Hi There II

I've been posting for some 3 weeks now, without introducing myself!

I'm Kenny, & I serve in FCBC's youthband, together with Benster, on the electric guitar.

Fortunately/unfortunately, that's not me :P

I picked up the piano as a kid, switched over to the guitar at 15, and my ministry 'philosophy' is the parable of the talents. My favourite guitarist is petrucci.

More on my blog.

Hi there!

Hey everyone.

I'm Benster, Kenny's guitar partner-in crime in our church band. I was invited by Kenny to contribute to this blog, so here i am! Looking forward to posting some cool stuff soon.

You can check out my blog at http://www.misterbenster.blogspot.com

God bless!

Benster

All For Love (bridge)

Theres a keyboard part which runs repeatedly after the All For Love instrumental (united live version). Playing this part on the guitar with some delay sounds quite good as well:

Tabs:

Salvation is Here (Bridge)

Why should the bassist get all the fun? Here's some neat tapping stuff you can do for Salvation is Here's bridge:



By the way, using some delay helps.

Tabs:

The Time Has Come (Instrumental)

By request, here it is, sound clip first, followed by the tabs:

If the tabs are too small, click on them to view a really large version.

Thanks for your support!

Today marks roughly the 2nd week of this blog, and I was delighted to find that today's visits hit a record of 113 visitors - more than twice the visits of any other day!

I really want thank everyone for dropping by - i hope the posts have been useful. I'll keep them coming as often as I can :D

An Introduction/The Time Has Come (Verse)

There's been some speculation about how the fast runs for An Introduction & the verse of The Time Has Come are done, but generally most people agree that some delay is involved.

But don't forget that you can pick everything - it may seem hard, but it is possible, with some practice. Here's the sound file - it starts with a video clip (a first!) of me playing the parts using a clean sound, to show that no funny effects or editing was involved. The 2nd part demonstrates the same line, with some delay and wah.



Here are the tabs:
While alternate picking, keep all wrist & pick movement minimal. Pick with the utmost tip of the pick, and you'd find that the notes become very soft, because the small movements restrict how hard how can pick.

Majesty (Intro) (Planetshakers)

Here's some flashy stuff.. this version of Majesty (the techno one by Planetshakers) starts off with the usual guitar riff, but throws in a few harmonics in between. It ends with a fast guitar line to excite the music just before entering the 'full-blown' introduction. Enjoy!



Here are the tabs:
Feel free to add in your own hammer-ons and pull-offs for the fast part.

Yours is the Kingdom (PreChorus)

The pre-chorus of "Yours is the Kingdom" has this neat piano riff going, here it is:

Here are the tabs, remember to try to apply this to other songs, e.g. strumming chords higher up the fretboard.

guitarpraise turns 1 (week old)!

Here's the sitestats:

Looks like the site gets about 20-30 new visitors daily, and about 10 returnees.
Thanks guys for your support, I hope you've enjoyed the posts so far!

Amazing

For those unfamilar with the song, its from the album 'Adore' by Paradise Community Church in Australia which is really blessed because one of their worship leaders won the Australian Idol contest.

Amazing starts off with a intimate piano instrumental, followed by a grand full band introduction. Its really nice, and the lead melody, played by the electric guitar, sounds great:




Tabs:

The chords for the song are as follows:

i) Introduction:
D D/F# G Asus2 A

ii) Verse
D D/F# G Asus2 A
D D/F# G Asus2 A
G G -

iii) Pre chorus
A Bm G D A Bm G D
A Bm G D G A

iv) Chorus
D D Bm A
G A D D
D D Bm A
G A Bm A
G G Em A

From the Inside Out

Intro, Verse
Sometimes playing the right notes isn't enough. How we play them matters as well, and in the case of Inside Out's intro riff, letting the notes ring out makes quite some difference (i.e. don't let go of the notes for each chord).



The fingering (tabs at the end of the post) makes it quite hard to hold on to the notes though, but with practice it can be done.



Electric guitarists often get lost during the verse - strumming, or even plucking the open chords duplicates the acoustic guitarist unnecessarily. One idea is to use material from other parts of the song in the verse, as with using Inside Out's introduction in the verse (but at a lower octave, of course).


Here're the tabs for the clips:

Instrumental (United Live)
As requested, here's the guitar solo for From the Inside Out, United Live version. The solo is played using a clean sound below, for clarity.




