How To Play With A Guitarist

Worship| Music| Church Piano Playing| Practical Matters| Congregational Worship

July 09, 2026•2 min read

"If the guitarist is strumming a specific pattern, you want to make sure the piano rhythm follows that."

How do you play with guitarists?

The blend of piano and guitar can often provide a really nice sound, but there are a few things to consider when doing this.

In this setting, you, as the piano player, might still be the driving force of any rhythm.

The key thing to remember here is to stay in sync with the guitar.

If the guitarist is strumming a specific pattern, you want to make sure the piano rhythm follows that. Or vice versa, with them following the pattern you lead. The main point is to keep the same beats that they are doing.

Another method is to have the guitarist come in on the second verse, and pick around the notes, arpeggio style. This type of playing around the chords can work really nicely with piano. Or you can even switch it around, and have the guitarist start picking first, and then you add the piano.

Then, to build dynamics, the guitarist could strum on the third verse, with you both keeping the same rhythm. And if both the guitar and the piano are played softly at the start, they can then build to add dynamics.

The key here is finding a way to work with the guitarist to create texture without it becoming distracting and out of sync.

I hope you find this short post helpful!

Also, if you want to learn more about how to play with other musicians while still effectively supporting worship singing, I teach all of this, plus much more, in my course, The 20 Day Church Piano Player.

[Return to The Church Piano Player Website]

This blog post was written by pastor and pianist Kris Baines, from The Church Piano Player. Kris lives in the UK with his family, having recently moved back from New Zealand where he worked as a pastor for the past 26 years (also leading worship/worship teams). Kris has also spent over 35 years writing, recording, and performing music and is now bringing all that combined experience together to help equip church piano/keyboard players.

Check out the church piano player website for more information on online courses by Kris Baines.