understanding who you are and where you come from chord systems

[diverse379]

Sometimes you have to be true to who you are
if you listen to others you can be get confusd about who you are and how and why you play like you do

I am a theory type player and for a while i began to play real whack I couldnt figure it out utnil I couldnt afford to pay for lessons for a couple of weeks and I started at this new church and had to learn a bunch of new songs

and i started hitting hanon and pischna again
i began to go through my drills
and i began exploring new chord s'

I use a lot of a/b Voicings which are left hand voicngs and I would play those against single note melodies or harmonized melodies in the right hand
I was ok but never really monstrous
then I began to play in a band and I no longer needed to concentrate so much on fills I could get into padding more my left hand voicings were not sufficient anymore
so I learned how to combine my lefthand voicings with other types of left hand voicings so what i did was doubled my chords
all of a sudden my sound got fat I mean Phat well really both my sound got bigger and it sounded way better
I was sounding like the big boys all of a sudden I always had it but never knew it
two days ago i visited a friends church I got on the organ and blew the doors off
he couldnt believe what i was doing but what i was doing was what I had always known but i was not applying it

like the movie the last dragon the secret power lies within in you by the indwelling of the holy spirit we need to trust that God can guide us in our ministry

i started playing chords I have always known about mixed in with some i just learned and suddenly I was sounding like a beast

elmo on steroids

but for real
know who you are and play to your strengths if you read well blend in what you have learned through your reading and beautify your playing dont kill yourself to sound like the next musician perfect what you do best because only you can do what God gave for you

if you like to solo dont kill yourself if you cant pad like kevin bond
I have a keyboard player at my church who has incredible technique his skils are ridiculous he was showing me some worship changes and I could not play it like he wanted me to so I asked him what is the concept of the chords what are you playing (what is the root motion )

it turns out it was a 1-4-5 disgussed with all this other stuff once I saw it i began to play it differently but jsut as beautifully because it was my voice it was what i do and how i do it
you dont need to match someone chord for chord just know where they are going and be there when they get there

be the best you can be play to your strengths and grow in your gifting dont covet someone elses gift because believe me somebody wishes they had what you have

[aljeres]

i might be the only one who responds..........because people want to be like everyone else, and never find whats inside of themselves!

everything i do is from me! but i got it from listening to others! it is my full intentions, if you hear me, and say, i sound wierd, i feel i'm on the right track! i do whatever it takes not to sound like the next guy! and you are soooooooooooooooo right, play according to our strengths, and be the best me, i can be, and god will bless us!

[musiqisme26]

man diverse379 your words are both inspiring and motivating. there is a thread that was started with my lgm handle as the topic and i left a post saying how much it meant to me that they liked my playing not bcuz i need my ego to be stroked (if you knew me personally you would know people dislike of me is of no concern to me) but like i posted there i always heard you play too smooth, why do you use those drawbar settings, and your not churchy enough.

your right be yourself because even if you buy one of these $50-$60 dvds you can learn note for note what that person is fingering but it would come out the same because it can only come out as you. also flip it too the person you want to sound as good as they are cant sound like you bcuz they can only come out as themselves.

i hope this all made sense.

[musik4life]

this is what i needed to hear.  i was looking thru old posts searching for new ideas cuz it seemed like i hit a rut.  i was trying to be tht guy that ppl say "man, that cat is sick" but i was missing the whole thing.  i gotta be tru to myself thts wht i was missing being confident in who i am and perfecting the skills i have.  thnks 4 being real!

[Bullitt]

Wow....somebody was diggin deep to find this one!  lol, I'm just messin....great post even if it is almost 4yrs old the truth of it still stands!


-J

[docjohn]

wow!!I was overjoyed to see D again,even though it's an old post-very relevant!!!!!!

This is GREAT advice for ALL of us,we should play and use each others strengths!!!!!individuals instead of one-size fits all;sounds like "love one another"

[kmccray]

Yes the post is quite old but it still rings true.  The topic is very inspiring and it called me out.  I always wish I could play like the next person.  I know that it is within me, I just have to use what God has given me.

[MackyT5]

this is a very compelling post that you have posted...i too believe that you have to do you..God gave you yours and you have to do what you can with it...thanks for the inspiration brotha