David
New old question - singing and playing at the same time
Okay, so I can play horse with no name now... Fairly. But when I try to sing along throw the strumming out the window. If I finally do get it a little bit I lose count and stay too long on a chord. I'm sure somebody has asked this question before so if you could just point me in the correct direction it would be much appreciated.
David
David
Yeah it's a question that's been asked and discussed a lot, but that's OK.
You mentioned losing count when trying to sing. No way you can do both together. You need to work slowly through the tune as you learn to sing and play at the same time, and learn to match certain words in the lyrics to certain changes on guitar. I hope that makes some sense to you. When you sing the tune, you need to know that when you change from one chord to the next, what word you should be singing in the lyric as you hit that new chord. Then you use those words as cues, you don't need to consciously think about the time and it helps you feel the tune.
Other than that, practice, practice and more practice.
Did I mention practice?
You mentioned losing count when trying to sing. No way you can do both together. You need to work slowly through the tune as you learn to sing and play at the same time, and learn to match certain words in the lyrics to certain changes on guitar. I hope that makes some sense to you. When you sing the tune, you need to know that when you change from one chord to the next, what word you should be singing in the lyric as you hit that new chord. Then you use those words as cues, you don't need to consciously think about the time and it helps you feel the tune.
Other than that, practice, practice and more practice.
Did I mention practice?
I love to have the melody/singin notes out of a songboek where it is written out in standaard notation,then you can play or practice the singin notes as well,,other then that you can see where these notes(lyrics) are on your strummings..
Start with getting the guitar part (strumming) down cold.
Then hum along with the strumming (less for the brain to process simultaneously)
Then add the lyrics.
And like Tony says.....practice, practice, and then practice some more!
Then hum along with the strumming (less for the brain to process simultaneously)
Then add the lyrics.
And like Tony says.....practice, practice, and then practice some more!
ffsooo3 wrote:
Singing along with your guitar playing is like trying to play a second instrument simultaneously with the first one. In order to do that, you've got to be able to play the first one without giving it any thought at all, since your thoughts can't go in two directions at the same time.
Learn the guitar part first, to the point where you can play it without thinking about it. Then add some humming of the melody. When you're able to do that, hit some key words in the song. Finally, add all the lyrics.
Regarding adding key words: one of the trickier songs I sang along with was Here Comes the Sun. It has a fingerpicking part that's challenging by itself, so I added lyrics to it slowly. One of the lines is: Little darling, I see the ice is slowly melting. While I was learning the song, I allowed myself to just hit key words; so the line became: ...darling...ice...melting. Once I got totally comfortable with that, I added in the rest of the lyrics.
This is a time-tested method that always works for me.
Perfect advice. And I go through this with every new song I learn that requires something more than basic strumming.Start with getting the guitar part (strumming) down cold.
Then hum along with the strumming (less for the brain to process simultaneously)
Then add the lyrics.
Singing along with your guitar playing is like trying to play a second instrument simultaneously with the first one. In order to do that, you've got to be able to play the first one without giving it any thought at all, since your thoughts can't go in two directions at the same time.
Learn the guitar part first, to the point where you can play it without thinking about it. Then add some humming of the melody. When you're able to do that, hit some key words in the song. Finally, add all the lyrics.
Regarding adding key words: one of the trickier songs I sang along with was Here Comes the Sun. It has a fingerpicking part that's challenging by itself, so I added lyrics to it slowly. One of the lines is: Little darling, I see the ice is slowly melting. While I was learning the song, I allowed myself to just hit key words; so the line became: ...darling...ice...melting. Once I got totally comfortable with that, I added in the rest of the lyrics.
This is a time-tested method that always works for me.
Check out part 7 of Neil's lesson on Pink Floyd's Money. It's called 'Part 7: Tips on Singing'. I only discovered it by accident last week and found it to be very helpful.
In fact, I think Neil should turn just this topic into a whole lesson!
In fact, I think Neil should turn just this topic into a whole lesson!
tvarga wrote:
thanks for the reminder,,its a great part,,and in most line's it is something like Dennis
said,,,but the starter of this thread is'nt a target member yet!
Check out part 7 of Neil's lesson on Pink Floyd's Money. It's called 'Part 7: Tips on Singing'. I only discovered it by accident last week and found it to be very helpful.
In fact, I think Neil should turn just this topic into a whole lesson!
thanks for the reminder,,its a great part,,and in most line's it is something like Dennis
said,,,but the starter of this thread is'nt a target member yet!
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AcousticAl
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I agree with tvarga! We need a dedicated lesson(s)on singing and playing..