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Extras
1. Songs that cause trouble:
» 1. Difficult or very syncopated songs
» 2. Upbeat songs
[3. Old hymns…when you want to play them on guitar]
» 2. The Music Team Questionnaire
» 3. The Church Song Survey
Old hymns…when you want to play them on guitar
Old hymns have long plagued guitarists – they just weren’t written with guitars in mind! What makes them difficult?
Most hymns were written in four-part vocal harmony. They were intended for use with church choirs accompanied by an organ. In this kind of arrangement, the chords change with almost every note of the melody (four times per bar). It’s almost impossible for a guitarist to keep up! And even if he could, he wouldn’t sound that hot.
Guitarists generally prefer no more than two chords per bar. Because most contemporary music is guitar-driven you’ll find that pop songs and modern church music have far fewer chords than hymns.
The trouble is, modern publishers of song books (such as the Source volumes) have retained the four-part arrangements for old hymns but slapped chords over the top. I find this a little odd, because very few churches I know have four-part choirs these days, and inserting the chords seems to imply that they expect guitarists to play them.
That means we have to be flexible! Just because the music has four chords per bar doesn’t mean we have to use all of them. If you don’t know much about chords, there is a simple way to choose which chords to play.
If a song is in 4/4 you can usually get away with the first and third chords of each bar. Or often just the first one.
If a song is in 3/4 like “Be Thou My Vision” it’s a bit harder. (The original chords for the song are below.) Generally only play one chord per bar –sometimes it’s the first and sometimes it’s the second chord that will work best. An example of a simple arrangement for "Be Thou My Vision" using these principles is below. Experiment with them and feel free to use some other chord altogether. This obviously takes preparation, so do it at home before you turn up to rehearsal. And make sure everyone else is playing the same chords as you!
For examples of how to make an old hymn sound contemporary listen to the mp3s for "Be Thou My Vision" and "Here Is Love" on the Reason Music Songs Page. There is also free piano sheet music available for these songs. (MIDI audio and lyrics for the original versions of these and other public domain hymns are available at cyberhymnal.org.)
Be Thou My Vision (traditional)
Be Thou My Vision (for guitar)
