Playing Keys for Eddie James with Justin Patrick Ford

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Eddie James Christmas Glory Album on Spotify

Hear the inspiring musical journey of Justin Patrick Ford, from his early love for the organ at his family’s church to becoming a musician for Eddie James Ministries. Justin shares his passion for music, chord theory, and his unique journey through different musical influences including gospel and CCM. He also delves into specific songs, explaining chord structures and providing insights into his creative process. The episode ends with practical advice for new keys players emphasizing the importance of listening.

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Transcript

Welcome to the Worship Keys YouTube channel. My name is Carson. Glad you're here. We talk all things music theory, gear, industry, and ministry for your Worship Keys playing. I want to thank Aerospace Audio for being a sponsor of this episode. They provide high quality atmospheric pads for your performances or worship services.

You can run the pads off of their app on your iPhone or iPad, or you can use their really cool atmosphere foot pedal to where the sounds come out physically from this pedal, which is really cool. You can check out their products. On aerospace audio. com so now let's get into today's episode.

Welcome to the podcast, man. It's nice to be here. This is amazing. I'm having a surreal moment like literally right now. Man, I asked God for this gift. When I first heard gospel music when I was young we used to get the wild gospel CDs. So I was hearing John P. Key, Carlton Pearson Donnie McClurkin and a host of other artists.

And that music, I don't know, it just put me in a chokehold forever. And so, I just grew up listening to them. I, my father sang in church. My mom, not so much. She was a secretary. And, but I was always. Enamored with the organ that said in our church when I was growing up in Memphis our family's church was new Zion missionary Baptist church.

So I grew up Baptist and that was his Oregon. I was later that played the Oregon and I always wanted to just push her off the seat and play the work. And so that's where like the love of it, man It's a love story like music and myself. Yeah for me like it's a love story and it's just something that My first keyboard Was the light up keyboard from qvc.

Oh, wow, really? My mom bought that's how it started I got a little lessons back then I was probably 10 or something. I don't know. Yeah It traveled with me music just growing up and then I got to college and that's really where I wanted to Take a gamble at it. So I became the musician for Love United Gospel Choir.

It's a university of Tennessee's gospel choir in Knoxville, Tennessee. That's where I went to college and that's where the journey started for me and music. I slept terribly during that period. Don't go look for anything. Don't go look for anything, but that's where it it really is.

Like, when I hear. Chords, it's I'm literally like, it's just all a big love story for me. So that's where the expression comes from. It's passion. It really is passion. So when I hear like music today and what I've been searching for my entire life is just the way to convey this little feeling in my chest.

How do I get that here? That's the journey. And that's what music sent me on. Like I got this knot in my chest from hearing stuff that I fell in love with and I'm trying to show y'all to not express it somehow. And and it started to develop in cording for me. I became in love with chords.

Artists do be pal. He's a Probably one of the biggest influences and especially in contemporary gospel. I mentioned earlier, Derek Jackson, he hails from Memphis, Tennessee. So we are all Derek students. And he man inspired us to no end. You just got to listen to him like one time.

And so all of that just experiences, It became, I'm going to keep saying it like a love story. I don't know why I've not said that to today, but it's really what it is. It's the rawest way to put it for me. So I chased it down. Like I tried to chase it down. Like I want that. I want to just want that sound 

and so I started trying to figure out what's making it. Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. Texture dissonance emotionality in music. Yeah. So good. Yeah. I want you to talk a little bit about this green keyboard. Yeah.

It could be many different colors. Yeah. Because it acts like a green screen man. But this is the north stage three that you're, we're in front of, . If you're watching on YouTube you can see it. But tell us a little bit about. Why you painted your Nord stage three, which was a beautiful red.

And what inspired the green keyboard? Okay. I am not crazy, but I, I probably had a crazy moment because I painted a Nord green. Why did I do that? I don't know. I really don't have a great explanation for why I did that, but it was a beautiful time that I had with my daughter and her cousin.

And it was their idea. Okay. Why did I take the advice of some kids? I don't know. And, but I did have this thing in the back of my head that said it'll be the only green keyboard out there. Yeah, there you go. I just kept that's the only thing that settled me. Yeah. It'll be the only one out there.

That's cool, man. And then I realized, oh, it is green. I wonder will it be able to do effects, with the filters. So I. I started hitting it with the filters on Instagram and sure enough, it would just change color. So every video I'm just like flipping colors.

So it's it's cool. People are like, whoa, what keyboard is that? Everybody asks, I'm like, it's the Nords. It's like, how many Nords do you have? That's probably the silliest question. I've got, how many Nords do you have? I've got 30 out, 30, 000 of them. Cause I just, yeah. No, however many colors there are.

That's how many I have. But yeah, no, that was it. It was literally just, that took a chance. And real quick, how did you do, how'd you do that? You just take the, took the whole Yeah, I took this lid off. Lid off. Just the, just this frame. And it just comes right up. There you go. And then I taped this off and then just tried to paint over it.

