What is Worship Guitar Tone? A discussion of the sounds we hear on Sundays

Published 2024-06-24
In this video, Brian and Bradford discuss what exactly makes up 'worship guitar tone'.

Download our guitar presets for most major modeling platforms here: worshiptutorials.com/

NOTE: There aren't any audio samples in this video - it is simply a discussion. We will be uploading content that supports this video with examples on how to dial in every part of the signal chain, including amps, drives, modulation, delays, and reverbs.

Table of contents:
00:00 - Welcome
00:31 - We hear this a lot - Worship guitar is boring, and it all sounds the same
03:00 - We set up the amp tone first - how we do it
06:35 - What types of amps are typically used for worship tones
08:27 - Why is the AC30 type amp used more?
10:33 - Putting wet effects into a high gain amp doesn't work that well
12:29 - Next ingredient - Compression
16:07 - Overdrive/Distortion
28:25 - Octave and pitch effects
30:36 - Modulation - Chorus, Tremolo, Vibrato, etc
32:59 - Delay/Reverb
33:44 - Delays
41:19 - Reverb
46:57 - Wet FX in front of the amp(s) or after?
51:30 - Whole purpose of this video

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Our vision is that every church in the world would experience worship that is both excellent and authentic. We are here to help you make that happen.

CURRENT GEAR - stuff we use in (and to make) videos

Cameras:
Sony FX3: amzn.to/3TEa80p
Sony a74: amzn.to/3fWONBd

Acoustic Guitars:
McPherson Acoustics (Camrielle, Carbon Fiber Sable): mcphersonguitars.com/
Martin D-35 // www.zzounds.com/a--3980936/item--MRT2018D35
Martin 000-28 // www.zzounds.com/a--3980936/item--MRT201800028
Taylor 414ce // www.zzounds.com/a--3980936/item--TAY414CERV
LR Baggs Anthem Pickup (in both) // www.zzounds.com/a--3980936/item--LRBANTHEM

Capos:
G7th Performance Capos:

Amp modelers we make presets for:
Line 6 Helix // www.zzounds.com/a--3980936/item--LINHELIXFB
Line 6 HX Stomp // www.zzounds.com/a--3980936/item--LINHXSTOMP
Kemper // www.zzounds.com/a--3980936/item--KEMPROFILERSTAGE
Fractal Axe-FX III, FM3, FM9 // www.fractalaudio.com/
Quad Cortex: www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/QuadCortex--neural…

Recording Interface:
Universal Audio Apollo // www.zzounds.com/a--3980936/item--UADAPX8P

In-Ear Monitors:
Ultimate Ears: myinears.com/

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All Comments (21)
  • @bmitchellmusic
    First! We wanna break all this stuff done further. Let us know what other questions you may have!
  • It would be interesting as a follow up to this conversation to hear some well known worship riffs but played with the “wrong” tones (blues, classic rock, metal, etc). Might be fun and shed light on why the typical worship tones work so well for the genre.
  • My gosh, been using your Revv D25 preset pack on my QC for the past few weeks and it just absolutely sings through my ESP Eclipse with EMG 81 active pickups - totally my favorite go to preset. For ambient and volume swell moments I’ve been running all the effects in the package (both overdrives, tremolo, delays and added reverse delay, and adjusted reverb to almost maximum decay) and the results are so ethereal and almost hypnotic, especially when you add a wah pedal to the concoction 😆
  • @markjones3176
    Thank you for doing this. This is great information. Love the Channel!!!
  • @paoloelicano
    I've always procrastinated learning how to shape my tone. Thank you for this video, this really motivates me to do it and gives me a good things to start with. God bless you guys!
  • @BrianLeverett
    I appreciate you guys so much for this discussion! It could have been two hours long and I’d still want more. Keep up the great content!
  • @EmptyBoxes
    A guitar, a UA Lion, delay, reverb and a volume knob (or my JHS Rat pedal into my Fender Amp) 🙂😁 Love the videos and the thought you put into everything you talk about. Keep up the great work.
  • @ptortland
    You guys have so much experience and knowledge, and yet, watching/listening to this video was like taking a puppy dog for a walk! It was all over the place! I felt like I was listening to a Jack Kerouac novel, all stream of consciousness. Nothing followed in a logical or linear progression that made it easy to follow and apply in building worship tone from the ground up.
  • This is one of the best vids out there. Great in-depth overview of electric guitar guys for Jesus!
  • Love watching you guys. I have learnt so much. Thanks 🙏 so much. And cool to know you’re not far from me. I’ve been blessed to use my God given talent and gifts by playing guitar a really great church in Chapel Hill NC. Been playing many years at home but finally getting to play on a great praise and worship team. I’m using pedals into a Kemper. Thanks again for all your knowledge.
  • @DaveMarket
    Thanks guys. I recently tried the new Kingtone Fuzz. Great versatile tone and got a big surprise- I can get Xotic with rolled off vol. up to fuzz all with the knob. I am at a new tone plateau after 4 decades. Also beautiful is the Halo dual echo, It sits behind so wonderfully.
  • Hi guys, Absolutely love your channel and all the guitar tech info you put out. I play guitar for my church and went from a helix floor back to regular pedals mainly because there is nothing like individual guitar pedals . I am having a little trouble getting my board dialed in though. I’m playing through my Fender Hot Rod Deluxe III. Anyway I’m going from my guitar into a tuner pedal to a crybaby, into my Boss overdrive sd-1 to my joyo California into my mooer boost into my joyo tremelo into my stryman cloudburst and into my Boss DD-3 and into my input for not my amp. Any tips to get the best sound out of all of those pedals. I’m working on adjusting the levels and tones currently.
  • @sosborniv
    In the same vein as using predelay, I find that using the High cut on the ambient effects really helps the notes stay crisp in the midst of big delay and verbs. Let the initial attack be mids and highs, while the ambience is low mids and lows. It gives you separation, and as long as you’re not stepping on the bass line, all is well.
  • @Notjay95
    I forgot all about fee. I just back and listened to that song. That was such a banger back in the day
  • @marais888
    I received a compliment Sunday from a non-musician who said, hey you rose above "vanilla" today
  • Suggestion! for a fun video, could you fellas try a challenge!! each man will hand the other a handful of budget pedals along with a random amp and the game is to use what's provided to reach a worship tone!! then compare each other's end sound as you play along with a worship song of choice! Think it'd be funny and interesting how you'd set yourself up! Loving the content keep it up!