Catholic Mass gig?

[syciprider]

It was proposed in my local Catholic Church that they will start a band and I am being asked to play. As a born and raised Catholic I could not visualize how a full band will fit in a standard Mass. The hymns are too short and IMO there really is no room for Praise and Worship style playing in the structure of the Service. I think I'll spend most of the service playing deep root notes on my SR5.

But of course I could be wrong. Anyone have any experience with playing in Catholic Mass? Should I hijack the musical director position and take the service to a funkier direction?

 

[DTG]

Hi jack away dude a good band might make me go back to catholic church.
I have played alot at mass but always played guitar as there was no room for bass, not sure how a full band would sit with the catholic church in ireland but man I would love to hear it !

 

[Aussie Mark]

The hymns are too short

That can be fixed easily. Every hymn could use a guitar or sax solo. Or maybe just play the first verse again?

 

[Kamakiriad]

That can be fixed easily. Every hymn could use a guitar or sax solo. Or maybe just play the first verse again?

Free form jazz exploration.

 

[Manfloozy]

I can provide no valuable feedback on this whatsoever... but encourage fully the hijacking and funkification!

 

[dedmouse]

listen to some of the Bach Masses on organ...then do what the feet on the pedals are doing...there is some pretty fancy counterpoint footwork going on on some of those pieces

 

[OldManMusic]

My first performances were way back in 4th grade at our Catholic church's folk mass a hundred years ago, when folk music was "edgy" in church. I was one of two acoustic guitarists. The nuns hated that I used some frills and trills that are now standard country music licks. But those frills and trills caught the eye of the 5th grade girls...

Sounds like you're part of a new edge of music they are exploring in church. Knock them out with some riffs, not just the root notes. Frills and trills worked for me years ago.

 

[JayDawg]

Why is a Whoopi Goldberg movie coming to mind?

 

[syciprider]

Haha I was thinking about Sister Act too.

 

[stu42]

I've been playing bass at my Catholic Church for the past 5 years and we play lots of modern Praise and Worship music - mostly for the gathering song, 2 or 3 communion songs and the "sending forth" song.

In-between there are lots of little short things for "Glory to God", "Amen", "Alleluia", "Holy, Holy", "Profession of Faith", "Lamb of God" etc. Those ones are constants but we rotate through different musical versions of these parts of the mass depending on the time of year and some of them are pretty cool. Plus, we always play music for the Psalm - between the first and second reading...and for various other things like during the offering of the gifts.

It's pretty cool. I guess it all depends on your Priests and music director and whether they're open to contemporary Praise and Worship stuff. Also, our music director loves a more involved bass line so he likes it when I play fills etc.

The music styles we play ranges from Rock, R&B, Reggae, adult contemporary, calypso, etc, etc. It's a good gig. But then, our Church is not like most any other Catholic Church in our city in terms of the music - but that's also what draws a lot of people there.

We have a pretty full band - Full drum kit, electric and acoustic guitars (with or without overdrive/distortion, wah pedals and the like), grand piano, electric keyboards, bass (of course) and sometimes cello, sax, flute, mandolin, violin. There's a lot of talent in the band as well which makes it very cool. In fact, there's one couple (wife plays Grand Piano and the husband plays the Cello) who used to play in the Toronto Philharmonic Orchestra!

Here's one of the songs we play - granted, this is one of the more upbeat songs (for the sending forth) but there are others that are along the same lines:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ic1P3LDgHko&feature=fvst"]YouTube - My redeemer lives hillsong[/ame]

 

[Slingy]

Our Catholic church also has a full band at the latest mass, they're very good, they even played Desperado once which I thought was a little much for church but they did a nice job.

 

[keko]

Hi,

when I was teenager, I played in local church choir/band!

There were about 8-10 singers in the choir and we had electric organ, acoustic guitar and electric bass (me)!
That was really long time ago and I played copy of P bass at that time in private, but in church they had their own instruments, so I played there Hofner (P. McCartney like, violin bass ) through vintage tube Hohner amp combo 2x12!

