Gangai Victor's Blog, page 12

Learn Guitar Fast and Free Online!

I always enjoy discovering new ways to improve my musical skills. While there are many tools out there, here’s a recent discovery that’s full of potential. If you’re looking for a convenient service to learn guitar without paying for expensive lessons, you’ve got to check this out!

 

JamStar is its name and is available to use from a desktop browser or mobile device (Android and iOS apps available).

 

Just tune your guitar (JamStar has a built-in tuner too), open a free account and start learning.

 

How it Works

The app uses the microphone of a PC or mobile device to listen to your playing and give you feedback, real time. You can use a regular acoustic or classical guitar. To use an electric guitar, connect it to your amp and make sure the amp faces the microphone, that’s about it.

 

Lessons

JamStar comes with many levels of courses, from beginner to advanced. Some of the listed courses are:

The Guitar Strings Acoustic Grunge 101! Hand Coordination Solo Introduction Basic Chords Scales Jam Session 101 Traditional Melodies Plucked Chords Rock Riffs Scary Solo Skills

More paid lessons are also available.

Each course has a set of lessons and each lesson has to be passed to proceed further. A pass requires a score of 80% or more. Once a course is completed, JamStar awards a diploma certificate!

Check out a video demo of JamStar:

Here’s the link: http://jamstar.co/

Your turn to share: What are your favorite tools to learn musical instruments?

The 12 Commandments of Digital Citizens

Here's an excellent pic laying out 12 characteristics of good digital citizens:

The full article can be accessed here: The 12 Commandments of Digital Citizens ~ Educational Technology and Mobile Learning: 'via Blog this'

BibleX - A Free, User-Friendly Bible Study Tool

LifeChurch.tv has always been a generous provider of fantastic online resources. The list even includes the awesome YouVersion, which at present is more or less synonymous with the term 'mobile Bible app'!

 

Here's another of their resources that I have to blog about: BibleX - a beautifully designed online Bible study tool that aims to help us to:

- Get to know the Bible better by exploring its key stories, themes, and characters.
- Discuss unifying key beliefs of Christianity without getting tangled up in divisive beliefs.
- Allow Scripture to shape your thoughts and actions as you learn how Christ lived.
- Enrich relationships with other followers of Christ, and develop through the study of Scripture within community.

Seven Modules, One Awesome Program!

Apart from an introductory module, BibleX has structured the study program around these 7 areas:

Beginnings - Fall, Patriarchs, Flight, Covenant, Wanderings History - Conquest, Monarchy, Decline, Exile, Return Wisdom - Songs, Wisdom, Meaningless, Suffering Prophets - Trust, False Hope, Betrayal, Compassion, Ethics Gospels - Variations, Kingdom, Amazed, Outsiders, Aligned Pauline - Reconciled, Rules, Transformed, Contentment, Churches Letters - Superior, Actions, Love Child, Endings

Each module has 3 to 6 sessions and can be completed individually or as a group within 3 hours (approximately). The content includes reading material, study questions, video sessions with the facility of group interactions.

 

Sessions are accessible on a desktop, phone or tablet, which makes the Bible study extremely flexible; you can access it almost anywhere and any time!

 

Excited? Give it a shot, here's the link: http://www.biblex.com/

9 Best Practices to Improve How we Engage People in Worship

Let's face it, sometimes the microphone can be a barrier between the congregation and the worship leader. It's not too difficult for the band to get so caught up with the technical and the musical that the people begin to feel a bit disconnected from the stage.

 

Worship leading is more about engaging with people than putting up a great Christian performance. It's more about connecting together with the Lord than belting out the latest musical chops. But how do we get to that special place of going beyond the functional and grasping the relational? These tips may help you:

 

9 Essential Tips to Engage With the Congregation: Before the Session:

1. Pray for your community individually during your personal worship and as a team during rehearsal.

2. Imagine their expectations and experiences by putting yourself in their shoes. It's not a bad idea to walk into the place where you lead worship and stand where they stand, sit where they sit and look at the stage from where they are. This will give you fresh perspective, trust me.

3. Listen to your team. Ask them what are potential causes of disengagement and possible solutions to overcome them.

 

During the Session:

1. Smile. Sounds too simple? Maybe it is. But a prime turn-off for people is to see a stiff worship leader going through the motions. Sure there maybe skill, but there needs to a sense of connection.

