Learning to Sing and Play - suggestions for songs...

[Khimaros]

I was wondering if anyone out there had suggestions for songs to play on the guitar that are easy to sing along to. I've tried a few times in the past to sing along to Dave whilst playing, but it's like patting my head and rubbing my stomach at the same time... Too difficult for my tiny mind to comprehend.

Has anyone else had problems singing and playing initially, and do they have any suggestions for songs that only have a couple of chords and basic strumming that they can recommend, preferably once where the lyrics fit easily into the chord changes, because i'm just not getting off the ground with this at all.....

Also, as a little after thought, i've also taken to playing more individual picking songs recently, like the verse in Satellite and the chorus in Fool to Think. They've proven really good stretching/precision exercises for my fingers and i was wondering if anyone had any suggestion for other Dave songs (or just cool little jams like these from any artist) that i can practice that work in a loop so i can just keep going round and round, cos i love it!

Tank ya very much!

[jsgksu]

Most everyone has problems at first, just takes lots of practice. Pick a song you can play without even thinking about it, one you know backwards and forwards, and itll be a little easier.

[nate]

I find playing a song slowly while singing/reciting the lyrics out loud helps alot too. you get a sense of the rhythm and the cadence and then how the lyrics fit into that. This way it becomes more of a single entity rather then chords and lyrics.

[Grasso]

Suggestion: don't play dave songs.

play songs that are just simple chords, and you'll find that the strumming and chord changes just parallell the words

I've been working on Idea of You....eh...

[Pizzle]

Sittin, waitin, wishin-Jack Johnson

[DaveyeahMatthews]

window by guster got me goin hell yeah guster rules

[sunglassesatnight]

window by guster got me goin hell yeah guster rules

That's a good suggestion. It's actually not the easiest song to sing and play together.

Here's my standard suggestion for learning to sing and play:

Read while you play. Play while you read. Read something with which you are unfamiliar. Once you can concentrate on doing two things at once, one of which you aren't used to or is maybe confusing, you'll be in the mindset to sing while you play. That's what I did.

[Grachi]

i just sit with the lyrics in front of me when i am learning to sing with a new song i've learned.

you have to know the song by heart though. Then once you do that you can synchronize certain parts of the song with the lyrics and vice versa too if it's a more complex song. Then, sooner or later you won't need the lyrics or the song cause both are memorized.

but thats what i still do to this day: I sit with the lyrics and I already know the guitar by heart. Or, if you want sometimes it's useful to get those tabs with the chords right above certain parts in the lyrics. thats a good way to learn too I think.

and of course, time and practice with eventually yield to persistence

[Khimaros]

Suggestion: don't play dave songs.

play songs that are just simple chords, and you'll find that the strumming and chord changes just parallell the words

I've been working on Idea of You....eh...

heh, figured out tryin it with Dave songs was not a good place to start. My friend summed it up when i told him i wasn't getting anywhere trying to sing and play along to Crash by calling me a f@*£ing idiot & telling me to start with something easier...

But tanks for the suggestions guys, there's been some really interesting points and tips that i'd not thought of before, so i'll give them a go.

[pjdk28]

Sittin, waitin, wishin-Jack Johnson

flake...

[fede]

Something by coldplay, like yellow, the scientist. etc.

Fede

[DrumsFoDaSoul]

From Dave- #41

[Gold]

Neil Young - Heart of Gold
Beck - Guess I'm Doing Fine

These were the first I could play and sing, I think.

[Ando]

One day it just clicked for me.

I was stoned, picked up my guitar, and it happened.

But it does take a lot of practice--My problem when i first started was concentrating too much on either just singing or playing. So depending the other was off-
find the balance

[paulaitchison]

waste, the

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