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Worship Conference – Saturday

Well, I was up til 2am jammin in the hotel lobby with some guys so I didn’t get to post last night. Good times! But first I have to let my church peeps know that Jaime Turish and Chris & Kim Reed send their love. Jaime was playing lots of percussion all weekend, of course.

These are some choice morsels from Saturday morning. More to come on worship flow.

> We all love to have fun and rock the worship, but don’t neglect the meditative, powerful songs in worship.
> Starting worship more slowly can help draw people in and give a chance to settle and focus.
>We need to value diversity & each others gifts (this was a common theme throughout the conference). 1 Cor 12 is a cool scripture to look at in this regard.

Worship Conference – Friday

We just wrapped up day one of the worship conference. The best part was seeing some old friends I used to play music with, especially Jaime Turish, an amazing talent! This afternoon, Melvin Jordan, former Temptations guitarist, led a cool roundtable on guitar & bands.

Some choice morsels:

From 1 Chronicles 15, the musicians were the priests. We need to be spiritually strong. Skill is also mentioned here, we can’t discount that even though most of us volunteer our time. It’s important to improve ourselves, and also teach others to help them grow.

From Psalm 150, check out all the instruments listed. This supports a diverse worship experience, using everything available to worship God. Also check out Exodus 35:5. All five senses are covered. A similar theme. Full immersion, using everything available for praising God.

The Passion International Worship Ministry Conference

I’ll be blogging & tweeting from the Passion International Worship Ministry Conference over the next few days.  I’m thrilled to be able to go and learn & share about making worship better.  I hope to share some nuggets of wisdom along the way.  The only downside is that I ain’t taking my strat with me…so I guess I’ll have to borrow someone elses!  :)

Living with Finger Joint Pain: Guitar & Osteoarthritis

I’ve been playing guitar for over 25 years.  Last year, I found out that I have osteoarthritis in the finger joints of my left (fretting) hand.  I’m writing about it to help other guitarists out there who are struggling with the same problem and are having trouble figuring out what’s wrong (as I was)  & how to live with it.

Last January, I started out practicing guitar full throttle.  I set goals to learn a bunch of new fingerstyle tunes and to start arranging & writing.  I originally started this blog as a way to share my progress & tunes.  But a few months into the new regimen, the finger joints on my left hand (fretting hand) stopped cooperating.  They’d stiffen up, especially upon waking in the morning.  Playing guitar only made the problem worse.  I stopped playing for a while, thinking that I’d simply rushed into practicing too much and needed to back off & ease into it.  But the symptoms persisted.  As a guitarist, the first things you think about are carpal tunnel syndrome & tendonitis, but the symptoms didn’t match.  I scoured the Web and even researched warm-up hand stretches, hoping to find that my normal routine was incorrect or inadequate.  Nothing.

Teaching My Son to Play Guitar

Me and James About Ten Years Ago

Me and James About Ten Years Ago

It’s hard for me to believe sometimes but my oldest, James, is now 11 years old. A few years ago, I bought him a guitar with the full intention of starting weekly lessons, but he wasn’t ready for it. He was eager to learn, but quickly got too frustrated to focus. Rather than push him, I backed off (one of my better decisions).

So here we are a few years later, giving this another go. Except that it’s different this time. Dramatically different. He is eager, patient, more mature, and has a healthy dose of determination. Plus his fingers are a little longer. As a matter of fact, I can’t seem to teach him quickly enough this time around! The first night we sat down, I had the intention of teaching him 2 or 3 open chords. He ended up learning 5. He has practiced every day, and I’ve sat with him almost as much, at his request.

We’ve had 5 lessons now, and every time we go over everything from last time, and I try (if he’s ready) to introduce a new concept or chord. Here are the things I’m teaching him.  After going over open chords I introduced him to power chords. Then barre chords–mostly for the concept that the shapes can move up the neck, but also to get some practice trying to finger them. I also introduced him to the pentatonic scale, and at his request taught him how to play part of the intro to Boston’s More Than A Feeling.  I also  showed him how to pull off, hammer on, and bend (in response to questions usually triggered by songs on Guitar Hero–I wonder if this has had a benefit for him in terms of finger dexterity…).

So, based on my experience, here’s my advice if you’re trying to teach your son/daughter guitar:

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