Hit it with some spray paint. And And you didn't damage anything in the process. Yeah. And when I will be honest when I put it back on and I put the power plug in it, it didn't cut right back on. I got nervous. I got nervous. And I said a little prayer and I jiggled a little bit and popped right on.

So I was like, okay, cool. We in there. Dude, thank you for being on the pod. You have played many years with Eddie James, which I have huge love and respect for. I love Eddie James. I first saw Eddie James and his team, his ministry, back in 2008, I believe.

It was the first time, at the ramp in Hamilton, Alabama. I was a kid, almost a teenager, but And I remember his team coming out there and such a powerful voice. And then all of the musicians were just crazy good. And you joined in 2019, 2019, so you play with him for a long while full time until you had your daughter and then you came off the road a little bit.

Yeah. But dude, I want you to tell us First of all, how was it playing with Eddie James? And what are some, one of some of your best stories you have playing with Eddie James? Man, playing with Eddie. We, to be honest, we probably bumped heads a lot. Prior to the gig I was working for Verizon and I was like, man, I cannot die in here. And so I was like, yeah, I gotta do something. And I've always had this desire to travel a little bit and play. And I quit my job just on the spur of just quitting.

Then my little brother Tyler was already playing for Eddie. Really? Yeah. He's a drummer, right? Yeah. He's a drummer. Yeah. He's crazy. And he was the MD at the time. And he was like, bro, I need you. And I was like, I'm not going to do it. He said, please. He asked me a couple of times. Really? And cause I'm older.

Like I'm like I have a youthful spirit, but I'm 38. And yeah, I'm 38. And I'm sorry, I just, I don't got it in me. I wanted to do something in music. I want to play with an artist and just basically scratch that itch that I've had. And me and Eddie talked and the conversation shifted and it got serious.

And this is where it got serious at. I had been playing in church for years at this point. Yeah. Every so many churches, I was actually, I wasn't burnt out per se, but I was numb. I was like spiritually numb, just playing for services. I'm always a church kid. I was going to be in church still in love with God, but not on fire.

And got with Eddie and that's when things just started to change, I don't know the scales on my heart to start to fall off, right? I'm in this new environment. I'm a primarily a gospel cat out of Memphis, Tennessee, and I'm in this new space is primarily a contemporary worship, CCM.

And so I'm experiencing a lot of news, a lot of news. And but one thing I noticed was it was just the chipping away at my heart. It had gotten so stony. From the work. And so being in that, just that moment in time with Eddie he is more than a artist. He's a pastor disguised as an artist. I will tell everybody that he is a walking revival.

Wow. He's a walking revival. That's a good way. And it's real to Israel and I will be the first to tell you if it wasn't Is real and a little bit about you know him really You know what's ministry does some people may have never even heard of Eddie James Yeah, I know I've heard of him for a while, but some people never heard of him has a tons of music out He's been doing ministry for over 20 years well over 20 years But he has Eddie James ministries is his ministry.

Tell us a little bit about what he does You talked about he's a pastor disguised as an artist now. He's an artist. He's doing he's putting out music all the time He's recording all the time a lot of live stuff. But what does he do? More even beyond these, the stage, because a lot of people don't know that I know even I don't even know what he does beyond the music because music is such a big thing of what he does.

But with the people that he brings in, whether that be dancers, singers, musicians, other people, what is, what does he do with his ministry, man? So there's this thing that I love and it's called DNA. It's his Bible study. Eddie is this crazy. So we'll do an event. And that event any one of Eddie's events, it's going to be a three hour event, right?

It's probably three hours because he's going to talk. We're going to present. It's about three hours. So we're going to be walking out of that church, probably like 1115. All right. We probably get back to the hotel, maybe 1220, 12, something like that. All right. So he's going to give you enough time to get you a little snack.

Cause we're going right into Bible study. And not coming out of Bible study to 3 a. m. Wait. So after this, after the event, then do a Bible study. This man is crazy. Really? And it's called DNA. Wow. Yeah. After any event, after any 90 percent of them. Wow. Yeah. He goes right into Bible study. Crazy. Which is awesome.

It's awesome. Is it like a debrief of the event or is it totally separate? Is it just like Separate. It's just whatever is in his heart to minister at that point. It may be a continuation, just depending on how the move was in the room, of course, but for the most part, it's just his typical Bible study that's continuous.

So I want to make sure everyone hears that correctly. So y'all do a three app, y'all do y'all prep for the day. You come in, you do load in, you do sound check, you do a full service. And then it's like midnight, 1230, 1 a. m. And then he's okay guys, let's get our bibles out. Let's circle around and let's do DNA.

They know when I'm saying DNA, because the people who know when they hear DNA, they're going to, it's triggering. So to the love that he has for the Lord for you guys. Yeah, it is. Man, he yeah he rescues at risk youth. High school, college range. And and these kids, they get an opportunity to see the world, be in great company, and minister.