Tabs:

Instrumental (Hillsong)



I used an octave shifter, or something like that - the effect doubles what I play, but one and two octaves lower, creating a heavier sound.

Tabs
--------8--------8----------
------8--------8--------8---
-9h10-----9h10-----9h10----- (x2)
----------------------------
----------------------------
----------------------------

-----------------------------
-13-10-12--------------------
----------12s14-14s7-7s9s7s5-
-----------------------------
-----------------------------
-----------------------------

-----------------------------
-8-8s10-10s12-12-12s15-15-15-
-----------------------------
-----------------------------
-----------------------------
-----------------------------

-----12-------12-------12-------12-------15-
--------13-------13-------13-------13-------
--14-------14-------14-------14-------14---- (x2)
--------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------

--------------------------15-------15----17-
-----12h13p12----12h13p12----12h13----13----
-14-----------12----------------------------
--------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------

Amplify

Here's a song I composed and arranged, for a video project for a friend, and decided to share it here. Enjoy!

What the World Will Never Take (Introduction)

Here's the introduciton to What the World Will Never Take - what I like is the way the harmonics are added at the end in the God He Reigns version. Here is the clip + tabs:



Click here if the above player doesn't work.

One Way Bridge

I like to play around with the flange effect for One Way's bridge. Here it is, with my flange settings on my pod xtl.



The palm mutes, together with the flange, create an interesting effect. To play the bridge, play B F# G#m E using power chords.

Revolution (Verse)

Here's how to play the chorus of Revolution (Hillsong), a pretty neat song, by request from Paul. Here's how the verse sounds like:




Verse chords (view the rest of the song here):
D#
One generation, living salvation
. . . . F#
Here we go
D#
Seeing revival we will defy all that holds us back
. . F#
from You

Tabs: use power chords for the D# chords, with LH percussive muting in between, & the following tabs for the F# chords:

-----------------
-----------------
-6--8--10--11----
----------------- (x2)
-4--6--8---9-----
-----------------

Take it All (Again)

Take it All is quite a fun song to do in terms of chord variations - also see my other post on the same song's bridge.



What I've done in the above is to change the five chorus chords - B F# G#m E C#m. Without further ado, here are the lyrics and tabs. I particular like the F# and G#m chords because they sound like more powerful power chords. The C#m is substituted with something that looks like the power chord, but is in fact a C#add2 or a C#m9.

B . . . . . F#m
Jesus we’re living Your Name
G#m . . . . . . . . . . . E
We’ll never be ashamed of You
B . . . . . . . F#m 
Our praise and all we are today
C#m9
Take take take it all Take take take it all

-x--x---x----x---x--------
-x--x---x----x---x-------- 
-8--6---8----9---8--------
-9--4---6----9---6--------
-x--x---x----7---4-------- 
-7--2---4----x---x--------
.B  F# .G#m .E .C#m9

At the Cross

At the Cross (Hillsong) uses quite a number of interesting variations on the usual chords in the verse & chorus. Listen to them:



The guitar part uses a recurring note in the verse (put in bold in the tabs below) - this helps to create a more continuous sound:

E . . .Asus2 B C#m&
You Go Before Me
E/G# Asus2 . . . . . B . C#m7
You Shield My Way
E/G# Asus2 . . . . . B . C#m7
Your Hand Upholds Me
Asus2 . . . . . . B
I know You Love Me

E . . . Asus2 . B . . . C#m7 . E/G#
-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|
-------|-------|-------|-----5-|-------|
-----4-|-----4-|-----4-|---4---|-----4-|
---2---|---2---|---4---|-------|---2---|
-------|-0-----|-2-----|-4-----|-------|
-0-----|-------|-------|-------|-4-----|


The chorus right after the 2nd verse strums chords in the higher registers:

Esus2
At the Cross I bow my knee
C#m
Where Your blood was shed for me
A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B
There's no greater love than this
Esus2
You have overcome the grave
C#m
Your glory fills the highest place
A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B
What can separate me now?

Esus2 C#m . . A . . . B
-7----9---9---7-----
-7----9---10--7-----
-9----9---9---8-----
--------------9-----
--------------------
--------------------

Feel free to throw in some delay for the two examples as well.

Shepherd (Paradise Live)

Here are the tabs of Shepherd's intro, by Paradise Live, a church in Australia.



