Singing while playing, and singing in general.

[jazzartisan]

Hello everyone. I have a solid background in music theory and composition. I've studied jazz with a university professor for 3 years now and play saxophones and piano. I've "played" guitar since I was 13 or so (17 now), when I bought a mexican Strat and cheap peavey amp. Last year I bought an Alvarez acoustic and haven't played the electric since. I'm really digging the acoustic guitar and my proficiency has improved greatly. My problem, however, is singing. I can sing and play songs like Crush without any problem, but a song like What Would You Say really trips me up. Once I try to sing and play a somewhat complex melody where the guitar line and vocal line rhythms are completely different, everything falls apart.

What are some excersizes I can do to overcome this? Or is it just something that takes practice and over time I'll develop the necessary skills?

Lastly, I'm not confident about my singing voice. I think it's somewhat decent but really can't tell. I don't have any means of recording myself but hopefully will sometime in the future. Is singing like playing an instrument, if you take lessons and work at it you can become proficient, or do you need to be born with a voice that is naturally good or you are screwed?

[geo3217]

For playing and singing, what I did was I just worked my way up from easy songs to harder and harder. I started with Good Riddance by Green Day and went from there. I just practiced the rhythm part over and over until I got it down really well and then added in the vocals. Also, I wasn't confident at singing until I took chorus. I suggest joining the chorus at your school to learn some techniques to improve your voice. It does help if your voice is good already, but it's not required.

[Brian M.D.]

You should work to the point where you don't learn a song without learning to sing it and play it at the same time. Eventually you'll reach a stage where your voice and your hands are essentially independent of each other, and you can play and sing most any song with ease. This might take several months, but if you put in the work you will see the results.

As far as vocal confidence goes, by all means take lessons. Before I took voice lessons (I took them for 8 months), I just didn't know how to sing effectively. Now I do. Taking chorus would help too.

And now the hard part, you need to play and sing in front of people as often as you can! That is the true confidence builder.

[GuitarGuy305]

When I was starting to play and sing, once I got a song down on guitar and I could just play it naturally without really having to think about it, it made it easier to sing along. Of course, singing a 4 chord song like Knocking On Heaven's Door is much easier than singing a song like WWYS while playing, but with practice the guitar part will become more natural and you will be able to focus more on the vocal.

And like Brian M.D. said, you'll get to a point where you'll be able to learn a new song by playing and singing it right away, from 4 chord Dylan songs to DMB songs.

[davewmartin]

dido on what they said^

one thing i do,.if it is a hard song,..like the one your trying to learn. i will take a song that is very hard,.(like most of daves) haha and ply and sing the first part,,.like one line over and over. im not sure if this is kosher in the guitar world and it is probably not. but i use it and it works good. it took me three years to get satalite down.

i also aply working out tech to my guitar playing,.liek playing a song 5 times in a row no matter how tired my voice or fingers get. soemtimes even 10 times in a row!!.

i get very tired,.esp my voice and lungs from giving it my all,.but in a few days im built up to it.

asfar as singing i learned how to sing to my level i can sing anyway,.haha by recording myself and trying to sing out of my belly and not my throat. that helped alot,,.i havent taken any vocal lessons,.peopel tell me i have a nice voice,.i dont think so myself. it coudl be better.

besides that alooooot of practice. alot.

[colorado5117]

i suggest you take a couple of singing lessons from a reputable teach. It helps to have someone teach you how to breathe correctly and train you on how to listen to yourself sing. after that is takes a lot of practice.

[Cor]

Hello everyone. I have a solid background in music theory and composition. I've studied jazz with a university professor for 3 years now and play saxophones and piano. I've "played" guitar since I was 13 or so (17 now), when I bought a mexican Strat and cheap peavey amp. Last year I bought an Alvarez acoustic and haven't played the electric since. I'm really digging the acoustic guitar and my proficiency has improved greatly. My problem, however, is singing. I can sing and play songs like Crush without any problem, but a song like What Would You Say really trips me up. Once I try to sing and play a somewhat complex melody where the guitar line and vocal line rhythms are completely different, everything falls apart.

What are some excersizes I can do to overcome this? Or is it just something that takes practice and over time I'll develop the necessary skills?

Lastly, I'm not confident about my singing voice. I think it's somewhat decent but really can't tell. I don't have any means of recording myself but hopefully will sometime in the future. Is singing like playing an instrument, if you take lessons and work at it you can become proficient, or do you need to be born with a voice that is naturally good or you are screwed?

A jazz player? Awesome. I'm a jazz guitar player studying music and I'm in my freshman year of college.

[RunsWithBuffalo]

To really sing and play at the same time effectively you need to have total separation of the hands and mouth. Split your brain in half. What that really means is you need to know the song cold. In other words you could read a book and play the song at the same time.

I don't think anyone is born with a good voice. It is something that is developed. So take lessons to learn to sing properly, powerfully and with good tone.

Here's an old thread i made with some potentially useful things...

http://www.dmbtabs.com/boards/viewtopic ... techniques

Good Luck and post some recordings when you can.

[Grachi]

To really sing and play at the same time effectively you need to have total separation of the hands and mouth. Split your brain in half. What that really means is you need to know the song cold. In other words you could read a book and play the song at the same time.

I don't think anyone is born with a good voice. It is something that is developed. So take lessons to learn to sing properly, powerfully and with good tone.

