Notes

This tune is a favorite one from the hymnal of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The words were written by Loren C. Dunn and the music by Michael Finlinson Moody. In the last verse the author describes the power of having a spiritual witness:

As testimony fills my heart,
It dulls the pain of days.
For one brief moment, heaven’s view
Appears before my gaze.

My faith was hard to come by, which makes it incredibly valuable to me. Life is hard, but having a knowledge of truth that transcends life takes the existential pain level down a few notches. It is worth the effort to become a believer.

This recording was inspired by the electric guitar work of Chet Atkins, specifically his Back Home Hymns album. I have made similar recordings in the past, and hope to do more in the future. My skills aren’t anywhere near his, but I did like how the arrangement turned out.

I recall working out the fingering for the first verse about 15 years ago, but I wasn’t sure where to go next with the arrangement until last year when I started noodling around and wrote the second and third verses. The arrangement evolved over several months of playing it around the house. Some of the last things added in were the harmonics in the last verse and at the end.

This time I used a real amp and speaker cabinet instead of digital emulators. My old Fender tube amp makes beautiful tones, but it also spits out a lot of noise. I didn’t have the input gain level low enough to zero out the noise while recording, so I applied a noise reduction to the signal before all of the effects. The audio signal chain uses a few tricks on this project to widen the sound of the solo guitar track. I applied a separate EQ and delay to left and right channels, and added a subtle shimmer reverb. Hopefully you like the results of all this audio processing as much as I did.

The video was filmed in my basement studio. Basically I just played along with the finished audio track multiple times with the tripod in different places. None of the close shots of the hands turned out, because I couldn’t see where the camera was pointed. Next time I’ll have to use an assistant for some shots, or do more test takes, I guess.

Similar recordings:

I Believe in Christ

A solo guitar arrangement of a hymn of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Read more

Info and Stats

• Production Dates: January 2026
• Equipment:
  • Interface: Behrynger Xenyx 1204USB
  • Instrument: Gretsch G5120
  • Amplifier: Fender Dual Showman running through a Fender 12 x 2 cabinet
  • Microphone: Shure SM-57
• Software:
  • Linux Mint 22.2
  • Ardour 8.12.0
  • Dragonfly Hall Reverb
  • x42 plugins: dynamic compressor, parametric equalizer, digital peak limiter
  • Tom’s Audio Processing: TAP Pitch Shifter
  • Noise Repellant
  • Kdenlive
  • MuseScore (*.mscz file available upon request)
• Total tracks and busses: 6
  • Guitar: 1
  • Effects: 5