Singing and Playing

To be honest its one of those things i foung the most difficult but then it cracked with easy songs like Ironic - alanis morrissett, Time of your life - Greenday,  and learn them out of general acoustic books you can buy at music shops so you have all the correct tabs and lyrics... find a wide open space where no one will hear you and keep at it... it will just come to you and it'll be one of the best feelings in the world. It improved my guitar playing once i cracked it too.

yeah, like blindy says, learn the song very well.

I still learn a song by playing it and singing it at the same time, I get to know what chord I am on when I start to sing a verse or chorus, the rest just comes if you know the song well enough.

And sometimes I use the songs of chordie but I dont try to make them sound exactly the same as the original artisit. I do my own version as much as possible. If you like it then keep playing it the way you want to and ignore anyone that says you have destroyed it.

If you like it then others will

Ken

For me it works best to always start learning a song by both singing and playing together.  If the exact words are too difficult, then I just howl out the melody as best as I can until the playing mechanics settle into my brain a bit. 

It all might sound pretty awful at first what with all the howling and thrashing - - but it works for me.

I agree whole-heartedly with Upyerkilt's observation that you do your own version of a song and don't get all obsessive about making it sound like someone else's recording of a song.  Mimicry is not musicianship.

If I want to really polish up a song after both the lyric and accompianment are firmly in my head, I find it very useful to sing it with no instrument - - I'll knock out the beat on the body and/or with my big smelly feet and sing as strong and clear as I am able - - again, it might sound pretty awful at first but it is necessary to really learn the song.

Too many players are very anal about what they do with their fingers and assume that the singing is going to 'just happen'.  Too often, players are hunched over their instrument in such a way that they can't draw a full breath, much less get enough wind to sing a complete lyrical phrase.

Vocalizing takes deliberate effort (and strength)- straighten up our spine and neck, hold your head up (not looking down at your fingers), breath from the deep gut, relax your throat, and open your mouth.  Good vocal technique is no mystery - posture and breathing is the key.

If you must sit down to play - sit erect on the edge of your seat (not slumped back or hunched over your instrument).  I prefer to stand to play and sing - it is more fun and it's easier to breathe.

Everybody's voice is unique - as long as you sing with confidence and conviction it will sound good - at least that's what I keep telling myself.

If singing and playing are too hard, here is another way to use your mouth and get a melody line going.  This is an amazing video clip . . .

Just stumbled upon this video clip at janisian.com

Take a look - it is an amazing (and highly original) bit of musicianship!

Here is the link (although I don't know if it will work within the context of this forum).

<a href="http://homepage.mac.com/woz/filechute/teaspoon2%5b1%5d%5b1%5d.mpg.mpeg" target="_blank"> http://homepage.mac.com/woz/filechute/t … 1%5d%5b1%5 d.mpg.mpeg</a>

If the link won't work, just copy and paste into your browser bar.

Hi Folks,

Maybe time to own up that I've been playing for about 15 years, simply playing chords is good, also been taking classical guitar lessons for about 4 years now, so my fingers move well and I have a reasonable general sense of timing etc.  My biggest problem seems to be in maintaining the 2 separate rhythms.

Maybe I'm trying to push myself too much and should simplify the music, but this problem even goes for playing Mull of Kintyre with simple chord progression and simple 3/4 downstrums.

When learning a new classical piece, the trick is to sloooowwww down, but one can only do that so far when you have to sing along.

I've had some success with the "learn the song very well" advice, I found that I was sometimes playing some extra beats to fit around the words, stretching some bars and shrinking others to suit.  But the problem still remains.

Thanks for all your kind words and advice, they've helped relieve the impatience somewhat.

I'll just keep trying

cheers

--

Colm

I had the same problem for years. Then as I learned how to change chords better it just came all at once.

Keep practicing.

Ps. it only took me that long because I only practiced once a week. Now I practice every day

Eddie