Since Blessed Assurance is a very popular hymn I wanted to give it the royal treatment with three separate mixes: modern, blended and acoustic. Read more about the other mixes here.
One of my goals here at HymnCharts is to create the basic arrangement and then let you creatively make it fit the style of your ministry. Creating separate mixes will help you hear how differently it can sound depending on your instrumentation.
As I was visiting what you might call a “hipster” church I enjoyed the acoustic style of their praise band. They even had a band member playing a little xylophone which added the perfect zing to the arrangement.
I’m using that same technique here – the xylophone part you hear in the intro and midtros is so simple it doesn’t really require sheet music, just pick it out by ear (hint: A, B and F#.)
I knew the arrangement needed a cello, but the part was a little too complex to emulate with a synthesizer so I contacted an old friend of mine. Dr. Kurt Fowler, a Professor of Music at Indiana State University, is a fantastic classical musician who also has a heart for worship. He’s playing on the track with his amazing cello built by Francesco Ruggeri, circa 1680 (if you could hear him play that thing in real life you’d melt – the tone is incredible!) Twenty years ago Kurt and I performed a few concerts together at the Crystal Cathedral in Anaheim where his wife was organist.
The acoustic version is driven by piano and acoustic guitar with a touch of electric on the choruses to give it more punch and the drummer is using brushes. Let me know in the comments which version is your favorite!
Download Blessed Assurance (This Is My Story)
Download sheet music, chord charts, tracks, multitracks and orchestration for Blessed Assurance (This Is My Story) exclusively with a hymncharts subscription. You won’t find this arrangement on any other website.
