Intro

The Why: Excellence + Generosity

Excellence matters to God. 

• David and all Israel played music before God with all their might, (1 Chron. 13:8). We resolve to give God our best! It Honors God, serves people, and develops us into who God created us to be.
• (Be glued to the podium) You might ask, “Why can’t I be excellent while still using a music stand?” There’s nothing wrong with using a music stand, except that we feel it’s an obstacle keeping us from growing as a team, and engaging with each other and our body at a deeper level. I personally believe it can stifle our creativity. Some of us are going to have to work harder than others to achieve independence from the music stand, but let’s keep our eyes on the fruit that will come from it. Creativity + Engagement. This is why you are here tonight, we want to empower you by giving you the necessary tools to be achievers and walk away better than you came. We are not a church driven by processes. We are a church, driven by generosity. The kind of generosity that moved God to give His Son. Let’s be like David and play our music before God with all our might! I’m asking you tonight to take it up a notch, because that honors God. I’m asking you to stretch yourself, work a little harder, and labor with me, because our people matter, and I want us to connect with them and engage them in a deeper level. I want us to be able to play unto the Lord, and look people in the eye while doing it, and be free enough to show the hope of the joy of Jesus on our faces and in our body language, but that’s not going to happen for most of us while being glued to an iPad. It’s not God’s best for us! Understanding the basics of theory will help set the platform for you to memorize the simple worship progressions that we play.

Scales

The major scale (or Ionian scale) is one of the most commonly used musical scales in Worship. It’s the road we drive on musically speaking. I’d like to break it down for you. Let’s start with intervals.

Intervals

an interval is the difference in pitch between two sounds.^[1] An interval may be described as horizontal, linear, or melodic if it refers to successively sounding tones, such as two adjacent pitches in a melody, and vertical or harmonic if it pertains to simultaneously sounding tones, such as in a chord.

In physical terms, an interval is the ratio between two sonic frequencies. For example, any two notes an octave apart have a frequency ratio of 2:1. This means that successive increments of pitch by the same interval result in an exponential increase of frequency, even though the human ear perceives this as a linear increase in pitch. For this reason, intervals are often measured in cents, a unit derived from the logarithm of the frequency ratio.

PU, m2, M2, m3, M3, P4, P5, m6, M6, m7, M7, P8 (show what it looks and sounds like)

Back to Scales

Major scale: 

Whole step is a M2, and a half step is a minor 2

 W W H W W  W H

C D  E  F  G   A  B C

1  2  3  4  5   6   7 1

Nashville Number System

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 

Major Chord (always M3m3; 1 5 same always)

1 + 4 + 5

Minor Chord (always m3M3; 1 5 same always)

2 + 6

Diminished Chord

7 (m3m3) almost never used in worship

• 5/7 (inversion of 5 chord, putting its 3rd as the bottom note)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1

1 2 1/3 4 5 4/6 5/7 1

Common Progressions 

• Common Keys over the last 6 Sundays: A6, D11, C5, G11
• 1 5 6 4
  • Praise Him Forever,
  • What a Beautiful Name (Ch): 
  • O Praise the name (Verse)
  • Mighty Warrior (except bridge)
  • Basis of God you’re so good Chorus
  • Who you say I am (Chorus)
  • Here I am to worship (exception of 1/3) note: 1/3 is usually a great substitution for 6)
• 1 4 6 5 (90% of the time)
  • This Is Amazing Grace
  • Base of “O Praise the name: Chorus
• 1 4 1 5
  • second half Bridge of Call upon the lord
  • first half of bridge Mighty Cross
  • base of God You’re so good (intro and verse)

• 4 6 5
  • Great Are You Lord
  • Second half of What a beautiful name Verse
  • Base of the Chorus of new song Worthy
• 4 1 5 6
  • Bridge of Mighty Warrior
• [4 1]  [2 6 5] [4 6 5]
  • Anchor Chorus
• 4 2 5
  • God, I look to you

• 6 1 4 (5)
  • Worthy intro
  • Bridge of Who you say I am
• 6 1 5 4
  • Anchor intro and verse
  • Oceans intro and verse, and sometimes Bridge
• 6 4 1 5
  • Our God is greater
  • Anchor bridge
• 1 4 6 4
  • Call upon the lord Chorus basis
• 1 6 4
  • Call upon the lord verse
• 4 5 6 1
  • Holy Ground

Nashville Number System Chart