To singers : how did you learn to sing while playing guitar ?

  • Hi !


    I'm a junior singer and experienced guitarist, but there is one skill that I do not master at all :


    singing while playing my own songs, I can obviously do both separately easily , but not together, my brain blocks on the guitar harmonies, no room for voices in my brain while it's busy on the guitar ...


    One skill I can do is singing the parts I'll play on guitar like Hendrix does , even in impro mode with single notes , no pb.


    But different vocals parts than the guitar is impossible so far.


    How did you guys learn this skill ? I'm highly interested.


    R

  • Depends a bit on the riffs.


    With some I just can't do it. But most of the time it is doable.


    With songs where its hard but doable:

    I normally loop one verse or just 4 bars with the playback and recorded vocals separately.


    Then I practice the guitar part and mumble along the vocals with trying to go into singing more and more.


    Sometimes it helps to write the chords over the lyrics in place where there is a change (see picture)

  • Practice, Practice, Practice ?


    Possibly think of it as a choreographed dance between your voice and guitar playing, and repeat until it starts to feel natural.


    Once you feel you've made progress alone, playing in front of people will teach you the rest ?

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  • I've been told the same thing --practice, practice, practice. I have been caught humming the notes out when I play guitar so it should not be hard to put that to words. I think the hardest thing is to sing "in tune" while playing a guitar. ;)

    Larry Mar @ Lonegun Studios. Neither one famous yet.

  • Is it chords and singing, or lead and singing, or both?

    I'm rhythm and lead singer.

    Which ever part is hardest to do, I beat that up until it is fully natural and easy to do, then add the other part.

    One song I found particularly difficult to sing was Alert Status Red by Matthew Good. The cadence of the lyrics confounded me for weeks.

    It's OK now, after many many hours of practice.

    Weird thing is I can play rhythm and sing, play drums and sing, but I CANNOT play bass and sing. Funny how the brain doesn't work sometimes...

  • One thing I found helpful is to get/create a recording of the part I find difficult and to sing along with it over and over again in the car whilst driving.

    Monotonous but effective.

    That's goes for pretty much anything you want to master. Drives my wife nuts... "You playing that again???? Play something different!" Then I practice squeellies on guitar and voice. :P

    Larry Mar @ Lonegun Studios. Neither one famous yet.

    Edited once, last by BayouTexan ().

  • I think all of the above are valid comments. Bass with vocals is harder for me as well. I attribute that to the fact that any syncopated musical lines are harder for me to sing along with. Funky, syncopated musical lines coupled with legato vocal phrases are especially difficult. It is also true the other way around. Practice helps for some songs. But I am not always able to overcome ALL of the issues in some cases. If I can't get it solved in a reasonable amount of time, I abandon the song and move on to something else. There are too many great songs that I can sing and play. I also pay particular attention to holding notes at the end of lines or into musical changes. I have a tendency to cut off vocal notes at times. I hear a lot of people do this and I don't think they realize it. Recording yourself and listening back is very useful in cases like this.

  • Funky, syncopated musical lines coupled with legato vocal phrases are especially difficult.

    Wow ,that's exactly what I'm aiming for as I want to be able to sing my own song :


    172 Bpm ,full of PM riffs alternating to chords , looks like a real challenge :o


    Anyway , I'll try , but I need to master all different parts ,that means I have to rehearsal on my own song


    reference song

  • This is the exact shit I'm talking about.

    Staccato style rhythm with lilting lazy lyrics on top.

    This would be the one that I'd be OK with on guitar, but need to know the lyrics down pat, and then work on the cadence layered over the rhythm. Def one for the over and over in the car thing (for me).

    Great example!

  • I came to singing later. Lyrics remain the biggest challenge.


    I have to play the guitar while I am learning to sing the song.


    I often end up marking up the lyrics so I know where to emphasize specific syllables, and sometimes add the chords.


    I usually end up simplifying what I play and how I play it as I bring in the vocal incorporating the dynamics, rhythm, tempo changes.


    As I learn the vocal, a new unified version of the song emerges.


    I'll often change the guitar arrangement from verse to verse to suit the meaning of lyrics.


    When it finally comes together, I have integrated the melody and the words (the singing) with my left and right hands (the playing), so it's all one unified expression. The guitar parts are easier for me to remember, and having learned the song this way, the guitar parts will often cue the lyrics for me when playing live.


    If I approach it any other way, it's as tortured and fractured as trying to learn my left and right hand parts separately.


    Yes, it takes forever for me to write or learn a song

  • Geddy Lee has been playing bass and vocals for almost 50 years. And he still has problems since he records the lyrics and bass separately. Then woodsheds it to do it in concert. Practice, practice, practice is his answer.


    I cant sing and play three blind mice, so I cant say if it works or not. It hasnt worked for me :P

  • Thx a lot , that's really an interesting topic with lots of struggle and different ways to handle a difficult problem.


    I fount another useful vid, to sum up : listen to your track a lot , know guitar parts perfectly ( muscle memory ) , actually write the lyrics on paper ( reading /writing memory ) then practice til perfection.


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  • Interesting thread.
    I find slowing everything down, particularly difficult phrases/lines/lyrics, very helpful. It allows my brain to learn the entire rhythm of the piece a bit like learning a drum part. I can then work out how the vocal and guitar parts fit together with the most accurate timing. When I’ve got that sorted, rehearsed and committed to memory, I begin to gradually speed it up.
    Like some other’s here, I look at the song as an combined performance making one entity, this helps to develop a more engaging performance that is very well rehearsed but sounds natural and not robotic.
    Holfing notes at the end of lines is an interesting one, it can be very easy to over for this just as it is very easy to completely forget it’s importance in a live situation.
    Good luck with improving this skill set.
    Cheers

    Pre-Amp

  • Know all the parts by hearts.


    synchronise everything slowly


    work work work work work lol.

    It also helps to just play small parts with a metronome at a really slow tempo.


    There’s no shortcuts for difficult parts ^^.