Worship Leader Blog

I had the opportunity to attend the Contemporary Worship Institute at the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Kansas City this week, and the featured guest artists/clinicians were Paul Baloche and his band. (By the way, just let me say that Carl Albrecht is an amazing drummer.)

Anyway, it was very interesting stuff, and in my next few posts I'll try to go over some of what I learned there, and maybe do a little out-loud thinking about how we might apply some of that wisdom to our own worship arts ministry. But in the meantime, I wanted to share just a little about the lead guitarist in Paul's band--Ben Gowell. Ben is a talented, solid player, with a lot of recording and touring credits to his name, plus he plays an old Tele and has a custom-made Tele-style guitar with humbuckers and a Bigsby (guitar players know what I'm talking about here). The amp he used at this conference was a Vox AC-30.

Ben's pedal board was also interesting--he likes discrete effects, and I noticed a few "boutique" pedals (overdrives) in there (he was kind enough to let me photograph the board).

In his playing with Paul Baloche, Ben was tasteful, never in the way, never overpowering, but always there with the appropriate accent at the right time. His solos weren't look-at-my-amazing-chops fancy, but elegant and melodic, and (here's that word again) tasteful. The guy can definitely play--no question that he's got the chops--but he is clearly secure enough in his role with the band that he doesn't feel the need to go nuts when the spotlight goes on in his corner of the stage. He seems to understand the importance of serving the song (and the Lord) in his playing, not showcasing his own talent.

He's on one of Paul's instructional DVDs, which you can get at his Web site, or at Baloche's LeadWorship.com site.

More on the conference later!