Singing while playing guitar..

[Dub-T-123]

Can you guys sing and play guitar (well) at the same time?

 

I've never had a problem singing and playing the same melody [like "I Want You (She's So Heavy)"] but I've never really been good at doing this otherwise. These are some songs that I've always been able to sing and play like "Julia" and "Blackbird" but there are other far more simple songs that really trip me up for some reason. I think it's mainly when the rythym of the guitar part is really different from what I'm singing.

 

Well lately I've really been trying to sing and play a lot of songs and I noticed I'm getting a lot better at it. I'm a pretty bad singer and I'm still not amazing at playing and singing but it's fun and it sounds a lot more complete.

 

Do you guys play and sing? Any sweet tips or anything?

 

By the way yeah I play a lot of Beatles songs in my spare time I know..

[dem00n]

Try to stand up straight but not to straight that your leg locks, if your legs lock for to long you can pass out. That helps with some people.

It happens to alot of singers.

It takes alot of practice...just keep trying.

[pippy]

Me?

 

To paraphrase Fred Astaire's first screen-test report;

 

"Can't sing; can't dance; can play the guitar a bit"...

 

Good on you, Dub!

 

And there's nothing wrong with playing Beatles stuff (as I'm sure CB would attest).

[DeVeeWee]

Dub, I'm a fortunate boy, I can sing and play at the same time...a bit

 

...because compared to him

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRHfiB8vKuw

[vourot]

Thats a good song. Its been a long time since I listened to it. Too much of the bass player in that clip though. ( hey its great that you play bass from your ankles, but please go away now... )

[Silenced Fred]

Yeah. After dealing with singers, I made it my mission to sing and play at the same time. Singing still needs work though, guitar playing sucks ***. It's decent though. The main thing I have decided is that neither is more important than the other, so adapting to some of the singing melodies or riffs takes some work, but its a huge payoff.

[Steven Tari]

WOW, OH come to me my wanting to learn person. Lets go to old school simple basic's 101. First you say you can't sing. Old School way, Go to a bathroom,or a empty warehouse. something that has great harminics This way you can harmonize with yourself. Then take your guitar with you. Play your song. Things to look for while your doing this. This song I'm playing, Is the key Im singing in right for the Key I'm playing in? If not, see if you can find it, without getting out of a comfortable range.(Short version, See if you can hit the guitar key with out hurting yourself).

Next while tunning your guitar, Humm, trying to find the note, (also if you get good enough to be able to Memorize the sound you won't need a tunner anymore). I also do this with the courds. That way while I'm playing a song. The music is an afterthought, So I can put the entire focus at learning New words to new songs.

More to come if you think the Knowledge is worth it. :-"

[ShredAstaire]

I can't even sing when not playing the guitar!

[TommyK]

I've never played and sang solo. But when I Bluegrass jam, I usually have to drop out of the pickin' part as I can't seem to do both very well, I just let the rest of the group carry the instrumentals. I've noticed a lot of C/W artist do this as well. Some even seem to have the guitar strapped on as a prop, very seldom strumming a chord.

 

I have found, though, it's easier to learn to sing the song, then the chords.

[RB72]

After years of playing mainly acoustic in my apartment I've found it really helps to even out the strumming hand. Going to the pad and plugging in and singing is easier after strumming the acoustic and singing. But that's just basic chords. Of course anything above the 9th fret is just showing off.

[Dub-T-123]

Thanks guys.

 

Steven Im gonna be honest I don't really know what a "key" is but when I'm singing along I'm conciously making it fit with the note or chords or whatever. I guess it just seems obvious when I'm doing it wrong so I try not to. It helps that I've heard all the songs I'm trying about a million times and I always sing along to them when I listen to them.

 

Oh yeah also sometimes I'll sing an octave lower than the recording because it's a bit of a stretch for me to sing a lot of the parts I like at their pitch. I can sing ridiculously high girlish pitches (like Great Gig in the Sky) lol but I don't have to go very high to get out of my normal "range" or whatever. Basically my voice (to me) usually sounds better when it's kinda low.

 

I'm really good at finding notes by ear but I generally don't know or care what the note is that I'm playing or singing. I mean I know how to figure out what a note is but I hardly ever care.

[Flight959]

I can sing and play at the same time quite well however my voice leaves much to be desired!

[pippy]

True.

 

True.

[LPguitarman]

Depends on the song of course. I have dabbled a bit in singing and playing at the same time, but my true love is cranking on the guitar.

[Steven Tari]

Thanks guys.

 

Steven Im gonna be honest I don't really know what a "key" is but when I'm singing along I'm conciously making it fit with the note or chords or whatever. I guess it just seems obvious when I'm doing it wrong so I try not to. It helps that I've heard all the songs I'm trying about a million times and I always sing along to them when I listen to them.

 

Oh yeah also sometimes I'll sing an octave lower than the recording because it's a bit of a stretch for me to sing a lot of the parts I like at their pitch. I can sing ridiculously high girlish pitches (like Great Gig in the Sky) lol but I don't have to go very high to get out of my normal "range" or whatever. Basically my voice (to me) usually sounds better when it's kinda low.