And then, not all the time do they come in, gifted. But we get a chance to sit down with them and discover their gifts, and all of a sudden you, they're blossoming into whatever. If it's in media, if it's in Apparel, design and things like that. Dance we've and then, he had a whole team leave just shortly and they became average city.

So like he said that again. Yeah. So Joel Dante who else was a part of Maverick from 80? Joel Dante. And there's one more I'm missing. Yeah. So primarily a lot of them came from 80. Really? Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. It's so crazy. So what does that process look like? Does he just find out about these people, call them up, say, Hey, you want to join the ministry or how's that work?

How's that process work? How that happens. A lot of times when we're in services they already aware that he's coming. You will have parents who have children, youth, I should say young adults, actually. And they'll make them come. It'd be like their son that is, wayward or whatnot.

And come to this concert tonight. And I don't want to go to that, but come here. They come. Yeah. Yeah. They come boom. Baptism of the Holy Spirit. And then they like, they on fire, the eyes lit up and they leave that night. The parents in the back said, we already got your bags back. They already knew.

They already knew. Yeah. That's amazing. And they get up, they get in the van. Wow. And then from there. Their identity is Revealed. How many lives do you think he's impacted so far? Has it been hundreds? Has it been thousands? Countless. What do you think? Thousands. It's tens of thousands. Very great. I love that man I want you to share the story.

I know you've been to Africa many times in those Events where there were literally what over 50, 000 people. Oh, yeah or so Can you speak a little bit about your time in Africa and that story that you shared off camera? I would love for you to share it again. Yeah, okay, yeah. Just how the presence of God moved and how that impacted your life, man.

Yeah. It was one thing I didn't tell you. I prayed. So I'm with Eddie at this point and I'm really seeking, I'm really seeking for God, honestly. Cause I wanna, it's new for me and I don't quite know where I am in my own life. Yeah. It's new for me. All I know is I've been in church for so long, church, baby, and I just do the work of the church.

I just play music, right? Yeah. So I've gotten to this point and where I feel extremely numb. And I said, God, I haven't even cried in the service. And I don't, I can't tell you when the last time I cried in the service. So I'm having this conversation with God. Like I have not cried. Like I don't remember crying.

I don't remember like feeling. Like I'm always just playing right and so boom, all right the I get the gig with Eddie I think it wasn't even four weeks until I'm on a plane to Africa and we're we are Actually co laboring with Christ for all nations at this point. So there's a ministry led by Reinhardt Bunke was founded by Reinhardt Bunke and it's led now by Daniel Kalinda.

And so they do these huge crusades, hundreds of thousands and it's primarily on the continent of Africa. So Eddie is the worship leader for that ministry for Christ for all nations. So I went with him as his MD. And fast forward, we get, we're in a service, we're out on the field. At the end of that service, pastor Daniel wants to pray for the gift of the Holy spirit to fall.

And he does, he asked me to stop playing for a minute and I do. And like I said, we were waiting what sent like forever, but in probably 45 minutes to a minute, 45 seconds to a minute. And then at the back of the, so you just heard these. Just screeching cries. I just I can't never forget it because it just, it tore into me and then the field just collapsed and you just saw like literally just bodies collapse crying and everybody's wailing.

And then I just see Children crying and then boom, it hits me. And what I asked God for, I'd never asked him again. I cried for the next three days. I started crying there. Daniel looks back at me to cue the music. I'm on the ground and he looks back. He said, first time I was like, yeah, first time. So I'm unconsolable right on the ground.

Just wow. And that thing sat on me. So tough. Like I literally, for the next two to my flight out of there, I'm crying. I said, I never asked him for that again. That he's a joke. I learned that day. God does enjoy jokes. That's why we laugh. He's a jokester. He, I know he was laughing. Laughter is good medicine.

Man he fixed me. So yeah, that was that, man. I think that's incredible because so many times in church, we try to create this moment through music. Yeah. And there, and, Music is emotional. Definitely for sure. And it's a gift that God's given us. But I love the fact that he said, no music, stop everything.

And then all of a sudden just boom, it broke out. There was no call to action that was like, come down here from a motivational speaker from a pastor. There was no huge buildup in the music. There was literally the Prince of God out in a field. No, no light, no crazy lighting effect.

No, this was, it was a very humble meeting for what humble can be. We got a stage there. But I mentioned earlier, I, what struck me about the moment where it was, I knew these people are probably living in like hoods and stuff like that. They don't have, they didn't have a readily available access to like media television.

So that means that they couldn't be influenced by, especially Westernized Christianity, how we are. They couldn't see that. So you're getting to see a authentic outpouring of the Holy Spirit untampered with. Yeah. And it's, and that's what touched me. I think in that moment, the most, I was like, this is the way the Bible described it.

It was that's what I was feeling. I was like, Oh, this is an X moment. And yeah, that, yeah, I don't want to cry. Dude. Hey, let it flow, man. That's amazing. Yeah. That marked me that moment. It marked me completely. And it literally took yeah this, the stoniness away from my heart. And I was like, yeah, I'm ready now.