As far as I remember it was not bad at all!

 

[Powman]

I have always wanted to play Bach's Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring with other instruments. It is a nice polyphonic piece with two melodies going on at the same time. The bass would take one of the melodies. It would be very cool...

 

[syciprider]

I've been playing bass at my Catholic Church for the past 5 years and we play lots of modern Praise and Worship music - mostly for the gathering song, 2 or 3 communion songs and the "sending forth" song.

In-between there are lots of little short things for "Glory to God", "Amen", "Alleluia", "Holy, Holy", "Profession of Faith", "Lamb of God" etc. Those ones are constants but we rotate through different musical versions of these parts of the mass depending on the time of year and some of them are pretty cool. Plus, we always play music for the Psalm - between the first and second reading...and for various other things like during the offering of the gifts.

It's pretty cool. I guess it all depends on your Priests and music director and whether they're open to contemporary Praise and Worship stuff. Also, our music director loves a more involved bass line so he likes it when I play fills etc.

The music styles we play ranges from Rock, R&B, Reggae, adult contemporary, calypso, etc, etc. It's a good gig. But then, our Church is not like most any other Catholic Church in our city in terms of the music - but that's also what draws a lot of people there.

We have a pretty full band - Full drum kit, electric and acoustic guitars (with or without overdrive/distortion, wah pedals and the like), grand piano, electric keyboards, bass (of course) and sometimes cello, sax, flute, mandolin, violin. There's a lot of talent in the band as well which makes it very cool. In fact, there's one couple (wife plays Grand Piano and the husband plays the Cello) who used to play in the Toronto Philharmonic Orchestra!

Here's one of the songs we play - granted, this is one of the more upbeat songs (for the sending forth) but there are others that are along the same lines:
YouTube - My redeemer lives hillsong

Hey thanks. I figured the Communion, the entrance and the exit parts will be the windows for playing full length tunes.

 

[syciprider]

listen to some of the Bach Masses on organ...then do what the feet on the pedals are doing...there is some pretty fancy counterpoint footwork going on on some of those pieces

I have always wanted to play Bach's Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring with other instruments. It is a nice polyphonic piece with two melodies going on at the same time. The bass would take one of the melodies. It would be very cool...

Yeah they are nice. I'll bring them up. I hope the keyboardist (and I) is up it.

 

[syciprider]

So we have practice tonight. Big AL time!

 

[rhythmCity944]

I play in a Catholic Church often for gigs. We do less traditional modern songs that you would hear in any other church plus the standard stuff that is needed for the mass. A lot of stuff we do is pretty rocking full band...keys, lead and rhythm guitars, bass, drums, etc... it can be fun with the right band

 

[syciprider]

I just spent the afternoon Youtubing more songs for this application. Wow, I never thought that we can actually lively up the Mass this much. All the churches I ever went to were predominantly Asian in demographic and pretty traditional.

We'll see how the Big AL does tonight.

 

[AnthonyD]

Good luck!

I actually played a handful of Sunday masses and a Palm Sunday passion a while back. Stuck mostly to the root / played it simple. Supported three other acoustic guitars and six voices (three male, 3 female). No percussion.

The bass definitely worked in this ensemble - we were a stand-in group when the regular guitarist or organist wasn't available to support the mass and we always received great feedback on how it elevated the worship. Keep in mind it's certainly not a performance event.

You are correct in the entrance / communion / exit opportunities for full-on songs. We'd play pretty traditional selections for the entire mass and would sometimes slip in something contemporary for the communion or offering song.

 

[syciprider]

Well, the Big AL and I made a pretty good showing. Gotta love the skinny stringers, they sure keep bass players in demand. Three capable axemen in that band and not one had any idea how to play bass save for roots and fifths. So I am now a regular fixture of the full band and also got an invite from the local Asian clique to play a festival next month.