Something to play in church

[Laurence]

Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho - is a nice mandolin tune for those old timey churches that like something a little upbeat. But, it's nice outta church too.

A nice foot-stompin tempo. Gotta be in the key of Dm though...to do it justice. Chord progression for 1st part would be Dm, Gm, A with descending bass. You can actually hit some of the chords on the mandolin on the back stroke as you play the melody. Unlimited possibilities.

My Irish band like it so well that we played it with Julia Delaney (also Dm) last year on St. Patrick's Day. We added a scream'n high 3rd part to the tune also.

No one even noticed it was a Spiritual!

[cboswel1]

Andy Leftwhich's "Jesus Loves Me" would be a great cover to do in church.

[Harrmob]

I arranged "Here I am Lord" if interested; for you catholics....

[AlanN]

Somebody mentioned What A Friend. Dempsey Young had some lovely moves for that one, I'd try that.

[JeffD]

I have been having a lot of fun just picking my way through our hymnal. The keys those things are written in are a challange sometimes, but its great when you find a few you can play out.

[Sweetpea44]

Those are good. I did#"Be Thou My Vision" with our music leader on flute not long ago. Fairly simple and has a good Celtic ring to it. #Try it in the key of D.

Quick question .... where did you get the arrangement for "Be Thou My Vision" for mandolin? #I'm getting married in March and plan to walk down to that beautiful hymn! #Thanks!

~Sweetpea

[Repent34]

When our leader finally asked me to do a solo mandolin number for an offertory, the only thing I figured was a safe bet to have a positive reaction (that I knew) was "Amazing Grace." Two verses in G, modulation to A for a verse and a simple ending, with acoustic guitar accompaniment. If I had thought a little bit more I could have done "Be Thou My Vision" as well, but I got a very positive reaction from the congregation and the senior pastor, which is always a good thing.

I have almost the same story except that I chickened out. Never took up the offer. I'm still a newbie even though I've had my mando for over a year now. Never played in front of anyone and that's the part I have to get over. I did just learn Amazing Grace and can play it "fairly" well now.

I'm thinking of somehow getting plugged into the praise team if that possible but playing at a really low volume just to get the experience of being in that setting, in front of people.

How many others have done this same thing?

chris

[Jim Broyles]

Well, I was already on the team on guitar when I first even started playing the mandolin, so as soon as they found out I could actually make a joyful noise on the mandolin I was asked to play. I still hardly play mandolin at all for worship leading but I'm trying to ease it in a little more regularly.

[Jim Broyles]

Repent, the thing to remember in praise/worship music is that is isn't about the player. Ultimately, our audience is God, but we are to help with the mood or atmosphere of worship so that the congregation is directed to Him. It is not a "performance" that people are going to critique, although Psalm 33:3 does say to play skillfully. If you can do Amazing Grace pretty decently, give it a shot the next time you are asked.

[James P]

Hooky. #

[aries753]

Sweetpea,
http://igracemusic.com/hymnbook/hymns.html is a great resource. They have this hymn in D as well as many other hymns.

I run the sound board at my church so I like to play a bit before service before people arrive. When the service starts a 8 AM not many people are there at 7:15 for some reason. I also play suring the Sunday School hour between services.

It's great, the Sanctuary with great sound qualities, my little 8 stringed friend and all the good music I can play right in the Hynmal.

[Repent34]

It would be nice to have a section labeled "Gospel" (there is none)on the tabs section of this site whereby all you folks could have your Christian tabs placed for us folks looking for Christian tabs.....

hint hint.....

Repent

[Jim MacDaniel]

Hooky. #

LOL! (Especially applicable for "Folk Mass".)

Seriously though, if you could cover Ben Harper's cover of "In the Lord's Arms", with Dave Lindely on mandolin, that would likely yield an emotional response from the pews.

[Kent Black]

What about a web site devoted to this topic, with tabs and chords for songs of praise and worship? Any thoughts on this?

Kent

[Rocky Top]

Sounds good to me! <><

[Sweetpea44]

I think that's a great idea. Does anyone know how to go about having a Christian topic post for praise and worship songs?

[Repent34]

I'm going to PM Scott about this. I know that there are several Christian sites I go to looking for mando tab. It would be nice to have a location here on MC for Gospels, hymns, and contemporary songs tabbed out for mando. I haven't run across any such books either......

[Repent34]

PM sent

[foggyvalley]

I would add to this great list, "Jesus Loves Me". Andy Leftwich's version to be found on mandozine is very close to the recording found on "Ride" cd.

