Singing...? crap.

[Acousjim]

You have to be able to hear "stereo" when you play. You can hear yourself playing the guitar and you hear yourself singing at the same time. You don't concentrate too much on one or the other. It takes alot of practice. Start simple, then work your way up. It took me a whileto get it down. Singing and playing songs like The stone and Trippin Billies is a sinch now. The only problem I have is that my voice sucks.

[Tamjim]

I like these posts...mostly because I sucked for so long and am finally getting the hang of it. I took singing lessons and they made all the difference. Most important for me is to sing like ME and not "like Dave (or Neil, Bob, Bruce...whoever). You'll blow your voice in an hour if you try to imitate Dave Matthews.

When I put a song together, what works for me is to think of accompanying myself. Sounds obvious, but if you think of a song as having a guitar part and a voice part that are played at the same time, it helps. How would you sing if someone else was playing? How do you play when someone else is singing? Put those ideas together to come up with your version of a song.

Singing in the car is the best. I pick a song and listen to all the different versions until I can sing it in my sleep. Then I pick up my guitar. I still suck...but I have a glimmer of hope that I will eventually get it. I'm going through that with Two Step and Seek Up right now.

Wow. Long post. Have fun. See you at the Gorge?