GibsonTruthSeeker

Oh yeah, know exactly what you're talking about. And why do you think so many people sing in the shower? Bathrooms are a great place to sing! In my place the bathroom has great acoustics, and I have a big front room with hardly any furniture in it, and you can really hear yourself there. I set my sterei to the level where it's loud, but I can still hear myself singing. Les Paul was famous for taking his recording equipment with him, and recording himself and Mary Ford in rooms that he liked the acoustics in (and he was the master of acoustic nuance!). As for singing great while playing guitar, yup, it can be a tough nut to crack. What I usually do is practice with the recording about a 100 times (seriously!), until I have singing along to the recording down cold. Then after I've learned whatever cover song I'm working on I make sure I can play it without thinking too much, then really focus on my singing. I've never taken singing lessons (always wanted to!), but learned a few things along the way. Singing on key is tough... and that's the job of a singer, and the greatest challenge. When you're singing along to a recording, make sure you can hear yourself in order to stay on key. When you play guitar and sing, you definitely can hear yourself, and yes, not having the reference point makes it hard to stay on key. Learn to sing from the diaphragm, not the throat. It really helps. Check out YouTube, there's all kinds of singing lessons there. Get to know you're own vocal range. I just taught myself Colbie Callait's Fallin' For You, and there's no way I can sing as high as her. So I sing it way lower, but really try to project (another secret) as much as possible. Played it for some friends at a party recently and got a little round of applause. And the biggest thing I've ever learned about singing, is that it is way easier to sing any song you've written than to try to do as good a job on a great song that your favorite band (or singer) has written. Something inspires a songwriter to compose a song, and that inspiration (and feeling!) shows when they sing it. That motivation propels singing... you can hone your singing skills by learning from the masters, but your voice will always shine with a song you've written. Just keep putting it out there... and don't give up!