 

I'm really good at finding notes by ear but I generally don't know or care what the note is that I'm playing or singing. I mean I know how to figure out what a note is but I hardly ever care.

 

 

O.K. I've got nothen else to say. In those short paragraphsYou told me you know what I'm sayen and already going in the right direction, SOOOOoooo/ Later/Over and out!

[milod]

We always sang in my family when I was a little kid. My folks did a lot of that in public and were quite good as I recall. Heck, imagine singing two songs at the same time so it's counterpoint with different words. I'm not sure that I could manage that at all myself.

 

But I think that made it easier when I started playing guitar. Also the whole "folkie" thing that was big when I started meant that one perceived the "learning guitar" experience to be a combination thing rather than getting good guitar technique and then singing, or to be a good singer who added guitar playing.

 

Actually a lot of horrid singers have ended up doing rather well simply through good phrasing. Mick Jagger often was off key even on recordings. I used to hate my own voice and still don't really care for it, but it kinda works after I hit the point where I figured the heck with it, it's the only one I've got so I'd best try to get the most of it.

 

I'd say the big thing for singing and pickin', though, is a matter of timing.

 

m

[Dub-T-123]

Thanks Steven!

 

Milod I've heard you play and sing you're great. I really liked the songs that you posted a while ago. I bookmarked them actually.

 

I know Bob Dylan probably isn't exactly your kind of folk but that's sort of what made me really want to start singing and playing.

[milod]

Dub...

 

Bobby Zimmerman is from the same region where I originated.

 

In the first rock band I played guitar with, I did the vocal on "Positively Fourth Street." At the college band members attended at the time - to show I really was young once - I actually dedicated that particular song to all the girls on campus.

 

See, when I first transferred there my folks made me leave my car behind, I was shorta cash and I was largely a folkie-bluesy type at a rock'n'roll college. You should have seen the odd looks I got using a harp rack with a harp and kazoo doing San Francisco Bay Blues. I think if I looked like Gumby I wouldn't have gotten more of those, "Gee, are you from Mars" looks.

 

Even my sis's friends - we were at the same school - were obviously less than interested.

 

Then I got a nice pt time job, got my car and got into the rock band and... <chuckle> Ah, youth. It appeared the young ladies felt that I had somehow morphed into a better looking guy and had become far more interesting company.

 

After that one gig - check the first line if you don't already know it - I was back to being not terribly popular. At least my sis still liked me. Sorta. <grin>

 

Before Dylan went electric I did some of the same stuff he did in his acoustic life, too.

 

Oh - thanks for the nice words but <grin> I still don't care for my own voice all that much. But it's all I've got so I try to have fun with it.

 

m

[Dub-T-123]

Haha that was a great story! I love how the girls like you when you're rock and roll lol.

 

I'm thinking about steppin up my rock and roll game lol.

[milod]

I really hate to say this. I'd like to credit the rock stuff, but I think a dollar in my pocket and a car made up the majority of the difference.

 

But then, I was a bit of a cynic by age 20 and I've tended at times to become more of one the older I get.

 

m

[Dub-T-123]

I have a car and like seven bucks in my pocket. I should be beating them off with a stick. I wonder what I'm doing wrong..

[Silenced Fred]

I have a car and like seven bucks in my pocket. I should be beating them off with a stick. I wonder what I'm doing wrong..

 

Posting in the forums [lol] [lol] [lol] [lol]

[Dub-T-123]

Good point.

[milod]

Yupper...

 

If they actually know you from, like a student union snack bar or something, you're more likely to find somebody who might be good company - official "date" or not.

 

What the heck, if you were 48 or 68 I'd make the same suggestion. Some 10 years ago a friend of mine in a relatively small town had lost 2 wives to illness. He was still in pretty darned good shape at 66 or 67, and was the airport manager. He kept going to high school sports activities even though he didn't have any relatives on the teams. "Trollin' for grannies" is how he put it. That way he got to know more of 'em and found some nice company.

 

Hey, college simply has a larger percentage of available dates compared to the population at large. But there's not much change over the years in terms of dating. Heck, the first wedding I "shot" as a photographer many years ago, the bride was like 79 and the groom was over 80.

 

m

[Silenced Fred]

Yupper...

 

If they actually know you from, like a student union snack bar or something, you're more likely to find somebody who might be good company - official "date" or not.

 

What the heck, if you were 48 or 68 I'd make the same suggestion. Some 10 years ago a friend of mine in a relatively small town had lost 2 wives to illness. He was still in pretty darned good shape at 66 or 67, and was the airport manager. He kept going to high school sports activities even though he didn't have any relatives on the teams. "Trollin' for grannies" is how he put it. That way he got to know more of 'em and found some nice company.

 

Hey, college simply has a larger percentage of available dates compared to the population at large. But there's not much change over the years in terms of dating. Heck, the first wedding I "shot" as a photographer many years ago, the bride was like 79 and the groom was over 80.

 

m

 

Yup, I have to get some recordings done, finalize lyrics, then I'm gonna go do an open mic thing the school holds... Very scared