Playing in Church

OK, I play my uke (Epiphone "Less" Paul ) in church on Sunday mornings as part of our semi-contemporary praise and worship band. Is anybody else out there doing this? If so, we should put our heads together on the challenges and joys of playing "church music" on the ukulele. Maybe I'm the only one (on the mainland) that is doing this - but I doubt it.

I would like to know how big this demographic is?

I know that a friend of my 10 year old that I taught to play, plays at her church sometimes but is not a regular in the band "YET".

John...Oldphart plays...Hopefully he chimes in.

A sort of related question: how large of a hall can you have and get away with not using amplification? I think we have room for 100-150 or so (not very large).

nongdam said:

John...Oldphart plays...Hopefully he chimes in.

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Most of the time I'm on bass. I've only had the opportunity to play uke in church a handful of times - about half in my church and half with a friend's church in MO when I'm visiting up there.

I did lead the worship service in our church on my Pono baritone a few weeks ago when our worship pastor was out of town. The adults were puzzled but all the kids knew what it was. That time was kind of flying solo because half the band was out sick so I did an acoustic set. I also lead once on my mango tenor with the full band but I had two guys on electric guitars backing me up, and I've done a special or two during the holidays on my tenor.

Returning from UWC in 2011 I spent a week with my friend in MO and he asked me to sit in with their worship band. I took the mango tenor with the MiSi and my little Danelectro "Nifty Fifty" amp that I've converted to run on gel-cells. I got a lot of snickers at first, but after the service their pastor (who also led worship, it's a small church) asked if I was going to be around a while 'cause he wanted me in the band permanently. It's not that I'm that good, it's just that they were a very "mid heavy" band with drums, bass, two acoustic guitars and my buddy's electric guitar. They didn't have a keyboard player at the time. When you don't have a keyboard player the uke can really get up there and shine and sparkle in the higher register.

Edit: Oh, and to the original poster's point. Finding the right spot for the ukulele in any band can be a challenge regardless of the type of music. If you just double the guitars they will bury you. If you've got a rhythm-heavy band, playing rhythm on the uke will be buried. The best thing to do is talk to the band leader, explain what the uke can do (or what you can do on it) and then ask what role he or she would like you to fill. As I mentioned above, if you don't have a keyboard or any horns, the uke can really shine in those upper registers that are often missing in a "guitar band." The humble, "what would you like me to do" approach opens a lot of doors.

John

bnolsen said:

A sort of related question: how large of a hall can you have and get away with not using amplification? I think we have room for 100-150 or so (not very large).

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It depends on the acoustics. I've played in rooms of that capacity where we've definitely needed PA. In a village hall we've played in a few times, if we play from the floor of the room we can manage fine purely acoustic but if we play on the stage (which we need to do for dancing) we definitely need PA.

bnolsen said:

A sort of related question: how large of a hall can you have and get away with not using amplification? I think we have room for 100-150 or so (not very large).

Click to expand...

You will need some form of amplification at that size unless you are playing solo to a very quiet, respectful audience. You don't need a ton of power, but you'll need to be mic'd in the PA or have a small amp.

John

I agree that you really need amplification. I am trying to make a decision right now about whether to buy a new amp to take on a missions trip. I have no idea what it is going to be like when I get there. I hope we will have electricity, but I am not sure.

I have also lead worship with the uke, OldePhart. I was surprised that it was well received. It's usually me, one guitarist, one bassist, keyboard, and assorted vocalists. Our guitarist was out and they asked me to play anyway. It was nice that they thought well enough of my playing to have me lead worship.

Anyway, it is interesting and fun. Lots of challenges, but I love it.

Definitely intend to do this if the opportunity presents itself.

OldePhart said:

Edit: Oh, and to the original poster's point. Finding the right spot for the ukulele in any band can be a challenge regardless of the type of music. If you just double the guitars they will bury you. If you've got a rhythm-heavy band, playing rhythm on the uke will be buried. The best thing to do is talk to the band leader, explain what the uke can do (or what you can do on it) and then ask what role he or she would like you to fill. As I mentioned above, if you don't have a keyboard or any horns, the uke can really shine in those upper registers that are often missing in a "guitar band." The humble, "what would you like me to do" approach opens a lot of doors.

John

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Could you give more info about what you do that isn't doubling the guitar? I have played a few times with guitarists and I'm at a loss what to do.

I play the uke a lot (solo) to the 3 and 4 year olds in our preschool program. They love it and sing along joyously.

One new boy was very quiet, said literally nothing the first two weeks. When I got my tiny sopranino uke out his eyes literally got wide and he said, "I WANT that!"

Older kids (six to ten) like to sing along to a uke as well but I specialize in the little ones.

