To help explain how we’re going to number these kinds of chords, I’ll use the Chris Tomlin song “Holy is the Lord” which uses a couple of accidentals.

Chris Tomlin: Holy is the Lord (Key of A)

Remember, here is the chord selection you’d expect to see in A Major:

Accidental Example 1: Minor/Major change

The verse is straightforward so we won’t bother with that, but the pre-chorus is of interest. Here’s the chord chart for the section where the lyrics are “And together we sing, everyone sing”:

B Major to D Major. Whaaat? B Major should be B Minor right? Well, there’s no should about it. There are no unbreakable rules in songwriting, just commonalities.

To display this change as numbered chords is simple – remember we use lower case for minor chords and upper case for major ones. Therefore the chord chart for the pre-chorus would look like this:

Got it? Good.

Accidental Example 2: Totally “out there” chords

Now, the bridge (“It’s rising up all around…”) is one freaky chord sequence. Here it is:

Oh man that is messed up! That G Major is not allowed in there, right? Well, it’s there and you’ve got to deal with it.

Here’s the thing – a G is neither the 6th nor the 7th note of the scale of A Major. It’s in between. We’re going to call it a flat 7th (b7). You could just as easily call it a sharp 6th (#6) but we don’t do that, so don’t go there. It’s a flat 7th (b7). Got that? Therefore we’ll display it in a numbered sequence like this:

Voilà!

Example: G/B

When you see the chord G/B, it is an instruction to play the chord of G, but to make sure that the lowest note that underpins the chord is a B (where it would normally be a G).

Using the Key of G as an example again, here are the three places that inversions frequently pop up:

• G/B is often used instead of Bm
• C/E is sometimes used instead of Em
• D/F# is almost exclusively used instead of F#m^7b5 (the chord which would otherwise have to be used in the 7th position and is a bit too jazzy and blue for most situations).

So I know that sounds confusing, but it needn’t be. All it means is that the 7 notes of the scale are played as an almost invariable sequence of major chords, minor chords and inversions. Here is how that looks using the keys of G & D.

Example: Chord sequences using the Keys of G & D

That’s 99% of songs right there. Next post I’ll cover accidentals – the very rare occasions when a chord falls outside of this selection.

In every major scale there are 7 unique notes. They ascend from a starting note which defines the key. Except on very rare occasions (which I’ll deal with in a later post) all songs are set in one key and use chords that are based upon those 7 notes, to which we assign numbers to in a simple, obvious sequence.

Example: The Keys of G & D

So that we know when to play each chord as major or minor, chord charts show major chords are in uppercase, and minor chords in lower case. Each cell of the table below indicates a whole bar of time, for example 4 beats when the time signature is 4/4.

This chord sequence, if played in the key of G, would translate as 1 bar of G, 1 bar of D, 1 bar of E minor and 1 bar of C. If in the key of D, it would translate as D, A, Bm, G. That one chord sequence alone will sound incredibly familiar to you as forming the basis of many, many songs. Try it out!

This year I’m going to try and release band members from being tied to leadsheets by teaching them to hear the very limited range of intervals that you find across worship songs, so they can then navigate their way through those songs in any key and purely by ear. They’ll also be able to work out and follow any random chord sequences I play without me having to call out chord names.

I’m beginning that process by converting all leadsheets to contain charts with chord numbers in place of chord names. Therefore C – F – Am – G will become I – IV – vi – V.

Confused? You won’t be… not once I’ve finished explaining in the next few posts.

Tess, I loved your blog post. It is so gratifying to me personally that you find our church such a welcoming place where you experience celebration of life and community, because that’s exactly the type of environment I believe church should be. I admire you so much; there are a lot of Christians who have dismissed us as an expression of church for all sorts of reasons without even visiting us, and yet you have come with an open mind and with no animosity. I would rather see 10 atheists like you come through our doors than a hundred suspicious Christians.

Your post is also a refreshing contrast to the “Why I hate religion but love Jesus” theme that has recently gone viral on Christian blogs, Twitter and FB profiles. While I understand where that point of view is coming from (because I DO love Jesus), I think it can only arise out of an absence of the experience of church that you have described.