2. Talk to them. Don't just stand there and get through your set-list like a robot. Remember we are in this together; it's never 'us and them', but always 'we'. Open your heart to them, tell them a scripture verse, your struggle, your goal for that session etc.

3. Use familiar songs. Meet them where they are and then take them to newer songs. If your people are elderly, thrown in a hymn too now and then. Let there be something for everyone in your set-list.

4. Let them sing. In some sections of songs, stop playing/singing and invite them to sing instead and create congregational solos. You'll enjoy it as much as them!

 

After the Session:

1. Invite feedback. Hang around after the gathering, walk around and get a feel of their experience during worship. Being an introvert, this doesn't come naturally to me, but I've worked on it over the years and it's a lot easier today! Listen dispassionately to their views whether you agree or disagree with them. You can always evaluate everything later with your team.

2. Thank people for being there and for their participation.

 

Worship as a ministry is highly pastoral though people see the musical side of it more. Connecting and engaging with people should be among our highest priorities. Somebody once said, "The worship band is merely an extension of the congregation." Getting our congregation to feel so during our worship will always be a real goal for us!

 

Your turn to share: How do you engage with your congregation? Can you share your best tips in the comments?

Meet the Best Free Worship Presentation Software

There are tons of free worship projection software out there, each with its own set of features that to pick one of them as the best of the lot is never an easy task, right? Well, not anymore! There’s a new kid on the block that’s taken things to a better level. I am gonna stick my neck out and say this is…

THE. BEST. FREE. CHURCH. PRESENTATION. SOFTWARE.

It goes by the name of VideoPsalm and enables projection of:

Songs Scripture verses PowerPoint presentations Image slideshows Videos

With VideoPsalm, we get access to more than 10,000 Christian songs and 90+ Bibles in a variety of languages. More importantly, we can import existing collections of songs and Bibles from many other popular software like OpenSong, OpenLP, EasyWorship, EasySlides, MediaShout etc. This makes the move from an existing software to VideoPsalm easy, convenient and quick.

It’s difficult to describe every single feature of VideoPsalm (there are so many), so let me list the important ones to get you started:

Video looping and playback. One click live background assignment (to a whole song or only a song verse) Live editing of lyrics or playlist to make corrections on the fly. Multiple screen resolution choices (4:3, 4:3:2, 16:10, 16:9, 16:8). Export of set-list to a pen-drive or the cloud. You can plan the service on one PC and take everything to another system at the Church including songbooks, songs, Bible versions, images etc. Text and background transitions. Neat organization of songs into multiple songbooks. Exhaustive song search (by title, lyrics, author, composer, themes, references, copyright, notes) PowerPoint shortcuts compatibility. Extensive slide formatting options that provide total control over the look-and-feel of slides. Dynamic recognition of projector connection or screen resolution change. Ability to store songs with chords and even display chords onscreen if required (ChordPro format is supported). Transposing of chords to any key. Simultaneous bilingual display - display Bible verses in two different languages. More than 30 skins to customize the way it looks.

The one drawback I’ve noticed till now is it doesn’t support Catholic/Orthodox Bibles, hopefully this will be fixed in a later version.

While VideoPsalm is a Windows program, Mac users are not completely left out. Using BootCamp, Parallels or VirtualBox, it can be run on a Mac machine too.

I also have to mention that whenever I’ve emailed the folks at VideoPsalm for assistance, the responses have been prompt and very helpful.

At the price of FREE, VideoPsalm with its massive feature-set is a must have for your church presentation requirements. Do yourself a favor and install it now!

Here’s the link: http://myvideopsalm.weebly.com/.

Your turn to share: Have you tried VideoPsalm? What is your favorite worship projection software?

Disclaimer: I am not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own. This is not a paid review and VideoPsalm has not solicited this post in any manner.

The Prayer of a Worship Leader

I wrote this prayer while in the middle of another writing project.

I am posting it here because it seems appropriate to share it with others. The prayer comprises various aspects that I believe would resonate in the heart of every worship leader especially while preparing to lead worship.

