John Briner profile picture

John Briner

About Me

Music has played a big part in my life and writing songs has been a big part of that journey.I wrote my first song when I was about 10, and I ended up winning first place in a composition contest a couple years later with the same song. I wrote a lot of songs during my teens, trying out different styles and rhythms.I went to University of British Columbia in 1995 and got my degree in music, and was able to learn musical styles from all around the world. This was an amazing experience - some of my songs have incorporated a lot of Asian influences as a result. At the same time, I have always loved bluegrass, roots, and folk music, clear simple harmonies, and simple but stirring melodies.Some of my original songs and/or arrangements are on this site - most of them are recorded live from church performances, so a little raw and unpolished. Hope you enjoy
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Member Since: 4/18/2008
Band Website: http://www.bebo.com/jdbriner2
Band Members: John Briner. :)My usual back up musicians when I sing in church are Ryan Hayes on Piano, Liz Nowakowski on organ, Jeremy Rivas on Drums, Stephen Kuemper on Bass, and Isaiah Caldwell on Guitar. Most of the songs on this site feature these talented musicians.I also have an alt-instrumental group that I love playing with: Philip Ashdown on Guitars, Aaron Buchholz on Bass, and Chris Maritz on Percussion.
Influences: My songwriting influences come primarily from favorite Bible passages that have meant something to me at different periods in my life, as well as live and recorded sermons. One of my recent songs was written during a church sermon in crayon on the back of my daughter's coloring book...
Sounds Like: I like guitar driven songs with heavy tremolo for a kind of retro sound. I grew up listening to bluegrass and old-time country styles, such as the Doell's and the Believers. I'm sure these influences have worked their way into my sound somehow. I have either studied or listened to most every other music style played around the world, and I've assimilated and adopted those things that have caught my ear...
Record Label: Unsigned

My Blog

MCI welcomes John Briner to its roster of songwriters

http://www.free-press-release.com/news/200901/1232...
Posted by on Fri, 23 Jan 2009 23:26:00 GMT

Songwriting for Dummies #3: Mixing Metaphors

Have you ever listened to a song and the lyrics didn't quite seem to match up? Well, I have had this song that I've been working on for a very long time.  The trouble is that I have a line i...
Posted by on Sat, 18 Oct 2008 13:19:00 GMT

Songwriting for Dummies #2: Breaking the Music Rules

Studying music formally doesn't always lend itself to writing good music, particularly because you get programmed to avoid certain sounds at all costs.  In harmony class, you get marks deducted f...
Posted by on Sun, 12 Oct 2008 22:58:00 GMT

Songwriting for Dummies #1: Test-driving your songs

One of the toughest things I find after writing a song is taking the song for a test-drive.  Maybe I have an overtly high aversion to rejection, but I find presenting a song after ...
Posted by on Sat, 11 Oct 2008 14:19:00 GMT

Hymns vs. Choruses

I remember sitting in church when I was a young boy and slowly flipping through the church hymn book (we called it the red book).  I used to love looking at the four part harmony written there, e...
Posted by on Sun, 11 May 2008 21:47:00 GMT

50,000 profile views!

Wow, when I set up this site a couple weeks ago, I didn't think I'd get the interest that I've seen in the past couple weeks.  Thanks everyone for your support and interest in this site.  It...
Posted by on Sat, 03 May 2008 16:02:00 GMT

Songwriting

Writing songs is a big part of my life - I'm gonna try and start posting a few thoughts about songwriting on this blog. I think there are so many talented song writers in our churches, but it takes re...
Posted by on Sat, 26 Apr 2008 14:38:00 GMT

Another Tritone Clash

In an earlier blog, I talked about the tritone clash that happens when someone moves to a 7th chord when the melody moves to the natural 7 note. Musicians usually do this without thinking because it t...
Posted by on Sat, 19 Apr 2008 16:21:00 GMT

Some ideas for worship leaders...

Here are some thoughts I put together on the worship leader and musicians working together. We tried these in one of our practices and had a lot of fun...1. Creating FlowSongs can be linked together b...
Posted by on Sat, 19 Apr 2008 16:20:00 GMT

Some ideas for your worship band...

..TR> A little while ago I put together some talking points for a worship band workshop. These ideas are enumerated below:1. The pie concept If our final sound is 100% of the contributions of the pla...
Posted by on Sat, 19 Apr 2008 16:18:00 GMT