Review

With so many incredible instructional worship guitar resources available these days (namely Paul Baloche's "Acoustic Guitar" and "Electric Guitar" DVDs) I was beginning to wonder when the pianist/keyboardist was going to get a DVD that deals in-depth with the subject of playing in a worship setting. There have been plenty of "how to play the keyboards" resources but we now finally have a DVD that goes beyond the basics into the more specific subject of how to play the keyboards in worship. I give you "Keyboards in Contemporary Praise and Worship," an exhaustive instructional DVD that covers everything a player needs to know to improve as a keyboardist in a worship team setting as well as a soloist. The DVD is hosted by Ed Kerr, a long-time worship keyboardist who has a recorded extensively with Integrity and Maranatha. He also travels around the country teaching worship seminars and his calm, concise approach to teaching is one of the things that makes this DVD so enjoyable.

The DVD starts off by jumping right in to the basics of building triads and seventh chords, touching on chord theory. These concepts are very basic and Ed doesn't spent much time talking about them, but they are the building blocks of almost everything that he covers on the DVD so it is a necessary introduction/review of chord theory as it relates to the piano. From there, he begins to address the topics that concern keyboard players in worship. Topics such as voicing and voice leading, vamps, simplicity vs. busyness, creating melodic motion, modern rhythms and much more. If there is something about your playing that feels uncomfortable to you or you don't know how to get to the next level as a keyboard player, I'm willing to bet that the information you need to make that improvement happen is found in the first 14 chapters of this DVD.

About half-way through "Keyboards in Contemporary Praise and Worship" the focus shifts from general keyboard instruction to playing in a praise band setting. Pianists are notorious for hogging up sonic space and tend to overplay when it comes to playing in a worship band. Just because we can cover everyone's part doesn't mean that we should. Ed does a great job of teaching how to play tastefully and to contribute to the whole of the rhythm section. He also addresses how you can play along with an acoustic guitarist without getting in each others way. All of this instruction is given by example as Ed plays along with a live bassist and acoustic guitarist (an un-introduced Paul Baloche.) The DVD also tackles the proper way to play pad and string sounds as well as using different sounds on your keyboard.

All in all, this DVD is a gem. It covers all the bases and provides a ton of information. I've been playing piano/keyboards for over 20 years now and this DVD has shown me areas where I have been getting sloppy and need tightening up. If you can't already play the piano and you are looking for a resource that will teach you, this DVD is probably not for you. But if you are like most worship keyboardist, then you already know how to play but you are having a hard time finding that comfortable place in your worship team and that's who this DVD is geared for. For those keyboardist/pianist who want to know their place in the worship team and want to confidently take ownership of that position, I promise that "Keyboards in Contemporary Praise and Worship" will give you the knowledge you need to make that happen.

Review by Jeremy Dunn