Hope it helps you when you pray. Here goes:

Dear Lord, we thank you for the marvelous, life-transforming revelation of who you are: the One True God. How amazing it is that you choose to grant us glimpses of Your magnificent glory that is radiant in holiness, every time we worship you. We are so grateful that you bless our efforts to worship You with the sacred seal of Your Presence despite our many imperfections.

We rejoice in the privilege of being Your worshippers and we are immensely humbled that You called us into this ministry of helping and enabling others to offer worship to You.

May our worship convey that You are the undisputed supreme priority of our lives and that You will be our God and our mission forever.

May our passion for You and our pastoring of your people be firmly rooted in uncompromised authenticity, demonstrating compassion to the weak, generosity to the needy and fairness in the treatment of people.

May the worship that we lead be a favorable avenue for You to reveal Your awesome power, lift up the lowly, restore the broken, comfort the hurting and bless Your Church.

May our worship be a catalyst for your grace to move in our lives and cultivate resilience during temptation, repentance during sin, forgiveness during hurt, trust during disappointment, fortitude during suffering and prayer at all times, shaping us to become imitations of Yourself.

May our music, songs, arts and other vehicles of worship express thanksgiving, praise, devotion, adoration, reverence, honor, blessing, awe and everything else that is rightfully Yours in a manner that is pleasing to You.

As You draw us closer to Your irresistible heart of love, may we always minister in Your Name and in the inspiration of Your Holy Spirit embracing humility when we are applauded and grace when we are criticized.

May we become and remain willing, committed and faithful servants focused on spreading Your fame and the timeless message of the Cross within the spheres of influence that You place us in without compromising on our love, attention and care for the lives that You have entrusted to us beginning with our families.

And one day when our time here on earth comes to an end, we pray that you grant us the ultimate reward of your benevolent mercy – the opportunity to worship You through all eternity beholding Your glorious presence face-to-face.

In Jesus Name we prayer, Amen.

You can also download this prayer as a printable PDF here.

  Your turn to share: What are your prayers from a worship leading perspective?

7 Free & Handy Apps That Android Users Would Love

 

The ESV Bible app is unique in the sense it's the only ESV Bible app available for Android devices that works both online and offline. Features a cool user interface, cross-references, easy navigation, bookmarking, twitter support etc..

 

 

Feedly With Google Reader shutting down soon, users all over the world are frantically searching for a viable alternative. Feedly is probably the frontrunner at the moment. It's customizable, imports existing Google Reader data, loads fast and renders content on phones and tablets beautifully. Also supports easy sharing on Twitter, Facebook and Google+.

 

TubeMate is a versatile YouTube video downloader that stores videos in different resolutions including full-HD. Downloads videos quickly, supports multi-download, conversion to MP3, sharing via email or Twitter, search and more.

 

 

QuickPic is a pleasant replacement for the default picture gallery app. Comes with quick browsing, slide-show, password protection, video and GIF playback, optimization for HD tablets etc..

 

 

Mobo Daemon is one of the most useful app out there to manage an Android device from a PC. Sync contacts between iOS and Android platforms, send/receive SMS on a PC, manage wallpapers, set ringtone, sync music, manage video, backup data etc.

 

RealPlayer is now out of beta and is one feature-packed media player! Compatible with a wide variety of audio, video and image formats. Great music library features, advanced playlist management, search options, LastFM scrobbling, video streaming lock-screen widget and more. My only complaint is the 7-band equalizer is only available in the paid version.

 

Smartr Contacts is a fast app from the same folks who built the famous MS-Outlook plugin, Xobni. It lists contacts from the phone as well your Google account & social accounts like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. It also syncs contacts from email accounts across multiple devices, ranks them by importance and also supports single-tap calling/mailing/messaging.

Your turn to share: What are your favorite smartphone apps? Have you used any of the above?

Jolidrive - Your One-Stop Cloud Computing Ally

Just about everyone has a Cloud service account these days. And if you have multiple accounts like me, logging in and out of each account can be cumbersome at times. Wouldn't it be nice to have a single interface to access all of these services together? That's exactly the space Jolidrive is pitching at.

Jolidrive, a service built by the team behind Jolicloud (a popular browser-based OS) comes with an easy-to-use interface to browse and edit files stored in various Cloud based services. From photos in Instagram/Flickr to documents in Box/SkyDrive to videos in YouTube/Vimeo, Jolidrive integrates with many of the most popular Cloud services out there.

