I had one of those funny moments in worship today. (First let me say on the spirit side it was great. The spirit was really tangible and the people were responding.) By funny I mean I broke a guitar string in rehearsal. That's usually a bad omen, (not really but that is funny to say.) So I break a string, and I have time to change it out before we start, no biggie.
We start the service and a few songs into our set, "kurplunk" there goes another string. It could not have happened on a worse song either. We're ending this Paul Baloche song "Because of Your Love" and going into this really technical Israel and New Breed tune "Again I Say Rejoice." So I quickly pull off my guitar and go for my back up. (I usually forget to have a back up, stupid I know, but someone pulled the other guitar out for me.) I'm starting the next song and realize, “Wow, this guitar is really out of tune. I've got to stop and tune it." All of this is happening inside my head in front of 900 people. Luckily most people are oblivious to my minor annoyance. So I finally get the ole girl tuned up just in time to step back up to the mic. I promptly missed the turn around for the verse to the chorus. I sang to early. I don't know why but stuff like guitar trouble really turns me into an idiot. I know we all make mistakes but I get paid to do this for a living and make it a personal goal to not screw up.
This blog is full of rambling and bad sentences I know but here's the point. I wanted to give all the worship folks some tips on how to avoid my mistakes from today.
1. Have two guitars
2. Make sure they are tuned
3. If you break a string and do not have another guitar, do not keep playing. Stop and tune.
Why you ask? Guitars tune by tension. If one string breaks then every string loses its balance. You have to get that guitar back in tune as a whole to finish up on the lame duck five stringer.
4. Have a tuner close (preferably on the floor in front of you.) That way you can still sing and tune at the same time. TIP: BUY A BOSS TU-2 STAGE TUNER! They are silent when turned on, easy to see, and it is a stomp box that can be turned on and off with your foot. It keeps your hands free.
5. Pull the mic stand down a few inches. That way you can look down and see the tuner and still be singing.
Once you are in tune pull the mic back up and rock on. Remember it's our job as worship leaders to eliminate distractions in worship and not be one ourselves. Doing these things a lot of times will even keep people from knowing that it even happened. I guarantee you some people in that service today completely missed all the chaos. For a good worship leader, it is all about knowing what to do in those situations.
One more tip, if this happens to you it's also a good idea if need be, to end that song and just have the church greet one another or tell them to say something encouraging to their neighbor. This can buy you some time to make corrections or get in tune.
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