Here's an old thread i made with some potentially useful things...

http://www.dmbtabs.com/boards/viewtopic ... techniques

Good Luck and post some recordings when you can.

mmmm not necessarily. but you are right. 99% of people CAN sing at least to a point that they sound pretty good. Tone deafness and anything else related to not being able to sing is actually very rare, and the only reason you see people on like American Idol being horrible is that they intentionally edit the show to show more of the contestants that suck to make it seem like that many people are that horrible at singing. Even those people that you see on American Idol that you would think are beyond help would probably be OK singers with some training and development

The biggest thing is really just finding your range, and learning how to sing with control. Biggest thing like it's been said is projection and good tone, but also being on key. Look at Dylan, great lyrcist but a monkey-ass singer -- always was. but he knows his capabilities so it sounds OK at the least.

singing is a lot of coming to terms with your own capabilities, but also finding potential in your voice you didn't know you had. Not everyone is going to be able to hit a falsetto as well as so-and-so, but maybe that person has a great tone to their voice.

My advice, if you don't want lessons, is to really really listen to singing from anybody; a bunch of different artists. See what they do and how it really sounds. Try and cancel out everything except every part of their voice. Then just practice! Record yourself, sing in front of others, etc...

One of my biggest faults when I started was that I used to be very pitchy and used to go too high, beyond my range. But the biggest thing that helped me was singing in front of a friend. Every week I'd work on a part of my singing that my friend said I needed to work on, because it sounded like this or that. Eventually, I got to the point that they said it sounded pretty good.

Just keep goin' at it, and the best advice (although the corniest) is to not think about it and just sing with your heart.

[EatDrinkandBeMerry]

To really sing and play at the same time effectively you need to have total separation of the hands and mouth. Split your brain in half. What that really means is you need to know the song cold. In other words you could read a book and play the song at the same time.

I don't think anyone is born with a good voice. It is something that is developed. So take lessons to learn to sing properly, powerfully and with good tone.

Here's an old thread i made with some potentially useful things...

http://www.dmbtabs.com/boards/viewtopic ... techniques

Good Luck and post some recordings when you can.

mmmm not necessarily. but you are right. 99% of people CAN sing at least to a point that they sound pretty good. Tone deafness and anything else related to not being able to sing is actually very rare, and the only reason you see people on like American Idol being horrible is that they intentionally edit the show to show more of the contestants that suck to make it seem like that many people are that horrible at singing. Even those people that you see on American Idol that you would think are beyond help would probably be OK singers with some training and development

The biggest thing is really just finding your range, and learning how to sing with control. Biggest thing like it's been said is projection and good tone, but also being on key. Look at Dylan, great lyrcist but a monkey-ass singer -- always was. but he knows his capabilities so it sounds OK at the least.

singing is a lot of coming to terms with your own capabilities, but also finding potential in your voice you didn't know you had. Not everyone is going to be able to hit a falsetto as well as so-and-so, but maybe that person has a great tone to their voice.

My advice, if you don't want lessons, is to really really listen to singing from anybody; a bunch of different artists. See what they do and how it really sounds. Try and cancel out everything except every part of their voice. Then just practice! Record yourself, sing in front of others, etc...

One of my biggest faults when I started was that I used to be very pitchy and used to go too high, beyond my range. But the biggest thing that helped me was singing in front of a friend. Every week I'd work on a part of my singing that my friend said I needed to work on, because it sounded like this or that. Eventually, I got to the point that they said it sounded pretty good.

Just keep goin' at it, and the best advice (although the corniest) is to not think about it and just sing with your heart.

I was right with you up until the "great lyricist but monkey-ass singer" part.

Dylan was a superb singer. Ok maybe not for his entire career, but at the start it was awesome Unique in every way. All the notes were there MAybe you didnt like his tone or whatever but it was in tune.

Blood on the Tracks is an album of bad or OK singing to you? Jeezo.

[Grachi]

oh no I know he sings in tune, I wasn't saying that. I was talking about tone and quality... His voice isn't the most pleasant thing I've ever heard, but it is good in it's own way really, if that makes sense.

Like I said he knows his capabilities but really that's any singer unless you are Whitney Houston or Mariah Carey and you can just sing with phenomenal range

[renold]

What are some excersizes I can do to overcome this?

When I was learning how to do it I'd listen to the music...sing the part, then play the part, then try them together. If it doesn't happen yet then make sure you're playing the part consistantly without even paying attention to your hands or picking hand. Just practice. And practice the singing seperately. Eventually things just click and you can do it very quickly while learning new songs. No more splitting up etc

[pjdk28]

develop some confidence....get some lessons. worth it

[SRVDMB]

I always learn the guitar first and formost. Get familiar with it. When i play WWYS i don't even really think about it. So just keep playing what would you say to a backround track to get all the timing and tempo correct and just get used to playing it. eventually it gets to the point of day dreaming. Sometimes i get so into the music that it ends without me relizing it and then im playing another song....lol....But you'll get it. I think anybody can play guitar. You just have to put in the work and time.


Good Luck i know you'll suceed!
Jack

[Klondog]

Ok, I'm really sick of this. I've been playing the guitar for about 6 years now, and I'm confident in my playing abilities. From the time I started playing I've had trouble (to say the least) singing and playing at the same time. I've tried to develop my voice and confidence a little through practice and matching notes, but for the life of me I cannot sing on key and play in time. It's like a mental block. I can read or talk while playing the guitar, but as soon as I try to sing I lose time/rhythm. I'm actually pretty embarrassed to be posting this after 6 or so years of playing, but I'm frustrated. Did anyone have similar problems? How did you get over it (aside from simple practice)? Any good drills, techniques or tips? Anything is greatly appreciated.