Preparation or lack thereof in the church is a struggle of mine. Sometimes I feel that the church is not putting in the work to operate with excellence! I have been put in that position many times!! Called at the last minute !

I like to hear everyone’s thoughts on being payed versus serving! Particularly with the worship team! I’ve served for many years; sometimes the only drummer doing every service; conference: special guest services etc. Do you agree or disagree with paying your team? Why or why not?

This has always been an interesting one...... In my current church, it starts with the leaders wanting to see you invested in both the life of the church and your personal journey. Yes, being able to play helps, but the most important thing to them is "where is your heart at?" Are you plugged into a Core Group (mid week meetings) or do you have people around you to help/pray with you. Are you willing just to serve wherever that may be? The other important thing is they want you to show that worship is an important thing for you personally.....After all, no one should be getting up to play if they think it's more about them than the Big Guy 😁

I started off playing ‘Shine Jesus Shine’ with a cheap crash ride, and a marching snare drum, with no bass drum. Fortunately, my brother was good at covering the rhythm with his left hand so we had it covered ok.

Oh, I've used just about every setup you can think of (I'm a pastor's kid btw) This is a great setup. There are also setups that can convert a floor tom in to a kick drum and that works nicely as well. Sometimes I get in to the realm of "I'm not a drum set player anymore, just a percussionist looking for colors" in certain situations. If it comes down to cajon work, I prefer a djembe. It feels better, I can put a strap on it, better low end, and better high end. You can also use sticks/brushes/etc on a djembe

I am curious to what people are using for a small set up. I have used a cajon with a towel draped over it for a bass (set a kick pedal up and hope it doesn’t run to far away), a snare, hats, and one ride. Has anyone used something similar?

Hi guys! Wondering if you guys knew of any resources for us newbies to be able to practice basic beats with worship music? Thanks guys!

Keebler Elves in the phone.

I'm not sure what black magic they use...but it's crazy lol I honestly don't know how it takes the instruments out

Checking it out now. 1st song I tried worked great. Thanks!

The Moises app lets you remove drums I believe

My daughter did some research and there are loads on you tube as the one you recommended to me Mike, just put in drumless worship in the you tube search engine.🥁

Found this site - seems to work well. https://drumless.app/

There is a site I've used previously and my daughters have too will get back to you.

I’m usually able to find free drumless tracks for non-worship songs, but not having much luck for worship songs. Does anyone know where I might find some?

Haha, I'm behind a drum set so they "can't see me" anyway 🤣

I always made sure stage lighting was right in my eyes so that I could not see the congregation. But my reason goes back to another feed on the site...stage fright! I did not want to see how many peeps were out there.

Oh...yea, you've gotta tune them out lol. Think of their clapping as being LED by you...not you being led by their clapping. It's a tough one to tackle though.

The ministers wife plays tambourine in our church! Go figure!

Right now 4 drummers at my church, but the rotation is toss up.

I know when I started I asked the worship leader for the entire song list he uses when he picks songs for Sunday and in my down time a play along to a few of them to get a feel for all the different songs we sing. It has come in handy a few times because when I am asked to play the drums it usually isn't until Friday afternoon the earliest. Just a good idea to learn all the songs maybe not 100% at first but at least enough you can drag through it on those last minute notice moments.

Finally experienced the horror that is the congregation clapping to a song. Something I thought I could handle but in reality it was a train wreck. Not wrecking once but twice 😩. That being said that was just the first service. Our church has 2 services and the second service went much better. When the congregation claps it out, you have to count it out at the very least in your head. Luckily no tambourine, the only tambourine is located on the drum kit. Lord have mercy!!!

I have a 12" Studio crash that is half way between a crash and a splash very nice quick little sounding crash cymbal. Also a set of chimes is required. As for the tamba it would prevent the ministers wife playing a tambourine in your ear!!!! But that's another can of worms entirely!!! 🤣😉

it's missing the most important component, the cow bell. Nothing like throwing off the worship leader by sneaking a couple clunks of a cow bell.