I'm ready for it. Yeah. Cause sometimes you're like, you do this for so long. You'd be like, is this real? Yeah. Yeah. Especially when you get trapped in emotions of just doing the work of the church. Yeah. Yeah. Man, that's powerful. Thanks for sharing that. Yeah. I think that's incredible. And something special about Eddie James and people that team up with Eddie James is, it's going to be legit.

Or he's not going to do it, you know what I'm saying? And yeah, I love that so much. I can speak from those experiences. I've had a few of those at the ramp in Alabama where he's been a part of those services. And there's just specific songs of his that I go back to my own personal prayer time or worship time that I love that he wrote.

And so it's just so crazy. Dude, talk a little bit about, I know you've talked a little bit about this.

You're from Memphis. You talked about some people there in Memphis that have been very influential in life. And a lot of great players are still coming from Memphis. And so yeah, man, that's high school. I was in choir of all things. Okay. But this particular choir was led by Galen Robinson, who happened to be Yeah, he was a jazz pianist who loved choral music, jazz compositions, right?

So we're sitting as high school students learning jazz and choir. Yeah. So after classes, you got the piano and there's like maybe four or five of us who are pianists and we're just playing. The compositions that we've seen because we want to hear it on keys. So he was really like breeding jazz players.

One of them went off to be Janelle Monae's music director. I was one. You got Chris Simmons, Chris Carter. They were even my friend Amanda, she's the front of house engineer for LMA right now. Wow. So when we all came out of that class, he so that's another huge influence in Memphis. And he left to go teach in New York somewhere.

Wow. Yeah, he's a college professor now, working with different symphonies. Incredible. So we had access to that. He had us listening to incredible composers. So I was influenced really early by strong, Just strong musicians. It's awesome. And so that's a lot where they came from. Yeah, so good.

So good, man. Dude, Before we are going to hear you play and I want you to break down two or three songs One's from eddie james and a few of them will just be more hymn based worship based And I want you guys that are listening and watching to see inversions As far as voicings go, sometimes as keys players, I know once you get to a certain level, you're.

You're wondering how can I keep things fresh? So I think justin's gonna be able to really give you guys some fresh perspective, especially Coming into the christmas season. There's one song from eddie james album called glory, which you played on that album, right? Yeah So guys, I'll probably link it in the show notes in the description on YouTube, but the album from Eddie James called Glory, his Christmas album, I think it's his latest Christmas.

He has a few, or maybe that's the latest one. But listen, this album is incredible. There were some nuances that I think you didn't like as much as being a part of the creative side.

I'm just tough on me. It was good. Yeah. Talk about that whole, can you talk about yeah, we're going to change gears here and we're gonna, we're gonna actually hear more of you play. You've been playing in the background as we've been talking a little bit, but we're gonna actually hear you play, see some notation and really gain some insights from you today, which is gonna be great.

But before we do, man, Talk about that album y'all recorded it in cleveland. Yeah, cleveland tennessee, okay so it's at Perry stones church. Did you help arrange that now? No, you said eddie james is a musician Yeah, he's an arranger very hand hands on very hands on musician he did give me the green light a little bit on that.

Okay. Okay. He did let me explore with certain things and I feel like A baby. That was one of my baby projects. Yeah. Yeah. A newbie, I'm just really just playing with just chords and stuff that I hear and stuff. But but yeah, no, that, that whole experience was crazy. He had us locking in on a lot of different stuff and he gave us the green light on a lot of different things because I think we had earned it by that point when this record was time.

We he's really, yeah. A big disciplinary disciplinarian when it comes to, excellence in music. That's good. So it shows on stage. I had to learn him. I had to learn how to pace, learn how to fall back. And sometimes, when you get to a point in your playing and you do have language you become talkative.

So you got to learn how to pick your spots. And so I had to learn that too. That was a learning curve for me going from gospel music more. And Eddie's, I would put him more in the gospel category than I would CCM. Just because his arrangements his thinking on the music it's cordy and it's a lot more changes when, especially when it comes from him.

But I had to figure out how to take what I know and make it work. Not necessarily dumbing it down, but. So what you're saying is that you can't, you come from such gospel church world that Eddie James music is dumbing it down. Is that right? You're saying in a sense that, yeah, it's some, and some of his stuff now.

So yeah, you can go. He can go. That's why I said, I wouldn't put Eddie in the CCM category, but if we're doing covers, different. Yeah. Yeah. There's slower ballads and stuff. It's just four chords, right? Just, or a faster one that's just those four chords and you're just going at done duh, and but it's really, it was just about being organized in your thoughts and placement. And I was, that was me trying to learn. I wanted to learn placement. I wanted to learn how to play this music in an organized way that communicates, right? And everybody understands, especially if it's like some cover.

That's widely played by everybody, you won't be the one person that, Oh, what song is that? So yeah, that was my thing because we can get so in our brains because we are so musical and we want to throw everything in there. And I had to learn how to be just more disciplined in the music.

