4 Ways to Transition Smoothly Between Worship Songs

Updated 2022
Estimated time to read: 6 minutes

Transitions don’t always have to be the same, and when it comes down to it, they shouldn’t. If every song started with the same intro after each song ended the same way things would get boring really fast. Each worship song is different and therefore requires your team to be creative when dealing with, and playing through, transitions between songs. Check out these 4 smooth transitions you and your team could be using.

Sections:

• Worship Song Transitions

• Transition #1: Have the Keyboardist Play a Pad

• Pad Transition to the Same or Related Key

• Pad Transition to an Unrelated Key

• Transition #2: Single Instrument Intro

• Transition #3: Count Off

• Transition #4: Silent Signal (Silent Count Off)

• Wrapping it up

Worship Song Transitions

Once you end a song, you need to make the transition into the next song or next part of the service. The switch between two songs should be as musically pleasing as possible. We could just do a hard stop, have an awkward silence for a few moments and then start the next song, but that’s…awkward. No one wants awkward in a worship service.

After you end a song using one of the song endings found in the blog post 7 Solid Worship Song Endings, you can make a smooth transition into the next song by using one of the following methods.

Transition #1: Have the Keyboardist Play a Pad

Yep, that’s it, just a pad. As soon as the last chord is played and the last word is sung, the keyboard can immediately play, or already be playing, the first chord of the next song with a pad setting.

There are two main pad transitions, to the same or related key and an unrelated key change.

Pad Transition to the Same or Related Key

These points are best explained with examples. Let’s say you are transitioning from a song in the key of G, to a song in the key of G. Perfect! The keys player can play a G major chord pad. This will sound great. The keyboardist can even start the pad out quiet while the rest of the band fades out from the previous song, and as they do the keyboardist can increase the volume until the rest of the band begins to play the next song.

Here’s another example. Let’s say we’re transitioning from a song in the key of G to a song in the key of D. No problem. The keys player can play a D major chord pad emphasizing the D note (since the D note is also in the G chord). This can also depend on how you end the song too. You could end on G and have the song be resolved. You could also end on C. And you could keep the tension and end on the D chord.

Now, if the band ends the song with a trash can ending, then when everyone is going crazy, that D major chord doesn’t sound so off anymore.

Pad Transition to an Unrelated Key

For the song transition to an unrelated key, let’s say we’re going to a song in the key of Db. These keys aren’t really related, in fact, they are a tri-tone away from each other, which is the most dissonant interval possible - and used to be called the “devil’s interval” back in the day. But the lead vocalist has got to have her key!

No worries, easy. We trash can the first song and do a few well-syncopated hits as a team. 1. 2. 3. Immediately after that third hit, the keys player jumps right into that Db major chord as the rest of the band cuts out (because it’s a hit after all and not a fade out). A nice, full, rich Db chord. It’s going to hit everyone as a little off because of the tension between G and Db, but not for long. Once that first chord from the pad is going, everyone else starts playing their parts. Before you know it, the song is off and everyone has forgotten about the key of G.

From experience, it’s typically better to do smooth transitions between keys that are the same or related. As for unrelated keys, it’s best to do hard cuts or to fade all the way out, have a quick pause of silence, and then start the new song.

Transition #2: Single Instrument Intro

Similar to the above pad transition, one instrumentalist in the band may be featured by starting off the next song. This can be done with any of the musicians on the team.

Worship Leaders, don’t feel overwhelmed when you don’t have a full band. This is a great transition to utilize for a less-than-full band.

For a single instrument intro, one musician plays the intro chords or melody alone and then the rest of the band comes in to join him or her on the second time through the introduction.

This could be a guitar lead line, an acoustic chord progression, a drum pattern to introduce the song, a bass groove to get everyone clapping, or a vocal melody to set the tone or get everyone singing before all of the other musicians start playing.

Transition #3: Count Off

Maybe instead of having only one instrument begin the song, you’d like the whole band to start in together. This is when you would have the drummer count off the new song in some way using the drumsticks. In other genres this term may mean that someone literally counts off the band saying, “one, two three…”

This method is especially helpful if your team plays to a click track or loop, as the drummer will be able to begin thinking in the new tempo and then signal the rest of the band to come in, regardless of the way the previous song was ended.

Transition #4: Silent Signal (Silent Count Off)

To be fair, most bands use some form of count off method, especially if they’re all playing to a click track. This can depend on which instrumentalist is controlling the click.

The idea here is that instead of clicking sticks together or some other form of counting off for everyone to hear, the band uses looks and other gestures to communicate the tempo/count off for the new song. Alternatively if everyone has a click in their headsets (if you’re using personal monitors like headphones or earbuds), then as soon as the click starts, that’s the count off. Yet another variation of a silent count off would be for the band leader to tap his foot once everyone has made eye contact and is ready for the song to start. Basically, everyone still comes in on beat 1 but the congregation can’t hear a count off.

The difference with the silent signal is that there isn’t an audible sound like that of a traditional count off. It can be tricky for newer musicians or those who get lost easily. If your team is experienced and plays together often it may be worth a shot to try this transition.

Wrapping it up

Remember to combine these transitions with the song endings from this post. Together, you can create a ton of variety, energy, and keep the flow of worship going from song to song.

Using any combination of the 6 song endings and 4 transitions, your team can get creative with what is usually an afterthought by many musicians.

Transitions are important because they allow you to move between songs, and subsequently moods and environments that don’t disrupt the atmosphere you’ve built with the congregation through the previous song.

As all experienced worship musicians know, any distraction in a worship service can be a huge distraction. To keep their attention (on God, remember), we want to create an environment that flows and moves in a way as to keep the focus off our worship on the One we are worshiping.

Drop a comment and let me know - what’s your go-to worship song transition?