Use the high E & B strings (the top two strings).

Em. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C
e------------15----------------------
b-12--12--12--------12--12--12--15---

G. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D
e------------15-----------------14----
b-12--12--12--------10--10--10--------

And here are the chords for the rest of the song:

i) Introduction:
Em C G D (x4) or (x2)

ii) Verse:
- - G G D/F#
Em C G G D/F#
Em C G G D/F#
Em C G G D/F#

iii) Pre Chorus:
Am7 Am7 C C
Em D C C

iv) Chorus
G C Em D C
G C Em D C

How Great is Our God

How Great is Our God is a really catchy song, and its easy to play - the chords C, Am, F, & G repeat over and over throughout the song. One problem is that it can get repetitive, however, and so it helps to change the notes you use for each chord, rather than sticking to open or barre chords.

The following example begins the chorus using power chords, and uses a different fingering for the same chords in the bridge to bring the bridge to a climax:



Here are the chords + tabs:

Use power chords here:
C
How great is our God, sing with me,
Am
How great is our God, all will see,
F
How great, how
G
great is our God.


Use the following chords for the bridge:
--x------x------x-----x---
--13-----13-----10----12---
--12-----12-----10----12---
--10-----10-----x-----x----
--x------12-----8-----10---
--8------x------x-----x----
. C . . .Am7 . .F. . G.

C
Name above all names,
Am7
Worthy of all praise, My
F
heart will sing How
G
great is our God
C

The Time Has Come Bridge

Its sometimes fun to do flashy stuff on the guitar, like this wah+tap thing I came up with for the bridge part of the Time Has Come.

I used it once for service, and no one complained, though I did turn my volume down, so it might be usable - but do let the worship leader or band leader listen to it before you use it for service!

Here's the tabs, all the tapping is done on the E string (the thinnest string). Throw in some delay & wah (slowly depress the wah to get a 'sweeping wah' sound).

F#m
-10-5-2-10-5-2-10-5-2-10-5-2-
-10-5-2-10-5-2-10-5-2-10-5-2-
Bm
-11-5-2-11-5-2-11-5-2-11-5-2-
-11-5-2-11-5-2-11-5-2-11-5-2-
Dmaj7
-10-5-2-10-5-2-10-5-2-10-5-2-
-10-5-2-10-5-2-10-5-2-10-5-2-
A
-10-5-0-10-5-0-10-5-0-10-5-0-
E
-7--4-0-7--4-0-7--4-0-7--4-0-

I suspect this would be one of the most challenging lessons, so don't fret if you have trouble with it!

Mighty To Save

The introduction to Mighty to Save (listen to the song on youtube) is only three notes, but how you play them matters:



As with the video, cramping your fingers up together cuts the notes short, & leaves greater room for error. Spreading them out, as with the 2nd half of the video, allows you to ring the notes, and to pick them evenly. It is somewhat of a stretch though, but nevertheless do-able - if you look at the Hillsong DVD this is how the guitarist does it:


Here's the tabs for the introduction:
---------9--------------9-------
-----12-----------12------------
-14----------14----------------- .......let ring & keep repeating.
---------------------------------
---------------------------------
---------------------------------

Take It All

Electric guitarists tend to stick to barre chords for the fast songs; however, other chords are often more suitable. Take, for example, Take It All's bridge.



In the above, the 1st half uses barre chords, while the 2nd half uses a modified set of chords to blend in with the brass parts. The chords are first played with the recording in the above, followed by a clearer, cleaner, and slower example of the chords.

Playing the Chords

C#m        G#m       F#             E 
Running to the One Who heals the blind
C#m       G#m     F#
Following the shining light
C#m            G#m          F#        E 
In Your hands the power to save the world
   B/D#
My life

When the brass parts enter, play:

C#m/E     G#m/D#   F#/C#           E
Running to the One Who heals the blind
C#m/E     G#m/D#    F#/C#
Following the shining light
C#m/E         G#m/D#        F#/C#     E
In Your hands the power to save the world
   B/D#
My life

And here are the tabs - its abit of a stretch!
--x--------x------------x----------x-------------
--x--------x------------x----------x-------------
--8--------9------------8----------6--------------
--9--------11---------- 9---------4---------------
--6--------7------------6---------4--------------
--x--------x------------x----------x-------------
B/D# C#m/E G#m/D# F#/C#

The E chord is the open chord version.