Worship Guitar Playing Quest

[pearlredburst]

Hey everyone!

So - after being out of the EBMM game for a while now, I'm looking to hop back in. I've owned majesty's, JP's, and even a bongo at one point - but that's not where my musical journey has taken me recently.

I used to simply gig out, now I'm a worship pastor and play lead electric on occasion.

I've got a junky Strat, and I'm looking to get something that fits the worship genre well for rhythm or lead, plays well clean and through pedals, and doesn't sound exactly like a Strat.

I've pretty much settled on an Albert Lee - but I can't decide between the HH or the mm90.

Anyone else use one for church music, and have any advice? I have read a bunch and realize that the mm90 is gonna be beefier than a Strat, but chimey-er than the HH.

Any and all help is greatly appreciated!

 

[d_neufeld5150]

Any ebmm will do the job … depending on what style of worship you play is the important part. My church band rocks .. we take those songs we all know and throw a twist on them but 99% of the other groups ive seen just copy bethyl so what im getting at is you may want to look into a kemper or some kind of profiler to replicate those spacey ambient sounds that most people go for… lol i still use a darklord morse and a marshall silver jubilee cause my pastor likes to rock

 

[pearlredburst]

Any ebmm will do the job … depending on what style of worship you play is the important part. My church band rocks .. we take those songs we all know and throw a twist on them but 99% of the other groups ive seen just copy bethyl so what im getting at is you may want to look into a kemper or some kind of profiler to replicate those spacey ambient sounds that most people go for… lol i still use a darklord morse and a marshall silver jubilee cause my pastor likes to rock

That’s awesome!

We do our share of “mimicking” that’s for sure. I’ve got a pedalboard that I’m more than happy with for that kinda thing - just looking for the next piece. I even considered going back to a JPX - but none are in my budget currently.

I’m eyeing a dorado gold AL HH on reverb.

 

[racerx]

I'd think the "chimey" or "spanky" sounds are fairly unique to single-coils/P90s. The humbuckers won't be able to nail those as well (with the tradeoff being they're quieter and can handle gain and environmental differences better). Though I'm not an expert on worship music and the needs. Any EBMM will play/feel great - just a matter of your needs. Aside from the AL, I'd recommend a HSS Luke, HSS Cutlass, or Valentine (HS) as all flexible options.

 

[blake100blake]

Hey there! Fellow WL/worship guitarist here and EBMM player. Currently, I use mostly my L3 HSS and my BFR Valentine, specifically the Carmelo model for playing worship. In general, most any EBMM guitar should get you there considering their flexibility. The Carmelo Valentine (if you can find one) is great because the pickups in it are more like WRHB’s, which many worship players love. Plus the bigsby is nice to have!

Use what works for you. Wether it’s an AL, Luke, JP, Valentine, Cutlass, Sabre, any of them. You can’t go wrong!

 

[NickNihil]

FWIW (and I'm not a worship guitarist but I do like getting ambient) I have an ALHH with coil splitting (I think it was a GC special in 2011) and those humbuckers split better than most, especially the neck.

 

[click track]

I play at a large Church and I have used a JP6, Axis SS and I currently use a Albert Lee HH per my avatar to the left. Each of these guitars are outstanding. All you really need is Strymon Big Sky, (put your modulation on the reverb tails) and volume pedal and a 1981 or any overdrive from Browne Amplification with that you can nail about anything or at least close enough. I think the AL is about the perfect guitar and and as per my moniker below I always get compliments on how "it "sounds.

 

[QuietSpike]

Worship guitarist here-

Here’s a link to video playing at a Spanish worship concert in Coachella Valley with my JP15…

https://fb.watch/nrXwrTXFur/?mibextid=v7YzmG

Mostly play a Starry Night Valentine and Cutlass (bull head!! Oh yeah) in worship these days.

I’d say you’d be happier in worship with P90s, but you can make either work.

EBMM’s director of strings (Chris Harrington) is also a monster worship guitarist in the Coachella valley (same church as the link). They post videos all the time so you can check out what he’s rocking (as it’s always EBMM).

 

[Moonshot]

As others have said, I think the HH will be fine. Positions 2 and 4 on the 5-way should be able to cover your needs IMO.

 

[jayjayjay]

Getting the tone you want will depend at least as much on your signal chain post-guitar as on the guitar itself. The more distorted the tone, to my ear at least, the less the type of pickup matters. Also, don't underestimate what a good EQ pedal prior to your amp can do to shape the ultimate tone.

I'd choose whatever guitar feels best to you, then work with your signal chain and amp to get the sound you want. If you're using a profiler or pedal board with amp modeling and running straight into the board (no amp), it should be even easier, as you can set up an appropriate EQ curve in most boards before sending it to whatever amp model you prefer.

I personally love the Sabre, dual HH configuration but the coils split in positions 2 and 4, and when split has a chimey tone that's reminiscent of a strat.

I'm reminded of the great Keith Richards who once opined that, given five minutes, he could make any guitar sound alike.

 

[Steve Nukather]

Worship music is the new hair metal.

 

[pearlredburst]

Hey everyone! I wound up going with the HH - a durado gold that was on reverb. Looking forward to giving it a shot!

I’ll post some pics when it arrives.

I’ve been doing research in to the coil tapping option and I’ll likely do that as I’d love the chance to have even more tones.

 

[beej]

I think those pickups are really nice when split.

 

[Ted]

I saw that Dorado Gold Albert Lee HH on Reverb a little while back and thought it was a sweet color and looked like a great playing instrument Congrats. Looking forward to pics and thoughts when you get it.

 

[GWDavis28]

Hey everyone! I wound up going with the HH - a durado gold that was on reverb. Looking forward to giving it a shot!

I’ll post some pics when it arrives.

I’ve been doing research in to the coil tapping option and I’ll likely do that as I’d love the chance to have even more tones.

I have the coil tap on my radar to make the change to my AL HH.

Glenn |B)

 

[pearlredburst]

Guitar finally arrived (actually - I arrived - I was out of the country and it was here already). I just put some new strings in it and made a few adjustments. I really like it. I like the balance and playability of it.

Turns out this one already has a push/pull - metal knobs, which in researching tells me this is one of the GC special editions.

The push/pull splits the humbuckers in position 1 and 5, correct? Giving me 7 possible positions? Or is there more to it?

I’ll see if I can convince the electric guitar player at church to use it this weekend so I can hear how it sounds! I don’t have a photo sharing server, so I’m having a tough time sharing pictures. In this new fangled world, how do I post pics - can I not do it from my phone?

 

[DrKev]

In this new fangled world, how do I post pics - can I not do it from my phone?

I can do it from my phone, in fact easier than desktop. Failing that, resize your images to be smaller then they should post fine or use a free hosting service, like imgur, and then post the link here.