Sing and play simultaneously. Any pointers?

[CicadaSilence]

I can sing just fine, and play guitar and/or bass better, but putting them together makes my brain . As soon as I start singing, my right hand tries to follow the rhythm of the vocal line. This happens even on the most simple campfire singalong bull{censored}.

 

I've been playing guitar and bass for about a decade, but I've only been singing about a year or two. My hands are way ahead of my pipes.

 

Frustrating as all hell.

 

Any ideas, pointers, or alcoholic beverage recommendations?

[MrNixon]

nothing else to do but take it slow.

 

it amazes me when drummers sing and play

[TomCTC]

Don't think, just do.

/zen

[CicadaSilence]

nothing else to do but take it slow. it amazes me when drummers sing and play

True. I knew a kid in high school who was just sick with it. Four limbs, lips, teeth tongue, lungs and diaphragm all going at once.

[Servant]

Just takes a lot of doing it over and over so that your hands and/or your mouth become independant of what the other is doing.

[dotlikeimpact]

Work slowly. Count rhythmic subdivisions between your playing and singing. It takes a long time to get right.

[DADGADammit]

practice is the best advice i have to offer

[Jeremy Skrenes]

just like learning anything, start simple. Do you have any church camp songs, kids songs, or other songs that you play that are just a few chords and a basic strumming pattern? You could also pick up some 3-chord songbooks that have some simple classic songs that can be learned easily. But practice a lot.

[greatwhiteclark]

practice. you had trouble strumming and fretting at the same time when you started this is no different. But i agree with Jeremy pick up some simple song books and have at it.

[The*Ataris]

I can sing just fine, and play guitar and/or bass better, but putting them together makes my brain . As soon as I start singing, my right hand tries to follow the rhythm of the vocal line. This happens even on the most simple campfire singalong bull{censored}. I've been playing guitar and bass for about a decade, but I've only been singing about a year or two. My hands are way ahead of my pipes. Frustrating as all hell. Any ideas, pointers, or alcoholic beverage recommendations?

 

As someone who struggled the same way for a long time, I'll give you some great advice someone gave me:

 

Start playing a song--any song--and really focus on your breathing. Play and learn to control each breath. Slow breathing, fast breathing, intermittent breathing, whatever. Your strumming speed and patterns should have zero effect on your breathing.

 

I figured out that I was pretty much holding my breath and gasping every once in a while when I played and that was killing my ability to sing at the same time. After that, it came from starting slow, singing open chord progressions.

[Phineas Gage]

My extra tip in addition to all that good advice:

 

Make sure you know the guitar part and the lyrics by heart, like the back of your hand... Having to put in that extra little thought to remember something, instead of it just sorta flowing out on its own, can easily screw you all up.

[timeforheroes]

this also drives me nuts.....i have even taught some friends to play the guitar and as soon as i teach them some simple 1-5-4 progression they are singing in a week and then i get really pissed off. i just cant do it.....


also, does anyone else have this next problem.....

my strumming is kinda wild sometimes...especially when standing.....then when i start to sing....my voi-oi-oi-ce cant sing stready cause im playing....

[rocket34bg]

give up

buy a looper

[CicadaSilence]

Thanks for all the advice. But especially this:

give up buy a looper

Got one. I can write better songs than a 15 second loop for three minutes. I want to be able to perform them as well.

[Liberty Belle]

i have the same problem with new songs. it just takes practice.practice.practice.

[Jeremy Skrenes]

yeah it's all about breath control. If you don't have good breath control, you won't be able to stay on pitch.

[Teahead]

Practice indeed, I am a poor singer at my best and for years I suffered this problem. Somehow it just clicked one day, but that only happened after I persevered for a few months solid.

 

Strangely, I got my first piano a month or so ago and find that I can hammer chords on it and sing without much of a problem. Now, if only I could manage to stay on pitch for more than a few bars.

[Lanefair]

Practice makes perfect. But many a time I've told my singer 'I can't do that as a backing vocal' and not because I can't be bothered to practice it. But because the melody strays so much from what I'm playing I'd have to stand still to do it, and I like to move around on stage.

[damacy]

try practising the verse of 'come as you are' by nirvana. it's one of the songs i learned to play when i first started playing guitar. but i found it really hard to sing and play at the same time.

[jrowan]

Years ago, my barber suggested standing in front of a mirror and trying it. For whatever reason, it really helped me, even with rhythm and other things that you wouldn't expect a visual aid to help with. Might be worth a shot, given the minimal amount of effort involved.

[schultzie_]

Years ago, my barber suggested standing in front of a mirror and trying it. For whatever reason, it really helped me, even with rhythm and other things that you wouldn't expect a visual aid to help with. Might be worth a shot, given the minimal amount of effort involved.

 

 

avatar'd

 

 

anyway, something else to try: whatever song you're practising, just strum on 1,2,3,4. obviously it will sound boring, but keeping the guitar bit ultra-simple should help with getting the two things independent.

[Switchblade327]

I feel your pain dude. I respect any musician who can play and sing more than most straight up guitar players today, like that dude from the fall of troy. Incredible stuff.

The way I went about singing and playing was simplicity. I played acoustic for way too long, but the songs were always easy to sing along to because it would be strummed open chords for the most part, which is easier to sing with, for me at least, because my right hand could just spazz out and i could do my thing. try Mike Ness' cover of

as an acoustic song.The pattern is dead easy, and it follows the vocal line pretty well, so it will help you get off your problem. Thats how I started, anyway.

[Belt]

practice is the best advice i have to offer

 

 

+1000

[phishmarisol]

 

Study this man.

[Switchblade327]

I was thinking more:



Good line that I was told is that while playing guitar makes you a guitarist, playing and singing is the mark of a musician. Thought it was a nice sentiment, maybe not totally true, but it does indicate someone good with music overall.