So that's why I hold back a lot, honestly, I try to hold back a lot. That's good. Okay. So tell me talk me through a little bit. When Eddie James has a song, a new song, maybe, and he's introducing it to all of you guys, how does that normally transpire? And how do you guys normally go about, arranging that after he's said the idea?

What kind of happens? What's the process? You're going to get a you're going to get an MP3 from his keyboard or his drum tracks. That's the funniest thing in the world. He's a musician. And so he's going to give you a full production track is whatever it is, and you got to make it make it make sense.

And when Basically when he sends the stuff it's like a prearrangement. Oh. I had gotten to the point where I was, at least he had given me the grace where I can go in there and be like, I want this and put this in there. I could kind of play around with his arrangements.

And I think I had to earn it from him. But yeah, so when it came down to it, He especially the core of us, he called what was our band name? Tab Tabernacle Tabernacles. So he called us tab. He said, I'll never call another band tab. And but yeah he literally, we were aggressive, an aggressive bunch behind him.

I would say especially from probably what he had been accustomed to in the past. We were a lot more aggressive and pushing in the music. And he we would fight a lot on stage where he would be like, keep it simple. We would be like, I can't hear you Eddie. And then we, he finally, it's you're playing the same setlist or the same song or whatever.

I, I, 10 different churches. You're like, man, about the fifth one. You're like, let's change it up. Let's get some more syncopation going. He's what are y'all doing? What are y'all doing? And but yeah, he had finally gotten to the point where it was trust. We had to earn trust, but we became more disciplined in our craft too.

When we were showing that, yeah, this music is being executed at a standard, that's, that is. What he's comfortable with. Yeah. He gave us a green light to play around and with embellishments and stuff in the music, especially when we got to the glory record, we were able to carry a little bit of that into that record.

Talk about other band members with you. Who were the people playing guitars, bass, who were all the other? I know you've mentioned Ty on the drums. Yeah. Tyler. Tyler is the reason I was in the band. So Tyler was the music director prior to me. And I was working for Verizon and at the time and then I quit cause I wanted to do something else with my life.

Tyler was like, man, we need a music director. At first I was like, no, cause I just didn't want to do it. I didn't feel like being on the road in that sense. I don't know. I was just being me. And then, we had to talk with Eddie. And when I had to talk with Eddie, I was like he's different. I You know, I knew about Eddie, but I had never met him.

I had never had a conversation with him. And I said, I like you. You're pretty solid. I like what you're saying. And I went out on the road with him. And so then you got Nick. Nick was on bass. You got Dimitri who was on guitar called Mimi. He hates that.

He absolutely hates it. So there was, it was really the four of us for a period of time we brought in e baby. He was on he started doing rhythm guitar. That's Erickson. And Erickson went off, got married, had a baby. He had a replacement. Who who sat in for him and shootie, he wants to shoot.

He would love to hear his name called shootie shout out to shootie. And so shootie, he sat in in Eric's inspired for almost four years. And he came on up like we worked a lot with him on guitar, but we brought him up to speed. That's good. But yeah, so those are the cast. We made a lot of music magic together.

It was, I tell anybody it's not about, , all star band members. It's really about the relationship. That's good. That's good. It is literally a relationship. Most of the dopest bands are families, family bands, right? Because their relationship, they spend so much time together.

They know each other. We spent a lot of time together. We could finish each other's sentences. And so that happens in the music, right? That's just a by product of spending so much time together. You, that relationship builds you make mistakes together. So I'm going to learn your mistakes.

All right. And so all of that feeds into the chemistry and yeah, we did some good work in that period of time. Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah. I do before we hear you play here, we were going to hear you play very soon, but I do want to hear your thoughts on CCM and gospel world, like there are many, like you mentioned a little bit of Maverick city.

You know has some gospel chops, but are playing a lot of ccm style. But I know i've seen i've been following you on social media for a while. Okay, and i've seen you share some thoughts your stories and your posts and Captions and whatnot. So i'd love to give you an opportunity on the podcast man just to share your heart, and your opinion and some with some insights on the gospel and ccm world and You Where the crossover has been and there's blendings of styles and stuff.

And your thoughts on all of that. Yeah. Oh, that's a dope question because I have been thinking about that a lot. It, there is a merger happening. That's how I feel about it. There's a merge between the two worlds. And it's occurring right now. You're, it's, this is gospel, it used to be gospel versus CCM.

We used to do this rivalry thing on, on the internet. I was a big proponent of it. Oh, man. I did it out of fun, but I would troll while doing it. Huh. And but, this, it's, it literally is a merger happening. Even in the music, you can hear it. You're so many gospel cats are just trying CCM out and the vice versa.

You're seeing a lot of different cultures and ethnicities pull on like styles that originated with African Americans and the black church and that, that style. So you're seeing a lot of that happening right now and everybody is becoming, it's becoming a melting pot. Everybody's putting their two cents into it.

