Creating Worship Intros with Little Information

Simple Worship Intros on the Piano

The leader points at you and asks you to play an intro. No big deal right? What if it’s a new song and you don’t know the melody? Then, you look down and all you have is a chord/lyric sheet that does not tell you much information. YIKES!!! Here are a few tricks to help you on your way.

Video Transcription
We got an email asking how to create an introduction for a song during worship service with only text and chords. This is a common problem for accompanists. Knowing how to create generic introductions is so helpful in these situations, especially if you haven’t ever heard the song before. The best way to do this is to do what the guitarists do; they pick a chord and strum it. This is called vamping and here are three different ways to do it.

1. The first thing to do is just play the chord over and over again. This might seem monotonous, but doing a few measures is perfect for an intro. You can also do this softly while someone is speaking or praying, then they can come in whenever they want to. Just find that one chord and vamp it.

2. The second way to vamp is use a chord progression. Do this by taking the first chord, which could be a G, then move to E minor, then back to C and then D, then play the original G chord. Just keep playing through this chord progression and vamp the chords.

3. If you are more advanced, you can throw in a fancy fill. Just play the three-note chord and throw in a fill every now and then. This will change it up enough that you don’t feel bored playing the one chord continually.

Hopefully these three options will help guide you on creating introductions without one written in music. No need to stress it, just keep it simple. Read the comments below for other ideas from our readers and students.

15 Comments on “Creating Worship Intros with Little Information”

  1. Reply

    Thank you for addressing this subject! I needed a way to get started in accompanying Christian Contemporary songs, and had no idea where to begin. This is a great help!

  2. Reply

    This is the type of stuff we need! It’s nice to have a song mapped out and some suggestions for “Going Pro” with it, but having the tools to put the pieces together is the STUFF!
    It’s like Lego blocks. Having a drawing of how to re-create something already ‘charted’ is nice, but being able to take your own stack of Legos and put them together into something unique to you is really satisfying.
    I guess what I’m trying to say is it’s really great that you do both types of videos: Play-alongs and skill/chop builders.

  4. Reply

    Thank you for your Awesome Great music notes… And videos… I am so Happy for your helping me to play chords…. God bless you …

  5. Reply

    Brilliant. It’s hard to find clear, straight forward techniques like this without the tutor suddenly getting too complicated, Thanks very much for staying within reach!

    1. Reply

      You are very welcome. Please let me know if you think of any other good topics and I’ll put it down for future blogs. -wade

  6. Reply

    Lord know how much I needed this! I have been playing guitar for a bit now and have been given several new instruments to start on. It is quite hard when we have no instructor but our mission is to serve God. I recently saw your tutorial on Thy Will and loved it. I started checking out your site and blog and finally know where I need to be. I am certainly looking forward to more blogs, tutorials and tips! God bless you and your family and may you continue to lead us on our mission.

  7. Reply

    Apart from watching online is it possible you send the video for download
    Or maybe through wattsup

  8. Reply

    Thanks Wade for your simple straight forward way you instruct. I play by ear and have been for fifty years, but its good to look at your simple beginners instruction as well as advance, I always pick up something that I have forgotten or take for granted..

    God Bless you in your ministry!!

    Keep Up the good work!!!

    1. Reply

      Awesome! Let me know if you have any questions…just use the “Contact” page. I’m excited to see all that you will learn!!
      -Wade

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