I’ve led worship for over 10 years now and have always done so with my trusty acoustic by my side. Lately though, I’ve really been wanting to lead with an electric. Already some of you guys are thinking, “just do it already and stop crying about it.” But it’s not so black and white for me for two reasons: 1) To be honest I suck at the electric (at least I think so) and 2) it would be a huge step out of my comfort zone to lead with something I feel I suck at. So I have a question for all of you worship leaders out there… How do you roll? Electric or acoustic? Why?
Please share your wisdom with me.
Hi Victor,
I have four different worship teams (one for each weekend in a month, and they play all three services on a weekend) plus our African worship team, and so the first major factor to consider when I am deciding whether to lead from electric or acoustic depends on which team I am leading - are they depending on my acoustic to glue them all together?
The second factor is about the material I am using and the feel or atmosphere of the service. For us in a multi denominational setting, most of the time the acoustic guitar just fits the mood better, but I really love leading from my electric and so I’ll use it every six weeks or so I think.
Well, I haven’t done this for a while, but i need to…maybe you’ve inspired me to start next week:
I like the idea of having both of them set up. Then I can lead with electric when I wanna rock a bit, but I can switch over to acoustic when I want to transition to some mellower feel of songs.
I’m like you. I really, really suck at electric so I’ve always used an acoustic. It allows me to keep a lot of control: how the music feels, the mood, tempo, volume, etc.
I agree with Mark that it really depends on your team. But to add to what he said, a question you might want to ask is “Am I ready to trust and let go?”
My pastor was kind enough to let me lead worship in small group 1 month after I started. Even though I was horrible (and we played GCDEm songs often) it was something I treasured. Never since have I felt as humbled and yearning for the Spirit to take over and minister to people. I love that sense of being overwhelmed (like David vs. Goliath).
I roll with a Yamaha P250.
Oh wait. You play a guitar. Sorry…
I love to lead with electric guitar. I love the sustain that helps me focus more on my vocals and arrangements - which I need to do.
Plus, I WANNA ROCK!
I usually like to lead with my acoustic. I am an electric guitarist first but for me if I am holding my favorite electric ax I will often try to hit the lead licks…and to be honest I can’t sing and hit the licks in an ‘efficient’ manner. Maybe with some practice I could. I think if you can do both go for it!
To me I like the acoustic because it gives me only one thing to concentrate on…no pedals…no delays…no wah…it’s just a simpler setting and helps me focus on leading. Additionally I feel like I can control more of the dynamics of the slower songs with the acoustic in hand. I suppose if you are somewhat comfortable with the electric do it. It’s always good to move in and out of your comfort zone…it will keep you sharp. Keep us posted.
I usually set up both. Start with the electric and end up on the acoustic.
When I am playing electric, it’s still basically the rhythm part, just on the electric. I don’t play a bunch of wailing solos - cause I suck at that.
I have both set up most Sundays. I’m not really a lead guitar player, but I have been working on that. Our opening song yesterday was Let The Praise Ring, I played my electric on that and was able to sing.
I would say that for me it’s like 75% of the time I am on acoustic. I agree with Billy, no pedals, etc makes it easier to concentrate on all the other aspects of leading.
Good luck, the more you do it the better you will become at it.
I usually roll with my acoustics. But every once in awhile I lead with my electric guitar. Most of the time it depends on the songs we are playing or the band we have.
Hey everyone, thanks for all of your input on this. It’s encouraging to hear that I’m not alone on the acoustic thing. I love hearing from all of you too. It makes this less of a blog and more of a community and thats the way it should be.
Yeah, I’ll echo your worries with you and lend some support. I actually sold my electric rig a couple years back b/c I felt I sucked that bad at it and have been playing strictly acoustic ever since. Just recently though I’ve been hearing the lacking ‘crunch’ and I started leading Youth Services and wanted the electric vibe.
So about 4 months ago I started working on it. To break it in as well, I’d have at least a song or 2 that I could use electric on and then go back to the acoustic. I love it now! It doesn’t work every week but I love playing it, I have some confidence, it changes the service up b/w having 2 electrics and then an electric and acoustic, etc. I think it’s great. Have fun with it and try it out.
I generally lead from my Gibson Les Paul Standard (DC Standard ‘98 Reissue) for a few reasons… 1.) It’s a sweet guitar. 2.) My acoustic is a $200 Mitchell with a $50 after market pickup and while it sounds actually pretty good for what it is… it’s still a Mitchell. 3.) I lead for the younger generation. They wanna Rock, I like to teach them how to Rock and Worship at the same time.
And I do ZERO solos and very very few Lead Licks with the exception of intros and outros.
But, stretch yourself, try a song here or there and see what it turns into. I think you will find it’s nice to be able to do both.
I lead with my acoustic most times, but i also have a parkerfly which you can make sound like an acoustic… So i say go buy an electric with piezo pickups