[Big Joe]

One of my favorites of late is "How Great Thou Art". You can use a lot of the fingerboard and lots of double stops and play at a moderate to slow tempo and it still sounds full.

[mrmando]

I've been writing a mandolin column in "Worship Musician" magazine for a couple of years now. I am slowly piling up material that I intend to repurpose as a book. There's a convention in November where I hope I'll be able to approach some publishers.

This thread gave me the idea to do some solo hymn arrangements. So here are the text and arrangement of my upcoming column. Feel free to use this as long as you (1) give me credit for the arrangement; (2) don't make any money off it.

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Once upon a time, a friend invited me over to his church on Sunday night to sit in with his worship band. Just as we were winding down rehearsal, the pastor came in, and I was introduced to him. Next thing I knew I was being asked to play a solo piece for the offertory! I didn’t have anything worked up, but I grabbed a hymnal, picked out a tune, and faked my way through it on the mandolin anyhow.

That experience and a recent thread on MandolinCafe.net gave me the idea to do some solo arrangements of hymn tunes. Stuff like this is good to have up your sleeve in case you get asked to play a solo piece … and if you’re any good, you probably will be asked sooner or later.

Today’s example is an old English tune known by a myriad of names. Under the title I’ve used, “Dives and Lazarus,” it dates back to at least Elizabethan times. The original lyric is based on Jesus’ story of Lazarus and the rich man from Luke 16:19–31 (“Dives” or “Diverus” being traditional names for the rich man), and it was sung as a Christmas carol in England up through the 19th century.

In more recent times, British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams collected different versions of the tune and used them as a basis for a 1939 string orchestra work, “Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus.” One of those variants in turn was renamed “Kingsfold“ and is still in use as a hymn tune, often with the lyric “I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say.” In addition to Vaughan Williams’ setting, there’s also a version of “Kingsfold” harmonized by Gustav Holst, another British composer. Meanwhile, a slightly different version of the tune made its way to Northern Ireland and was incorporated into a popular song, “Star of the County Down.” Very recently, that tune was reworked by Rory Cooney into a contemporary hymn called “Canticle of the Turning.” Confused yet?

My own version sticks close to “Kingsfold”—but unlike Vaughan Williams, I decided to stop at two variants. The first is an example of what’s called “crosspicking.” The basic idea here is to find the right position with your left hand, hold your fingers in place and let your pick do the work of selecting notes by moving from string to string. It’s a lot like fingerpicking a guitar—if you’re missing four fingers on your right hand.

You should play most of the triplets here with two upstrokes followed by a downstroke—don’t change that pattern without a specific reason to do so. The melody here lies almost entirely on the E string while the lower notes suggest harmony. So it’s OK to “pop” the melody notes a little. This is moderately difficult crosspicking, and will take a fair amount of work to get into shape, especially if you haven’t tried the technique before. (I include myself in this—just because I wrote it doesn’t mean I can play it!) I haven’t marked a tempo, because playing it smoothly is more important than playing it fast.

The second variant is a little easier and gives us a taste of Celtic blues. It should swing ever so slightly. Aside from some grace notes and rhythmic playfulness, the basic trick here involves dropping in some chords behind the melody notes for a fuller sound. Make sure you play those chords with brush strokes and let them ring out.

Spend some time with this arrangement; I hope you’ll find an opportunity to use one or both variants soon. If it sounds too thin, you can always get a guitarist or pianist to back you up—although the better you get at playing the piece, the less likely you’ll be to need accompaniment.

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[Gutbucket]

"Keep the Candle Burning", Life is Like a Mountain Railroad, Take your Shoes Off Moses, Just a Closer Walk with Thee, Angel Band, I saw Bud Light, make that I Saw the Light. Lots of good gospel songs, especially in the Bluegrass style.

[lgc]

Try Juneberry 78's

[Jonmiller]

I play cello and mandolin in church playing back-up along with djembe, guitar and singers (sometimes a bass).
For a solo-"As the Deer" or "He is Exalted" works nice-have the guitarist accomp. you with fingerstyle.
Make His praise glorious, play to His glory!!!, Jon

[mrmando]

Found a mistake in the file I uploaded. The first two F#'s in bar 10 should have been E's. (They'll sound OK as F#'s, but the suggested chord here should really be A minor, not D.)

Anyhow, one can edit a post but one can't change an uploaded file, so I'm uploading it again, with the mistake corrected and bar numbers added.