I’d love to know what you think about the prayer ministry and subsequent testimonies of healing that you must have witnessed at our gatherings. There are people jumping around who could barely walk, and I myself leave my asthma inhaler at home these days, a year and a half since what I call a miraculous healing.

Keep coming. Bring your friends. Oh, and do you think you’ll ever fill in that Wisconsin outline tattoo with any topographical features?

Being a worship leader and a tech-head, there was much there for me to learn. The fundamentals of worship haven’t changed – it’s all about honouring Jesus by gathering together and declaring our devotion to him. The rest is just decoration, but such beautiful decoration as to lift our hearts into new heights of praise and worship.

One thing was the simple metronome or “click-track”. I’ve never considered using one in worship, but it offers possibilities for musical arrangement that are otherwise impossible. For example, you can start singing a song either a capella or with soft synths etc., and then when the band joins (in perfect sync) you can create an impact that gives such incredible joy!

Obviously a click-track is only possible when using in-ear monitoring. Which we are at the Kingdom Vineyard… hooray!

• I must never pull an “all-nighter”.
• I must never get to the point of finishing an essay minutes before it is due.
• I must maintain my excellent record of being where I say I’m going to be (when I say I’m going to be there) and doing what I say I’m going to do.
• I must never use Wikipedia as a source.
• I must not expect the world to revolve around me during exam times.

You may all hold me to account.

You see, I am now a student at the University of St Andrews. This is a big deal. You might say I’m a mature student. Or that I’ve had 15 gap years.

The sequence of events over the last week have been nothing short of miraculous. Here are the highlights:

• Contacted the University admissions dept. to ask advice on becoming an undergraduate. Was told to complete an access course at a local college, to include at least one “Higher”.
• Contacted Dundee College to initiate access course. This would start Sep ’12 and I could apply via UCAS to begin a degree in Sep ’13.
• Wednesday: Tweeted that this Jester was going back to school. Was immediately contacted by an admissions officer in the Divinity Faculty and after an exciting phone call, decided to apply for a degree at St Andrews via an alternative route.
• Thursday: Filled in and posted application form. Asked friend/colleague to email a reference.
• Friday: Reference received before application form, and was contacted to set up an interview.
• Wednesday: Had “interview” which consisted of shaking hands and being offered a place at the University. Was also told that the Advanced Diploma in Jazz that I took a few years ago is worth 40 credits towards my degree.

So that you understand quite how wonderful this is, here is the personal statement I wrote on my application form:

Studying at university is something I have always aspired to do. At the time when all my school colleagues were excitedly sending off their UCAS forms, I had suddenly and unexpectedly become wrapped up in two very new and exciting things: the first was that I converted to Christianity from a completely unreligious background, became deeply involved in the life of a local church and began looking for programmes where I could serve in some voluntary capacity; the second was that I met the woman who would become my wife. Those events combined to make university a low priority for that particular time of my life.

15 years on, I am still a committed Christian and a committed husband. In 2005 my wife and I moved out of London, where I had always lived, to serve in a new church planted in St Andrews, called the Kingdom Vineyard. For the 6 years I have been here, I have led and developed a thriving team of musicians who lead the church’s worship. That role, and my involvement in the local music scene of St Andrews, has brought me into close and continual contact with students at the University.

As well as countless informal interactions with the University, mainly through musical and theatrical societies, I have had a couple of more formal points of contact. The first was to complete an Advanced Diploma in Jazz at the Music Centre, and the second was to give a lecture in the Divinity department for the module on the theology of musicals. The latter came about because I was Musical Director for a show with prominent biblical themes, combined with the knowledge of the Bible expected of most Christians but particularly of those in leadership positions.

Having spent the last few years getting a taste for academia in any way I could (including proof reading as many essays as I could get my hands on), the timing now seems perfect to start studying. My work life is secure and flexible, my family and friends supportive, and I feel I have reached a stage where I will get the most out of university education, and have the most to give. My interests are wide ranging and my appetite for knowledge insatiable. The University of St Andrews already feels like home, and there’s nothing I would love more than to study here.

On August 16th 2011, I wrote a post called “The Death of Physical Media” in which I wrote this:

I will go kicking and screaming into the direction that music distribution has taken.

On January 3rd 2012, I wrote a post called “My Music on BandCamp for £NameYourPrice“.

What can I say, except that I am still a work in progress .