Help wanted - Tips on Singing and Playing

[Samuel Desjardins]

I was wondering if anyone had any exercices or tips to help me with Singing and playing at the same time. I have gotten better in this area as of late but my progress is still slow and very erratic. To give you an idea, I've recently just accomplished playing Twist and Shout and singing the back up vocals. However at the moment, backup vocals over simple chord progressions and strumming patterns is all I can handle.

I've attempted the A7X cover of As tears go By and failed miserably. I've also attempted Holiday by green day and failed again. These are two simple songs in terms of strumming patterns and chord changes yet I can't simultaneously keep the correct rythm in my voice and on my guitar. It seems I'm either signing the right way with the right rythm and strumming all out of wack, changing chords at the wrong time or I'm playing the guitar perfect and singing all out of wack.

Any tips, beginner song suggestions or excercices would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Samuel Desjardins]

To add to this, I currently have no training method at all for this and have simply learned from trying and failing. I've had very little success with what i've attempted besides Twist and shout backup vocals

 

[Edward John]

You really have to know all the guitar parts by heart, repetition is key.

 

[idssdi]

For me it all comes to how comfortable I am with a guitar part. If I can play it without looking at my fretboard I can sing perfectly fine while playing. If not it's a mess. Also knowing the lyrics by heart is incredibly important

 

[Ezequiel Romanko]

i think i'll disagree with u guys, im comfortable with many guitar parts but can't even sing while playing that parts, so maybe every person its different but try to practice bot things at slow tempos with metronome, that's how i handled the lead part from the chorus of beast and the harlot haha

 

[AGA]

This is a breakdown of the method I use:
1) Learn the parts separately, don't worry about putting them together until you know them really well and you don't have to think too hard about either.
2) Once you know the rhythm of the guitar and vocal melody separately, work on putting them together phrase by phrase, slowly. And I mean SLOOOOOOWLY. Use a metronome.
3) Break everything down to syllables. The most important part is to recognize which syllables coincide with which chords, and note the length the chords and the silences. If you do this you will always know when to change chords. And even if you make a mistake you will be able to recover by signing the right word to the right chord.
4) Repetition, repetition, repetition!

Other useful tips:
-Pick only one song at first, quality over quantity.
-Good pitch and accurate rhythm rule here, as you get better you can get fancier, but for now only worry about those two.

Hope this helps!

 

[AGA]

Oh! Forgot to mention, when you are first putting the parts together phrase by phrase,
try speaking the lyrics in rhythm as you play.

 

[Calvin Phillips]

Best thing I can tell you is I cant sing and play too. Ideally..youd have to get one of the two down pat instinctly.if you can play without looking which I personally cant really do..you're half way there. I'd focus on that for now.

 

[Samuel Desjardins]

Thanks everyone! I feel like I know the parts very well for both so I'll really try slowing it down and breaking it up into syllables

 

[Rute Rodrigues]

Before you try to play and sing at the same time, try to nail the strumming first bro. Try to strum w a metronome and feel comfortable with it. Like you have to feel that you master your strumming first. When you do, it is simple, you just need to add the vocals. Try to master the strum. As tears go by is a good idea. Play over the song until you feel good. Then go adding some vocal lines. An then, is just you know going adding to make yourself feel comfortable. Good work!

 

[Jak Angelescu]

I personally approach this is you the way A drummer even begins to practice their instrument. You essentially have multiple things going on at once. A drummer will focus in the beginning on just counting with the Hi hat. Then they slowly add in the kick drum once they get comfortable counting where their beats are supposed to be. Then they add the snare. Essentially what you need to do is think of the guitar like your Hi hat. You need to hear where the kick drum and the snare would be AKA your vocals. Vocals come in on different beats and each Melody has a rhythmic feel to it that coincides with the guitar. For example if you know that you are doing just eighth notes drums but your Melody starts on the downbeat of the third count, that can help you hear it and count it in your head. It is definitely not something that is easy and I struggle doing it as well. But ultimately think of it like a drummer. If they can do all the things that they can do you can sing and play guitar at the same time. They fumble and they mess up for years before they finally get it right. Just work hard at it and practice at it everyday