As of now, I am able to access these services:

Box DropBox Google Drive SkyDrive FaceBook Google+ Tumblr Flickr Instagram Picasa Vimeo YouTube SoundCloud Instapaper Pocket Readability

All of the services are neatly categorized under tabs like Storage, Social, Photos, videos, Music and Reading. According to their blog, the folks at Jolidrive are working to add even more services.

And Jolidrive is free…well almost ‘cos you have to part with some social sharing love to unlock some of its features, which should be fine for most users.

Watch this video to get a better idea of how Jolidrive works:

 

Here's the link: https://drive.jolicloud.com/

If you’ve tried Jolidrive, please share your experience. Know of any other similar service? Leave a comment and let me know.

'The New song' in Support of SHORE HOME

What is 'The New Song'?It's the title of my new worship CD - a collection of 10 songs written over different seasons of my life in the past few years. The title track (available for free at NoiseTrade) especially is my life-song and it could easily be the song of every soul redeemed by the love and grace of Jesus.
For the Name of Jesus is the song of all songs that we can ever sing!
And there's more: I want to invite you to sing 'The New Song' to the needy, for what good is worship if it doesn't lead us to mission! So let me tell you about Shore Home.
About Shore Home:SHORE HOME was started in June 2008 to give hope to needy kids - abandoned orphans, children of prisoners for life etc. in India. At present the home looks after eleven boys and nine girls, each of them with his/her own sad story.
Apart from providing the children with food, shelter, clothes etc., Shore Home also ensures education at a quality school/college to transform their future.
Needless to say, Shore's journey is full of challenges like lack of funds, inadequate place etc. so much so that its every day survival is a miracle!
But for Shore Home, these children would have been dumped on the streets and God knows what would have happened to them.
So how can you help?Simple, just head over to gumroad and buy 'The New Song', it will cost you only $2.99 and a portion of every sale will be donated to Shore Home. You can use the widget below to listen to and download the title track for free:

Now over to you. Will you join with me to sing 'The New Song' to the kids at Shore House? Buy the Album Now .

The Eleven Habits of Highly Effective Worship Drummers

OK, hear my confession first: I am not a drummer.

 

In fact I don't even know a great deal about drumming in general either.

 

But one thing I do know: a contemporary worship team is certainly poorer if a good drummer ain't part of it.

 

The drummer is the musical foundation of a band 'cos it's the drummer's role to lay down the rhythm and keep time for everybody else. And that my friend is a very big deal!

 

Having worked with drummers in various worship settings, from a worship leader's perspective, this is what I would love to see in them:

 

Eleven Key Traits of Fantastic Worship Drummers:

1. Study songs, collaborate with the worship leader/other musicians and take notes on what to do during each section.

 

2. Keep it simple and consistent. Hold back the heavy and fancy rolls/fills especially at the beginning of the song. Remember in worship, most of the time, less is more.

 

3. Know when not to play and don’t play at those moments. Put Jesus first and serve the song, not yourself.

 

4. Create dynamics by using different types of sticks, rods, brushes etc. In fact don’t only stick to the drum-kit; use shakers, scrapers, cowbells, chimes and so on to add different percussive colors to the song.

 

5. All play and no worship makes for a fruitless drummer, so don’t forget to worship. The worship team doesn’t need just another drummer, but a worshiper who drums is a most welcome addition.

 

6. Listen to others while playing, God deserves a team playing with vision, in unison and harmony.

 

7. Work out and rehearse signals and cues with the worship leader and others in the team.

 

8. Open your eyes and look at the worship leader especially at the end of each section of a song be it the verse, chorus, bridge; so you don't miss out those what-to-do-next cues.

 

9. Maintain and tune your drum kit regularly – it might be a good idea to invest in something like a Drum Dial too.

 

10. Work with the ‘sound guy’ to arrive at a balanced sound and volume; a ‘too-loud’ drum setup is an unfortunate worship killjoy.

 

11. Keep yourself physically fit with regular exercise and healthy diet.

 

Playing fast around the drums is one thing. But to play music, to play with people for others to listen to, that’s something else. That’s a whole other world. – Tony Williams

 

Your turn to share: What are the qualities of a worship drummer that you think are important?