https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOtsfmyxEdw

Here's a few things to get you started with putting together set lists and making sure they're easy to play for the band and flow well. Here are a couple key points to take into consideration:

Message

It's important to ask yourself what message you're trying to convey with the set list. How do you hope to inspire or challenge the congregation? Is there something that you've been going through personally that you can use as the message of the worship set? The congregation will connect with a person that is genuine and real on stage, so it's important to choose songs that resonate with you not only on a musical level but in their message and lyrics. It can help to choose a theme and reference that theme when searching for songs.

Also consider how a theme can evolve during a worship set. What's your starting point and where do you want to go? For example, starting in a place of worship and surrender and building up into a powerful moment of praise and excitement. Let the emotion evolve and change throughout—don't stick to one side of the spectrum!

Song Keys

Song keys can be a bit intimidating, but if you understand a few basic guidelines, it's a lot more manageable. A few things to consider with song keys are:

1. Are the song keys comfortable to play?
   • If you want to keep things simple and easy to grasp, avoid playing songs in sharp or flat keys. They are generally more difficult to play for the band and are more difficult to transition with.
   • Make sure that you minimize the amount of keys that you're playing in. So if you have 3 songs, avoid having them all be in different keys. Try having 2 songs in one key and 1 song in a different key. If you can have 3 songs in the same key—all the better—that'll be much easier on the band. But don't feel limited to that!
2. Are the song keys comfortable to sing?
   • It's crucially important to check in with each singer and make sure that the songs are comfortable to sing. No one likes surprises in the middle of rehearsals where you have to change keys last minute. Have each vocal sing through the song on their own time and confirm that it works ahead of time.
3. Do the song keys transition well?
   • Read Song Key Transitions

Learning Resources

While thinking about songs and song keys, it's important to consider how these songs will be learned. You need to provide the band everything they need in order to learn songs. For this we have a number of resources that we use.

We currently use Multitracks, Worship Online, and The Worship Initiative to learn songs. If you can stick to songs that are available here, you'll make it a lot easier on the musicians and singers.