I even kid with the Hispanic community because I always kid with them because they are on top of it when it comes to like gear and I just love their flow. And but they, that whole segment, they have been giving a lot of input into the gospel space. Yeah. And so boom you're hearing.

New things come out of it. What was, it's this one song CM break was there always with my heart? Someone but it's on the the latest Todd Mike Todd. Mike Todd okay.

I was like, what? So he just dropped the record, right? I don't know what to call it. I don't know what to call this style. Yeah. Because it's a high energy contemporary worship. Yeah. It's so high energy. And what we used to call CCM in the past, it originated with your Chris Tomlins, and The Gators.

Oh, it goes back to that, right? It was way more simplistic. Today CCM is honestly, in my opinion, if I just were to make a statement, it's morphed. It has evolved. It's turned into something else and it doesn't have a name yet. I love it.

It's it's popped. Yeah, it's pop. It's fusion. It's so much In it right now because there's so many people right adding input into it. I think the world of it because everybody is, it used to be gospel music actually used to be in a bubble and it was a small segment right now we're in the buckle of the Bible belt here in Tennessee.

So for it, The impact of it is now is becoming global, the sound like. And then now everybody's adding their input into it. Like I said, it's going, it's getting to a space where we can talk about what gospel music was. We're gonna talk about what CCM was, 'cause I don't know what this is now.

. Yeah. Yeah. And so I, but I love it. Whatever it is, I love it. I want to add my 2 cents to it and shape it how I see it. You know how the Lord gives it to me. So sweet dude. But yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Love it, man. I love it. Dude I think at this time we're just gonna hear you play. I want you to first walk through the song I think it's just called Glory.

Yeah. On the Glory album. Yeah. Where it starts off with the traditional, The glory, Gloria. And then it says but just like in Eddie James fashion. Oh yeah. Everything turns minor. Yeah, oh yeah. Can you speak on that for a minute? What's your understanding of why does, do you know why Eddie James loves the minor keys and modes more than anything else?

I have no idea. I'm pretty sure when he hears those chords words come. Yeah. That's probably what it is. What I love about Eddie James music too, is every song, pretty much every song, like points to Jesus, like exalting Jesus. Everything is like the heart of who Jesus is. He's taught us like. You know what I mean?

Yeah, that, that's, that is the central point. Is the cen ter. Yes, the focus needs to be grace, right? And so that's that's his writing and he mentions Holy almost in every song. Yeah, even in the glory song it goes into this there's a lot of call and responses with his songs where he's singing The vocals background vocals are answering back vice versa with other people a lot of collaboration with every album and songs that he does but There's one part which he does in a lot of songs too, but with the vocal stacking and then the he goes like the Holy holy And it's like glory to god in the highest and then worthy word and then it's like you deserve the glory And so he's always about just god is holy He's worthy and then in that we're going to give him glory.

So I love how he took like the traditional, gloria Song yeah christmas song and then but he made his spin to it and I want you to just take us through that intro And then the rest of the song it just turns into it a what you expect from eddie james Yeah, just the drums going crazy for it's almost some of it's like a war cry, the minor is like a You This war cry tribal battle.

Yeah, very tribal. Love it. It makes for great stuff live, like drum breaks and stuff with the band. I bet you guys have a blast playing that live, man. That glory was, it was, that was a challenge. I'm not going to let you, when he first gave us that arrangement, I think that was probably the most challenging tune that we had to play 

 But glory, uh, yeah, man, let's, uh, let's get into that and show everyone what you're doing and take, take you through the whole intro.

And by the way, you guys definitely after this episode, need to go listen to Eddie James Christmas album because it's getting that time of year. So let's do it 

first. The glory record. That was my first live recording, with Eddie James. That record, it was heavy. It had a lot of lot of things in it.

A lot of different styles. We just somehow it was a big melting pot of just stuff but it was great. It was good music. Great. Lyrical content. I'm big on lyrics. Um, Eddie is a master with a pen and he can write you into the story. Like, like he's a master at telling a story and lyrically.

 It's not too many people out there that can sit with him on it. And the way he tells, the story of Jesus in the song, Jesus. That's incredible. He's got like a Jesus Christmas version and it's called he's here. So that's him telling the story of Christ in You know the Bethlehem version so but We got this on glory He asked me to come up with an intro for it.

It's based off the, um, 

I guess that's it. I don't even know that. But I knew what he was talking about. So he wrote a song to that. And it's called Glory. So I was tasked with, you know, He just needed an intro. Something to Get us to the, the meat of the song, the second part. And so I was sitting there thinking, I was like, all right, I just had to come up with something quick.

I stuck with the melody and I just kind of re harmed it to get us through it. So I was just like, okay, cool. Let's do something like.

Right then he was like. Okay, cool. And then take it minor, I was like, come on, bro. So we did minor. Yeah, I'm moving. So that's where that came from. But yeah, so it's it's a lot of chords. It's a lot of uh, it's like a this six, you'll hear that tone, this interval, the sixth interval a lot. You're gonna hear a lot of dominant sevens.

