How do i sing while playing the guitar?

[we900]

I just cant pull it off.When i open my hmouth,my hands go berserk and cant do the strumming pattern.I heard some people are just born cant extreme multi task.Gerard way(vocalist of My Chemical Romance ) also cant play guitar and sing at the same time.So he stuck to singing alone.SHould i do the same?

 

[theGroovyMusic]

it takes some coordination and practicing, for a start you can play along and just strum to the song and tap your feet to the beat. Then as you gradually know the song better and better, i'm sure you can do it

 

[CrazyCactusJack]

I just cant pull it off.When i open my hmouth,my hands go berserk and cant do the strumming pattern.I heard some people are just born cant extreme multi task.Gerard way(vocalist of My Chemical Romance ) also cant play guitar and sing at the same time.So he stuck to singing alone.SHould i do the same?

Can be quite a challenging task, especially with songs that have lots of various riffing and licks. But nevertheless it's not impossible. It requires lots of practice.

1. Practice your guitar parts and memorize them, feel the music.
2. Put away your guitar, learn the vocals part of the song.
3. Play and sing along with the record/mp3 whatever.
4. Put away the record/mp3 etc, then play the song and sing. Practice till you get to what you want.

I also realized that you sort of like need to "let-loose" a lil. When you sing and play in a band, you have the tendency to think which to do first, or what chord am I in etc..The best is memorize all your parts and when it's time to jam, just play with the feel and follow the beat. I also try not to look at the lyrics, should i gonna sing AND play the guitar.

Ayw, that's just my practice regime and kinda works for me.

Happy strumming and singing! Cheers!

 

[LadyInTears]

you've to be comfortable with the guitar and relax

 

[justheretolook]

i feel so lucky after reading this thread. like someone said, let loose, but you first need to memorise everything first, so you'll be much much more comfortable. you might even improvise while singing.

 

[Mirrorboy]

need to practise ur multitasking skills

 

[ImNotFish]

You can try this: Find the point where your strum and word comes together. While you strum, you think of the lyrics, there should be some points where you strum the guitar and sing the word at the same time. Memorize these points, and you should be okay. Or to make it more simpler, strum the easiest pattern like 1 strum per count, and try to sing. Of course its better if you have memorize the chords and lyrics.

Hope that helps.

 

[relinquish69]

- strum the chords
- get used to the chord progression
- maintain a steady rhythm. A metronome helps.
- after nailing the progression, try making any nonsensical sounds from your mouth while maintaining a steady rhythm. Does not have to be in tune.
- when that becomes comfortable, slowly make those sounds become words.
- after getting the words right try to stay in tune by making sure your voice fits nicely into your playing.
- practice

The most important thing is to get your rhythm right before branching out to other aspects. might get extremely frustrating but at the end of the day, it'd all be worthwhile.

 

[EugeneSmasher]

Personally, I can sing and play the guitar at the same time. But only for relatively simple guitar parts, or rhythm parts since I've always been a rhythm player and am very comfortable in that area. I really think it's down to having lots of practice.

 

[Josephlok]

Practice, Practice, Practice

 

[WyldeHimself]

DUDE like countless of people have been saying AND will continue to fuckin' say. PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE.

 

[fenderrules]

A few months ago I saw this RockHouse instructional on Youtube and Alexi Laiho was givin' tips on how to sing while you play. A technique that he did was that he would whisper the lyrics while he was riffing. I found it quite helpful, but of course I'm like the worst singer on this entire earth and I need to work on that first lols.

And yeah, like the others said, PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE.


Cheers