Pondoro said:

Could you give more info about what you do that isn't doubling the guitar? I have played a few times with guitarists and I'm at a loss what to do.

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Most of the time if you play second position chords on the uke you'll be above most guitar players - at least most acoustic guitar players. That lets you get a real acoustic sound that is up where you normally only have the lead guitarist with his overdriven sustain stuff.

On quieter songs you can arpeggiate (pattern pick) up there for a little atmosphere.

The key though, is not to be obnoxious with any of it. Just think of it as sprinkling a little spice on the top of the frosting.

John

Tsani said:

OK, I play my uke (Epiphone "Less" Paul ) in church on Sunday mornings as part of our semi-contemporary praise and worship band. Is anybody else out there doing this? If so, we should put our heads together on the challenges and joys of playing "church music" on the ukulele. Maybe I'm the only one (on the mainland) that is doing this - but I doubt it.

I would like to know how big this demographic is?

Click to expand...

Tsani I played regularly on the church's praise team. It was a blast.

If the guitar player is down in the range of the first five frets, you may play the same notes, but an octave higher on the ukulele. The order that those notes are played on a guitar may also be in a different order on a ukulele. The simplest way to explain it is that one instrument is doing what is called the melody and the other instrument is doing harmony.

A Roland Microcube can be carried on your side witha guitar strap placed on the buttons on the case. It has different effects, amps and is powered by AA batterieswhich will give 8 hours of continuous use playing. A volume pedal adds a lot to amplification. You can come in or back out and not miss a beat.

Me, too. Just was talking about doing this last Sunday after church, in our fellowship hall. Our church used to have a stringed instrument band play during service, but apparently the band...disbanded. That was before we joined this particular church. Perhaps I could see, one day, about starting a new stringed instrument band, but I definitely need to be a more proficient player first.

UkeKiddinMe said:

Definitely intend to do this if the opportunity presents itself.

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I agree with what has been said here about the role of the uke in a band with a guitarist. I think of it as almost a "descant". What we do is similar to the role of that high G string on the re-entrant tuning. We add something in the upper register that complements the sound. My playing is not that good and I am mostly strumming when I am playing with the praise band. I will be doing some picking in an upcoming piece of special music, but I do not try to do anything like playing "lead". What we do is almost always accompanying congregational singing so there is not a lot of opportunity for doing anything that requires a lot of virtuosity.

I am preparing for a piece of special music that will be instrumental - an ukulele duet. We will be playing two pieces by J.S. Bach, but I think of that kind of playing as being in a completely different category from what I do with the praise band.

haolejohn said:

Tsani I played regularly on the church's praise team. It was a blast.

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I figured you probably did. I hope you get a chance to bring some "aloha" to a congregation up there in the frozen North. We miss you in the lower 48, amigo.

I've seen a couple of "playing ukulele in church" websites come and go over the past few years. This one appears active now, might be of interest to some: http://ukuleleworship.org/home.cfm.

Also some notes here: http://henrywill4.blogspot.com/2011/06/ukulele-praise-and-worship-sites.html

Our ukulele group has played occasionally in church during worship (it was just us, not the regular church music group and it was for a missionary themed Sunday, highlighting Pacific Island areas) but usually our ukes are considered a "special" event type of performance thing at various local churches.

one reason why i play ukulele. now we have kids playing and learning at our church. we do solos or show and tell time to time and solos during chrismas.

I've played ukulele in church, but only as a soloist. I had two mics, one for vocals, one for the ukulele. Definitely needed it. Our worship teams are sort of "the right size" so I haven't pushed to join them. But I might join in group stuff at some point. I've been thinking, as you have, what my role would be. I've had a few thoughts:

1. The ukulele is a string/percussion instrument. Or as James Hill says, "It is a strumming machine". You can add lots of rhythmic things. I often do rasgeados, muted strums, that sort of thing. You can add a lot of nice, light rhythms to a texture which sit nicely with kit percussion. This doesn't suit all worship songs, but should suit most anything upbeat.
2. Tremolo melodies work really nicely. It's tricky at first for most people, but if you practice it regularly, you can get a nice, consistent sound. Some people use a plectrum. I've learned to do it with my index and/or middle finger. 10,000 Reasons, by Matt Redman, has a tremolo mandolin part at 2:44 which should give you an idea of the possibilities in the context of worship music.
3. Higher chords voicings, as everyone has been saying. It's good for your ukulele playing to learn chords up the neck. And many can have an open sort of sound, such as C, voiced 0-0-3-7, or even 0-0-8-10.

A ukulele is a big voice in a small package. You just need to know how to coax it out, and punch it through everything else. But, I heartily agree with everyone that you're going to need amplification in any but the smallest settings.

Keep us posted as to how you get on!