You're gonna hear minors. Thrown in with like I'm throwing in like a tritone That's where that two chord is coming from I'm just getting right into it I guess And This one chord I'm reharming to give you that tonality. I don't know what I'm not the best at Theory, I'll be honest with you. I'm glad he has the software going right now.

You can read, you can see, um, but I know, I know sound. When I look at these chords, I look at them from the standpoint of if I'm playing and I'll look at all the notes, I know that in this chord, I've got an F. I've got a D All right. I've got an a flat. I've got a b flat Another F, so I'm like, okay The tones in this chord are borrowed from somewhere else, right?

Primarily you probably get most of this stuff from like Like B dominant B flat dominant 7, right? That's pretty Primarily what a lot of the tones are coming from. So I'm borrowing from that. I got that in mind as I'm just approaching this one cord, the way I got it voiced. I'm, I do a lot of borrowing based upon my knowledge of what I do in other keys.

That's kind of how I navigate through playing through changes. In my mind, I'm always just borrowing from other keys and changes that I do in other keys when it fits the moment in whatever song so let's go right back to the top of this

So melody it's first thing

So that was the goal so I just opted to play this I really I can't tell you why the lord gave it to me But I know the melody of it works.

And then we just add a four chord, but I, I'm resting on the one. But you're just not hearing this, right? So it's rudeness. I know it's there and you feel it there. I just don't have to play it. It just don't need to be stated, right? then re harm stuff.

So, This is one of those, when you're growing up in gospel, this is probably the first, what we call a fat chord that they taught us. It was like this diminished chord with this pinch note, that dissonance. It was like one of our craziest chords from back in the day. And so I was like, it's, it, it, I, it always comes back.

It's just quick to use. If you're thinking about a melody, I'm just using it for melody.

Now I'm borrowing. This is obviously E minor. So, and I'm passing. To the three. That's going kind of diminished, but you're hearing that E flat. I like color. I really would have done this.

I really want to do that, but it's too crazy. So you got to leave some of this stuff out, uh, back home.

Minor.

Now, why am I choosing this? The route I'm going is

that's the route. So it wasn't major, but we just moving it and then now it's moving this up to this a flat. So we're actually just borrowing from a flat major. Right. So, but so you can almost just think of it as like you're going six and a flat seven, but it's re harmed. It's crazy. I know. I'll try to help you with it.

Uh, so I got this G E I'm borrowing from the diminished chords, but I like to mix tones. I like dissonance That's just me It gets a little little crazy. Give us a little weedy, but if you stick with me, I'm telling the story

All right, so I just did basically I'm gonna play a little bit more simple let's go Six. One. And then I pass from the six in A flat to get to the two. I play this chord, a gospel chord.

It's really a diminished chord, you're just raising this tone here. And then I know it's based off of the six, I'll throw in a tritone over that six just for more color.

And it's passing to I'm minor two and then I'm doing a five one four.

And then we get to this three. Eddie loves this major three.

Yeah. So

How the

Mm, Uh, Mm, Uh, Mm, Uh, Mm, Uh. Um, Uh, uh, um. Um, Uh, um. Um, Uh, uh, Um, um.

That's when the track comes in. Um, Uh, um, Um, Um, Um, Um. I did want to share this song because It's my, it's like literally my favorite song, but it's near and dear to, um, uh, my coach brothers and sisters. I'm coach church of God in Christ. So, um, the leader, the founder of the church churches of God in Christ, he, uh, this came to him in his time of prayer, it was just a simple, yes, yes, uh, yes, Lord, we call it the yes Lord.

Him. All

right, so, and I love this song because you can do so much with it. You can go so many different ways with it. I use it like a practice tool. I'll often like crank my strings up a little bit and just journey through it. I'm going to try to show you some nuances that I pull out. Um, when I'm playing through this, it's really more gospel heavy.

Um, but it's always something to learn there. So, um, yes, it's really melodic. So first thing out the gate, this song teaches me how to I feel like how to chord properly.

And I'm paying very close attention to. The melody of what, uh, the voices would be saying in that moment, they'll be saying, oh, yes.

Then I'll say, oh, yeah.

Yes, Lord. Yes. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. All right. So that.

Let's go from one to the four, let's go to the top of it. So yeah, you got to pass it to now immediately. I got to stop right there. Immediately. Most people will play it this way. Yes.

I hear that a lot. Cool. I'm not mad at it, but I'm like, okay, I'm, I'm really focused on like, Hearing the melody. What is, I would say more appropriate. I'm not going to say the most, I would say what's a little bit more appropriate for this. Style. When you hear it, when you hear that melody up top, you want to try to keep it.

But when you got when you can only play from what you have in your language, it can limit you. That's why it's important to pour into the language that you have. So you have a little bit more to say. Especially when it needs to be said, right? So that's the way I think about chords, music. It's saying what needs to be said in the moment it needs to be said.

