The Greenroom

How To Play Auxiliary Keys

Strategically Supportive Sounds

There’s more to being an auxiliary keyboard player than you think. All too often, keyboardists approach playing a secondary part like the primary, but if we’re not careful, this could be detrimental to what’s happening musically. So what should an aux keys player play? What sounds should they use? And what advice is there for playing ‘second fiddle?' Check it out here in this video blog.

5 Ways To Get Inspired

Get out of that funk!

Summer is one of my most inspired times. I write half my songs for the year during these few sunny months. While I think the weather has something to do with it, I’ve noticed a few other factors that I think contribute. Here are 5 things to inspire your music this summer and every season after. 

How To Memorize Your Grooves

Keep it consistent

Last month I had the opportunity to play drums for a night of worship that was recorded for a live record. There's not a lot of room for issues or mistakes on something like that, and we wanted everything to run flawlessly. It would have been much more challenging if I didn't play consistently. 

Play Like A Synth Bass

Wake Up

So many songs in modern worship either replace the bass or augment the bass with keyboard. Fear not! We can create a similar tone by using octaves. In this video I'll show you how. Once you've got the idea try using it in the lesson for Wake by Hillsong Young And Free. 

Embrace Change

Keep an Open Mind

For the last few weeks, I’ve been on tour, playing drums for Austin French. For this tour, we tried a very different setup.

Environment Matters

Get out and play.

Sometimes we just forget to pay attention and let habits keep us in the dark. It's time to turn practice time into play time. 

How To Create Stacks In Omnisphere

Customize your zones in both standard and 'live/stack' modes.

Combine sounds and customize complex regions on your keyboard. Ryan walks us through the process of creating stacks to shape your unique tone using Omnisphere and the OmniTR app.

 

Meet The All New Worship Artistry

Worth the wait.

It's finally here! I can't tell you how much thought, work and love has gone into this new design. You can take the video tour but I wanted to give a little bit of the why behind what we've done and let you know what's coming.

Agressive Defense

Thinking through the lyrics in Defender

I admit it. My first listen to Defender jarred me. “You come back with the head of my enemy.”  Wait a minute, what? Can I sing about decapitation in church? The question isn’t if I can, but if I should. Let’s talk about it.

How To Be Your Own Metronome

Calibrate your inner clock

When we chose drums as our instrument, we signed up to be the leader of the rhythm section and that’s a vital role. As we go so the band goes. So how do imperfect people play in perfect time? Using a metronome or click track is a great place to start but it’s no substitute for developing your “internal click.” Here are a couple of training exercises to help you develop your internal metronome.

Fifth Note Lead-In

Subtle but Spicy

Add a little spice to your chord progression with this simple note.  Daniel shows us where to slip it in.  

3 Awesome Guitar Videos To Inspire You

Inspired Playing From The Greats

Everyone needs a little inspiration. I often find if I'm uninspired it's because I'm not filling my creativity well with the work of other creatives. I stumbled down a YouTube hole last night and couldn't wait to pick up my guitar this morning. Here are some of my favorites.