Discovering Your Unique Sound
Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armour on him and a bronze helmet on his head. David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. “I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” So he took them off.
1 Samuel 17:38-39
We need to wear our own armour, to be ourselves – with our individual identities, experiences, musical tastes and preferences. When we play, each of us carry a unique weapon and worship unto the Lord, deeply intertwined to who we are.
How do we find our own unique sound in playing our instruments?
Among many factors, music expression comes from how we interpret and play the chords of a song or a progression. There are inexhaustible possibilities you can explore with a chord.
For this blog, I will focus on two areas of variation you can begin to explore to find your own sound and preferences in your instruments – Chord Colours & Voicing
I like to think of playing a song entirely in triad (135) chords as a painting that is only painted in primary colours; red, blue and yellow. However, once you introduce other tensions like 7ths, 2s, sus, extensions like 9, 11, 13, you are exploring a myriad of other colours and your painting becomes richer in depth.
Think about what kind of STYLE & SOUND you want to achieve
Is it a more traditional sound? Does the congregation relate to a more traditional, hymn, classical sound? Or possibly a modern sound? How about a congregation that relates to blues or jazz? What kind of chords should you use to create this general sound?
Personally for me, if I play in a setting where people are more used to a traditional sound, I keep the chord colours simpler (1 3 5 triads, some 9s and 2s) and possibly dominant 7 which are very much tied to classical traditions. In a more modern style, I would make my chords more subtle sounding with tensions like min7, sus, maj9 or 11.
Common Chord Colours in a Worship Setting
That said, there are some really simple colours you can just use regularly to bring interest to your playing. Here’s just some suggestions I’ve compiled.
I have chosen to highlight these, however, you can always explore further extensions such as 9, 11, 13 and play with more interesting chords such as ones with accidentals. Listening, transcribing (charting out) as well as learning to play songs that utilize more interesting chord types will help you expand your tool box of chord colours that you can use!
Listen widely and critically
When you listen to music, can you get a sense of the style, genre and colour of the sound? Try to listen with a critical ear, going past merely hearing whether a chord is major or minor but identifying the tensions within a chord and possibly even charting it out and playing it exactly for yourself to analyse and learn. That way, if you listen widely to different genres of music, you can collect a toolkit for yourself of the kind of chords you can use if you want to play in those different styles.
With these three tips on Chord Colours & Voicing, try to gain for yourself a preference to what you enjoy playing and expressing your worship unto the Lord.
Shernise Khor is our AG Keys mentor since 2017. An accomplished multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter and teacher, she has been a good friend of the ministry for years now. Shernise feels strongly about kingdom culture and endeavours to live that out in every aspect of teaching. She has a heart especially for youths to discover their identity in God and it brings her the greatest joy to see hearts turned to Jesus and moved in His powerful presence through worship. Follow her @shernisekhor.