Sunday May 25th 2008 review

We had fun. Plain and simple. It was fun. We played

God is Great ( youtube link )
Blessed Be Your Name ( youtube link )
I Could Sing of Your Love Forever ( the 'dark' one- link)

I added a new 'effect' to my setup this past wknd. A Dunlop/MXR micro amp. I had used my own personally modified super-cool DS1 a few times in the past, but it adds lots of distortion along with the boost, and changes the EQ, so I brought in the micro-amp. I saw a local musician Bill Brown (1960-2004. He also taught me how to play an 'A' with one finger, my very first guitar lesson! Anybody remember Piano Forte on Campbell St?) with one back in 1980, and can still see him on that stage over on olive street, with his Strat and Sunn Beta 212 amp. Back then, he taught me that the guitar player will know when he's going to solo or just add something, and will know better than the soundguy ( who is probably a volunteer, and should not be held accountable for knowing every arrangement that comes along ) when the guitar needs to be hotter. This little MXR does the job perfectly. No color added, no tone changes, maybe it drives the POD XT Live a little harder ( which probably adds a model of distortion, whatever that is ) which is OK, cause you're looking for a little more bite when you're adding emphasis.

After the offeratory, we did 'By His Wounds' from the Glory Revealed project ( youtube link ), and tagged it with the chorus from Matt Redman's 'Nothing But the Blood'. For the invitation, we did 'Blessed Be Your Name' (BBYN) again, full speed, full volume, and rocked it. It was nice to have something a little more powerful for invitation.

FYI, the chord changes for BBYN are the same as 'Don't Stop Believin' by Journey. Gave me an excuse to slide a Neah Schon melody in there during the second half of the bridge.

I LOVE PLAYING IN CHURCH!

JC