Sing and strum

[noq23]

Is it normal for a newbie guitarists finding it hard to sing while strumming the guitar? When I sing and strum, my strumming rhythm tend to get way off.Do you guys experience this ?

 

[mus]

Yup, it happens to me too so I rather not sing. Haha.

 

[VidaK]

I have played the guitar for years, and I cannot manage to sing and play my guitar well... You will need to train for long period of time to get used to it... its like playing piano with both hands...

 

[halfastepdown]

Practice until your hands can play the automatically Like muscle memory.

 

[thedevilri]

I think I am having the same problem as you for most of the songs I play.

Anyway, I think my strumming is screwed up. I can only do a few patterns. @_@

Just can't coordinate?

 

[theunknown]

before u do that, can u change chords without looking?

maybe u can try singing but just make one strum of the chord at the chord change. like this.

D--------------- G ------------- C-----------------F
lalalalalalalalalaladadadadadaanananannanananababababbababa
strum-----------strum-----------strum------------strum

if can, try

do downstrumming only, but follow the stum pattern of the song

it gets harder when u have to pluck the chord.
even harder when u have to pluck NOT a chord.
like say....fade to black or the day that never comes by metallica.

 

[wjl123]

I've inquired about this some time back and there were some constructive suggestions,

Count the beats of the bar out loud whilst playing e.g. '1 2 3 4'

It is just about understanding what falls on what beat

when you understand this, the same principle is applied to the words e.g. which words fall on which beats

So, begin by counting the beats out loud

Depending on how you have practised, or if you have ever practised with a metronome, this will be quite easy, or terribly difficult

if you haven't ever used a metronome, then that is your problem - you'll need to go back to square one and understand the rhythm of what you are playing, rather than imitating what you hear

that is usually the main problem - imitating, rather than understanding


PS other exercises you can do - just strum a basic strumming pattern over a chord progression, and try reading a newspaper out loud - make sure you read it 'naturally' i.e. NOT in a beat.

Also get someone to ask you basic maths questions e.g. addition/subtraction etc etc

subtraction is difficult, as with music, you are always thinking forward, but subtraction forces you to think backwards.

Try also spelling words - try spelling them backwards. As before, try to speak naturally, and not in time with what you are doing on the guitar.


That should get you started.

 

[zomrec]

Regards Aqal

It d usual thing for a player to hv tis,its takes alot of practice n concentration,try buying a gadget that comes with a drum beat to built up the mood,recommend zoom 505,plug in the acoustics preset and set any tempo to d song that U familiar & feel for it.For a start this might work ..it a self instinct and your familiarisation to BPM(beats per minute)
Cheers!! AQAL

 

[fastbladez]

well to rectify this problem, i can suggest learning how to count the beats in the song first.
for example, most mainstream or pop songs are 4 beats in a bar,
therefore, go on a downstroke for each beat. then, for each in-between beat (dont know what's that called), you can do upstrokes.
so for example,

1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and
down up down up down up down up

after that, you can vary the different strumming patterns you want.
like for example, instead of playing the WHOLE
"1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and", you can play
"1, 2, 3 and 4 and", and that becomes,
"Down, Down, Down up Down up"

as time progresses, you can vary the strumming patterns even more.

just my 2 cents worth

 

[noq23]

Thx guys!

 

[evident]

work on your strumming until it becomes second nature...most newbie guitarists (including myself, my main instrument isn't the guitar) have problems even holding the pick properly and changing chords. Until you can get all these stuff down to the point that you can play anything without even thinking about it...then try to sing.