We have come to praise
When preparing the songs for our church services, we are always
looking for new ‘calling to worship’ songs. Quite often a lively but simple song
is a great way to ‘get going’ and this song is unashamedly both of these!
This is a guitar based song, another written-on-holiday number!
If you listen to the demo, you will hear a hooky brass riff that
‘answers’ each phrase in the song – this can easily be played on any brass or
woodwind instrument(s)
The chorus (‘Praise the Lord’) uses the same musical structure with a
simple lyrical pattern. When we do this at our Church we try and swell the
volume of each of the ‘praise’ word as they last 8 beats.
The main guitar riff is achieved by sliding the normal ‘root’ E minor chord fingers up to fret 4 then 5 (from fret 2 where they normally are) and back again, followed by a similar but slightly varied approach for the A minor chord. The difference on the Am chord is that in the ‘third’ position (the fingers having moved from the ‘normal’ 1st & 2nd frets, up to 3rd & 4th) the fingers on the ‘D’ and ‘G’ strings go up and extra fret, so they are on the 5th fret whilst the ‘B’ string finger stays on the 3rd fret (hope that makes sense !)
below are the lyrics to 'we have come to praise'
We have come to praise the living God, We proclaim His greatness and His love
He has made the heavens and the earth, All creation tells of His great worth
Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, And His love endures forever
Jesus is the King above all kings, Jesus is the Lord above all lords
He is just and true in all His ways, He alone is worthy of our praise
Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, And His love endures forever
Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord
Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, And His love endures forever
Andrew Rayner
© 2003 Wendy House Music