worship ministry thought - to click or not to click?

i’ve found that having our drummers play to a click track has greatly increased the quality of our worship music experiences. and it’s not just for novice drummers, either, because it’s not solely about keeping the drummer on track. it allows everyone to relax and lay into the groove better.

and our in-ear monitor system (we use the aviom system) allows us to all have the click track and each of us can set the level independently. this means that we’re not tied to having the drummer starting every song and playing through the entirety of every song. for example, if it’s just an acoustic guitar intro, the guitar player can stay on tempo by playing to the click as well.

it may seem like a drawback to spontaneity or freedom, but i haven’t found that to be the case. it’s an art form, and there is a bit of learning curve for the drummer to get comfortable with managing it - starts, stops, song transitions, etc. but once you get used to it, i’ve found it very helpful.

there are certain times where it seems inappropriate to jump right into a song at tempo, so my drummers and i have had to learn how to manage those situations. just this past week, one transition from a prayer into the next song felt a little too abrupt. so we made a change. i started the chorus of the song with just vocal and acoustic - out of time. once i got going and starting getting closer to full tempo, scott (the drummer) chose a downbeat between vocal phrases and brought in the click. since it was between vocal phrases, it was easier for me to make the slight adjustment to get on tempo. unnoticable to the congregation, but we were able to play the rest of the song exactly at the right tempo and feel, but still had the freedom to start the song more reflectively, out of time.

there are several electronic metronome models that work well in this application. here are two that we use:
1. Boss DB-88
2. Tama Rhythm Watch RW-105

these units allow you to pre-program tempos for each song in order. with one button you can progress to the next song, allowing for quick transitions. you can also choose how much subdivision you want on the fly (quarter notes, eighth notes, sixteenth notes, etc.).

anyone else using click track in live situations? how has your experience been?