraid to try it sometimes!
The use of effects (distortion, chorus, reverb, delay) can be effective when used well, and terrible when used just to play with the effects. Adjust your effects in the worship space. Most churches have a lot more natural reverb than a bedroom or garage. You don't want all your practice to sound like mud do you?
Remember, don't distract them with your new effects processor. Use effects sparingly and only when it improves the worship experience for those you're leading.
On Leading Worship
Don't just lead others in worship, be the (or a) "lead worshiper" when you're playing. That's right, worship while you're leading others in worship. We are to worship with our heart, soul, mind, and strength. By "strength" we have to include with our guitar playing and singing. As the lead worshiper, lead where others can follow. Draw others into your worship, as you follow the Spirit's lead. But remember, not everyone will find your reggae version of Blest Be the Tie That Binds edifying. Worship is the last place any of us really want turn into a place of church conflict.
Here's a tip: thank people when they try something new. Don't expect folks to get right away what it took you hours to work up. You heard something, listened to it again, tried it listened one more time, tried it, practiced it and ran through it again before the service started. For most of the folks out there the first time you play it will be the first time they hear it. Don't expect them all to be as musical as you, and certainly not more musical!
When you want to do a new hymn, or a hymn to a new tune, or a hymn with new version of a familiar tune, give people permission to worship by listening. Or ask them all to just listen on the first verse and join in as they are comfortable on the second or third. Remember this is worship, not music lessons!
Finally, a few guidelines for Worship Planning:
- Always follow something new with something familiar.
- Never expect folks to sing more than one new song/hymn in a service.
- Don't talk too much about the hymns, or between them. (We don't need the story of how Amazing Grace was written each time, or why it was your Aunt Betsy's favorite.)
- Try not to segue down (from the key of E to D, for example), or from a major key to its relative minor (like from G to Em). It doesn't sound good. If you're going to use two songs in a row that do either of these. Stop the music between them for a second or two (at least). Say something brief, like "Let's praise our Rock of Ages" as an intro to Rock of Ages. Then jump right in without apology.
- Think about what comes before and what follows. Does the song/hymn precede or follow a time of prayer? the offering? a time of confession/repentance? the message (what's it's theme!?)?
- Remember that God's Spirit works to help us plan, not only in the spontaneity of Sunday morning! Pray about your planning and consider worship planning as holy a thing as worship itself.
- To worship is to focus on God, not on the music. Let music be the lens that focuses us on Him. Don't ever forget where the lens is supposed to be pointing (hint: it's not suppose to point to the guitarist or worship leader!).
Figuring out chords
About how to find chords with just a musical score:
There's no substitute for knowing the chords that we most frequently find in a given key. Basically if we know the key, give it the Roman Numeral I. Go up the scale assigning Roman Numerals to all the notes of the scale. There will be corresponding chords for each note. The most common are listed here.
For major keys:
I and IV will be major chords.
V will usually be a 7th chord (sometimes called the "dominant chord")
VI will be a minor chord (sometimes called the relative minor)
For minor keys:
I and IV will be minor chords.
V will usually be a (major or minor) 7th chord (sometimes called the "dominant chord")
III will be a major chord (sometimes called the relative major)
At any point a song in a major key, consider chords from that key's relative minor (and vice versa!).
For instance, in the key of F (one flat), the main chords for most music are F, Bb, C7 (or
C), and Dm. (With one flat, it could also be in the key of Dm: Dm, Gm, Am
(or Am7, or A7). That's a place to start, but often hymns have a more
complex chord structure than that. So it's figure it out time.
I usually start by looking at the bass line (lowest notes in the F cleff).
In many hymns the bass note *is* the chord name (unless it's minor or 7th,
etc.). But that isn't always enough (although sometimes it is!).
From there it's just a matter of breaking down the notes.
The Big ASCII Chord Chart includes the note values for each chord listed. For instance, F (major) has these notes: F A C. And Dm has: D F A. This can also be a helpful way of figuring out a chord, if you don't mind searching the list. Note that sometimes the F chord won't have "F" as the lowest note. If the lowest note in the chord is "C" then the chord can be written F/C.
Sometimes the bass notes move outside the chord usually between chords. For
example, if you were playing "F" and the next chord where "Am" there could
be a passing note between the two moving from F to A and the note there
might be an "E" in that case the chord would be F/E. Figuring out whether
the chord is F/E or something else can be a bit tricky at times since the
notes E A and C is also the notes in the Am chord (A C E), and FM7 (F Major
7th) is F A C E. At that point you're just stuck with the good old: "What
sounds better."
Most often it's not that complicated and the more I do, the easier it gets.
There's no substitute for knowing some theory and knowing the major and
minor scales (so you understand the notes' relationship to each other).
Basically recognizing 1-3-5 is good and knowing where that 7th is helps too.
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Playing with Others Playing Hymns On Leading Worship Worship Planning
Figuring out chords
