Every great musician has their very own “sound”. A sound is a musician’s identity. Many well known musicians can be identified just by their sound even if someone can’t see their face. It’s important for every musician to have their own sound because it represents who they are as a musician. Just like some actors and athletes have their own style of play and are an ideal fit for many situations because of their style, musicians are the same way. The more a musician develops his or her sound and identity, the more they will get noticed and admired. The fact that they have a very distinct musical personality when they play will draw people and make people want to listen. View the entire episode at https://www.cross3network.com/blog/developing sound If you want to learn to play gospel piano for your church by ear and build a solid foundation, visit www.cross3network.com

To view the full episode, visit https://www.cross3network.com/blog/small-budget   Learn how to play gospel piano for free at www.cross3network.com    Everyone knows that music and sound equipment for your church can get really expensive really quick. You can easily create a wish list of $40,000 on the low without even thinking about it. Even if your church has $40,000 + in the treasury, you may not want to invest it all into your music department all at once.  High-end music equipment is expensive for a good reason, and you can’t produce quality music and sound without it. This is not a matter of vanity, it’s a matter of quality.

If you want to learn how to play the piano by ear for free, visit www.cross3network.com/free To view the entire episode, visit https://www.cross3network.com/blog/record-yourself Music is all about listening. The better we are at listening to music and appreciating the details, the more enjoyable listening to music is. One of the best ways to become a better musician is to listen to yourself. Listening to yourself on a recording can be tough, not so bad, or enjoyable depending on how good and experienced you are. The truth is, just about every musician on the face of the earth has heard themselves on a recording and cringed. If they didn’t cringe then someone else cringed for them.

To view the full episode, visit https://www.cross3network.com/blog/future Need a training resource for your church keyboard player, visit cross3network.com Many musicians are leaving the church at an alarming rate, but the question is why? Before the 2000s, you could walk in any given church and see an abundance of musicians that were hungry for action and ready to play their instruments. Many churches had so many musicians that the musicians had to take turns playing.    Things are definitely not like they used to be. The financial value of musicians has gone up significantly over the past few decades because they are not as abundant as they once were.   In some areas, musicians have become so scarce that they play 3 and 4 church services in one Sunday.   In the past, the church would organically breed its own musical talent. But now a lot of this musical talent has either died off, went into show business, or is no longer in commission.   The future of musical talent in the church is at stake. The church at large has two options.  The first option is to let things continue as they are and let the musical fire in church completely die or the second option is to put a system in place that will allow the church to breed it’s own talent each and every year.   The future of musicians and the church will be nothing like the past. There are 3 main elements that the church will need to incorporate in the future to have great musical success…

To view the full episode, visit https://www.cross3network.com/blog/praise_break Download my Piano CheatSheet for FREE at https://www.cross3network.com/chords Playing praise breaks in church can be one of the most exciting things to play for many church musicians. Between playing with the high tempo and seeing people dance to your music with an extreme level of excitement and praise… It can be a real adrenaline rush. Especially for young musicians. Playing a praise break is exciting but always best when it’s played the right way. When the excitement is high and everyone is in the moment during the praise break, It’s easy to assume that the praise break music that’s being played is random and with a high tempo. But the truth is, there are 4 elements to playing most praise breaks.

To view  the full episode visit https://www.cross3network.com/blog/do-you-suck Download the FREE Piano Chord Cheatsheet at www.cross3network.com/chords  Musicians come in all shapes and sizes. No two musicians are exactly alike because no two people are exactly alike. If you put 100 professional keyboard players that play the same music genre in the same room at the same time with 100 keyboards for them to play, you’ll realize that all of the musicians are very different and have different abilities. Some of the musicians in the room may have extremely fast fingers while others may have relatively slow fingers. Some musicians in the room might be absolute fundamental experts while others might be “power chord” players.

To view the full episode, visit https://www.cross3network.com/blog/chordlesson Download my FREE Piano Chord Cheatsheet at www.cross3network.com/chords Learning how to play gospel keys in the beginning can be super exciting, challenging, frustrating, and even overwhelming all at once. Sometimes in the beginning it can be very tempting to go straight for all of the tricks and treats and start blazing right out of the gate. Even though we must crawl before we walk, most don’t really want to. Most people want to start running full speed right out the gate and instantly become this phenomenal musician. The truth is, there is a process and we all have to go through it. When I was a younger musician, all I wanted to do was learn the fancy chords and blaze but i couldn’t because I didn’t fully know the basics yet. (Even though some people can kind of get away with it because their musical ear is more developed) Here’s a story about a time when I had the privilege to learn from one of the greatest gospel musicians in the state of Virginia and what he taught me about playing gospel piano chords. Sitting down and learning from one of the greatest gospel musicians in the state of Virginia changed the way that I viewed the keyboard. The thing that blew my mind was the fact that he didn’t teach me any new or blazing chords. In fact, the only chord that he taught me that I didn’t already know was the tritone.

To see the full episode, visit https://www.cross3network.com/blog/loyalty Before we dive into it… I want you to know that this applies to you if you’re a musician and if you’re a Pastor. Over the past few decades, the relationship between musician and church has changed. There was a day when the church had an abundance of musicians to the point of paying their musician very little if anything at all. There was a time when musicians were not only loyal to churches, but churches were loyal to musicians. Just like relationships, both parties have to bring something to the table. This is not to blame or point the finger at churches nor musicians, but the point of this is to help us move forward, mend relationships, and make life easier for both the musician and the church. As a musician of 20 plus years, I want to share a portion of my story and why I’m a loyal musician to my church.

View the full episode at https://www.cross3network.com/blog/dominate Major 7th and Major 9th chords are beautiful sounding chords that sound different depending on where you place them. The only difference between the Major 7th and Major 9th chords are one single note, and because of it, the Major 9th chord sounds more full and powerful.    There are quite a few different places that you can play the Major 7th and Major 9th chords, and like most chords, there are many different situations that you can use these chords in.   Like many other chords, you have to be careful not to overuse these chords because you don’t want to take away from how effective they can be in certain moments.    In this FREE training, I want to demonstrate how to play these chords in the key of C and C#. It’s always best to learn all 12 versions of the chord so that you won’t lack in certain situations.    Download your FREE piano cheat sheet at www.cross3network.com/chords 

Download your FREE Piano Chord Cheat Sheet at https://www.cross3network.com/chords After being a gospel musician in the church arena for the past 20 years, I’ve done a lot and I’ve seen a lot. I’ve made a lot of mistakes and I’ve gotten a few things right. One thing that I didn’t realize when I was a brand new keyboard player was that being a church musician is more than just being talented and skilled. Some musicians are very fortunate to have a great mentor while some have to figure everything out on their own. If I could go back in time tell myself 10 things to focus on to be a great musician… These are the 10 things that I would tell myself…