Right? Yes. I'm not really saying what I need to say here Because I'm right here. Yes, I gotta come here And then the whole mood changes It's a two chord. Okay. Yes It's still it's it's giving CCM Yes, I Need this. What is this? It's literally the five chord over the two All right, but I'm taking the five chord and I'm putting it in my left hand.

So you got a whole A flat chord, the triad sitting here in your left hand. And I'm putting its brother right here.

So you're getting just a strong five chord over the tone of the two.

And that gives a stronger melody. It pulls out the melody a little bit better. So when you say we say

Now you got a lot of options here. All right. That's why I love this song because it's so melody driven. You saw me go to This note. So that is six B flat. The traditional way of the song is to go up to the four. That's the harmony of it. All right. But this is a point where you can experiment. If you got the language, right?

I like to use the melody as a point for where my key can go. So if I fall on a B flat note. I can dip in the key of B flat. So I'll go back.

Now, when the key of B flat.

Right? I'm borrowing from another key Gonna borrow again.

I'm gonna borrow from F.

To get me back to the six.

So really what I'm, I'm using majors, a lot of majors, and I'm moving those majors. I'm going to give you, a hack for the channel. I call it the one, two, three. If you learn this and every key. It'll strengthen a lot of points where we kind of use this element learn your one, two, three, just

right. If you can learn just that

major, you see that major seven. So what I'm moving is a C sharp major chord. That's all it is. And I'm moving up the scale of C sharp major. One, two, three. But it has

different modes. So this is like a major seven.

Now you're hearing that dominant. You get more churchy. That's when we get churchy stirred up, right?

And then when you want to get prophetic, you want to get a little deep.

That's, that's, you know, that's giving you deep. And it's all in where the, the, the scale is going, right? I got three different scales that I just chose from. Major 7, Dominant, and whatever his app is going to tell you that this is All right, but they all get you some places all language is all melody driven 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 Right, so I'm using it I'll use that in So many different spaces Is as unbelievable right just that when we go back to, uh, but it might not be in that key, so I'll show you how it does.

Yes, oh yes, where is the yes? Here's the one, two, three. That's a 1, 2, 3. But what this 1, 2, 3 is doing is the major 3. When the key of C sharp, I'm using it. F Major I'm choosing the dominant for this expression. I got pretty much three choices. Major Dominant Whatever his chord tells you to do. Whatever the abs says.

That's too short. Alright, but I got those choices. Uh, I'm, I'm choosing this one right to get me. It's a passing. This is all passing. It's a lot of movement just to pass. I get it. I understand it. It's the culture that I come from. Yes. Oh, yes. That's passing. Just to get to the four I bought, I went through BFL major.

Not gonna go to my F Actually, I'll go F sharp first. Down.

And I'm turning it back to the six. I walked up one, went to the four of F, but I made the four of F minor. And that brought me back to my key. Of C sharp, all right, because we know that B flat is minor in the key of C sharp. So you go back to that, that brings you back to your key symbol.

And now, just finishing out the phrase. Rehorn

Yes Lord, let the church say yes. Oh yes, we say yes.

Yeah, that's all that church does. One, two, three, one, two, three, one, two, three. Like if you grab that, that's my gift to you.

1, 2, 3. It's, it's everywhere. You can use it everywhere

to get you, wherever you want to go.

It's literally, I think of it like a, I don't know, a little back alleyway. I. Move wherever I need to go. If I need to get to the five really quick, I'm going to pass through the two, but I'm going to use a one, two, three. It's just fast. You can hear it. Now I'm at five, right? If I want to use five, one, two, three, to get back to one.

One. Yeah, that's probably, yeah, it's usable, put it that way.

Well guys, thank you so much for being a part of the Worship Keys, if this is your first time listening. Thanks so much. Subscribe on YouTube, got new episodes releasing every Wednesday and Justin Patrick Ford, dude. Thank you so much for being on the pod, man. Thank you for having me. It was blast. I'm humbled by it.

The pleasure is all mine. Y'all go follow him on Instagram. Justin Patrick Ford. You can check out this awesome, more of this awesome green keyboard. There is one more question I do want to ask you, man. What's your greatest advice to any new keys player out there?

 I've got this saying. I think when anyone hits me up, it's like the first thing I tell them. Do way more listening than you do playing. That's good. That's just the first thing I tell every musician that I think I've ever given advice to. The reason is you're just training your brain to hear certain stuff, right?

 If you condition your brain and your ears to hear this stuff, then your hands are just gonna try to find out what his brain's been listening to all this time. That's good. You'll end up on an accident. learning because you've rehearsed what you love to hear so much in your brain that you can't like shake it.

And it's like, you can't stop until I got it. Play this one chord. If I got to sit here for an hour, but I can hear it because you've been listening to it so much. That's good. So the more you listen to the stuff that you love, listen to it. Religiously go to sleep. Listen to it. And you'll wake up and then it'll come out of you in the music.

Well, dude, thank you again. And guys, we'll see y'all next week.