Strum and Sing club!

[Soul Asylum]

Hi there everyone!

To my knowledge, majority of the guitarists on this forum are towards honing their skills to becoming lead guitarists or something. And i'm pretty sure there are still ones who are more into the pop side of the instrument, which is strum and sing right?

I'm one myself, ok not exactly, but slanting more towards that. Hence with myself sucking at rock/metal lead solos, i'm trying to make the best out of the instrument, in which this is it!

So i'm trying to unite the strum and singers in this forum! Better if we are able to gather a few of us and have a meet up! What say u! Now make urself made known! We are not alone. Haha!

 

[foogle]

i'm probably one of them, but im inching into solo pieces slowly, progress is real slow though lol, learning curve way steeper .

 

[Soul Asylum]

haha what do u mean by solo pieces? care to share which are the materials u're into playing? i'm more of a top 40s guy, as the tunes makes it enjoyable to play. though i'm unable to sing some of them but its still fun. plus whats the curve way! wut. LOL

 

[foogle]

mmm i mean solo pieces on my electric. i've tried canon rock, pink floyd pieces like wish you were here and comfortably numb, occasional oasis tracks, just catchy solos basically.

i'm saying the learning curve is steeper for solo pieces, meaning it's harder to play . But I enjoy strumming to songs and singing, since it's still abit hard at this stage for me to pick and sing lol.

 

[matthewchj]

Haha yeah. I enjoy strumming and singing acoustic, but i play electric too. I love singing and playing acoustically because it just sounds so clean and beautiful lol.

Most of the time I play rhythm on electric too, but I'm slowly starting to learn lead techniques as well.

 

[EugeneSmasher]

Strum-and-sing... You mean singer-guitarists like Bob Dylan, Neil Young, etc? If so, I'm something like that. I'm more of a songwriter-guitarist these days. I've been playing my acoustic a lot more as well, and my electric is catching dust!

In fact, I've not played in a full band setting for awhile except that recent live performance where I played electric, and had no choice but to play a flashy solo. Ah well... I didn't screw it up, surprisingly. I've always been a rhythm player, even with heavy metal.

Been playing electric guitar, heavy metal, hard rock, etc but somehow my favourite sound would always be from the acoustic guitar.

 

[EugeneSmasher]

Just wondering, for songwriter-guitarists like me, how do we find opportunities to perform live? Anyone knows? I always see events where bands sign up and sell tickets to perform... I don't intend to sing, though. I'll probably form a duo or trio and let someone else (probably a lady) do the singing for me. I'll just play my guitar. :mrgreen:

Who knows, if we form this strum-and-sing club, maybe as a club we could also find opportunities to perform. I've performed a few times but it's not enough!

 

[whizzle]

hey guys, though i visit soft very often, i rarely post at all. upon seeing this thread i think i should because i've been looking for such a thread for some time. =P i have been singing and playing at the same time, for songs like green day, jason mraz, daughtry, avril lavigne, simple plan etc. however i just don't have the confidence to do that in front of anyone yet. =S play guitar can, but singing...argh. so now i'm moving on to fingerpicking and solo stuffs on my acoustic. =)

 

[Likui]

For me is I strum, can someone pls sing for me?

 

[Necrome]

As a vocal coach, I'd love to sing with you guys if such a club picks up. We can even move on to group singing lessons if there's a demand for it since some of you proclaim to have an inability to sing XD

 

[Soul Asylum]

hey guys i'm really overjoyed by the response!

foogle and matthewchj : yup i get ur point that we all move on for greater things, and that is lead guitar playing. i'm somewhat at that point too just that my abilities doesnt fit the bill just yet, at least. but its not a sad thing to do what we do now, which is to strum and sing right? hahaha.

EugeneSmasher : Yeah i do mean Bob dylan and Neil Young, though their technicality is far more awesome than what i expect to do. My basic idea was just probably rhythmic chord playing. But people who have gone beyond that belongs to this group as well. Unfortunately i'm unable to provide u with any info regarding the performing part as i've not been exposed to such things yet. I'm still pretty much mediocre.

And guys, like EugeneSmasher, Whizzle, Likui (yeah i know u need a singer, ur an amazing guitarist already! Haha) and Necrome mentioned, i very much do want to organize a meet up so that we can impart our knowledge or even 'match-make' players be it they might be in need of a partner for their duo performances or provide a vocalist etc. And Necrome made a good point on vocal lessons among ourselves! I too, need some 'formal' training.

Guys do check back in here regularly if possible so that u will be updated should there be anything that pops up alright? In the meanwhile, lets keep it alive!

 

[theunknown]

Eugene: opportunities to play live? maybe u wanna try places with open mic nights? is the esplanade library one of them? yeah. i meant u can actually be among those bands selling tickets but playing this type of music. places with open mics do best. or like some events showcases. i've got some friends and relative asking me to perform on such events, like recently my librarian cousin invited me to perform for tampines library anniversary of something.

yeah i'm quite interested in this type of things. my friend and i always lepak (hang out) at the park and play and sing together. maybe form something like Jack and Rai. haha. for now we're like the Gallagher brothers, only the 'Liam' plays guitar better than Noel, coming out with sick rhythm chops without much knowledge in theory. ask him what kinda chord is that, he'll say "i dont know. it sounds nice, so i just play".

 

[Soul Asylum]

theunknown: haha great. roping u in as well should there be any meet ups kk. do bring ur friend along so we can have an impromptu oasis-fest.

 

[Necrome]

I did visit some guys for a mandopop strum and sing session. The organiser reserves a room (once a month) at a Community Club and have the participants bring multiple copies of lyrics and chords for the songs they want to play and sing.

They are more of a leisure group and don't plan much to improve. But it's a good model for reference; which we can take and modify by adding a time slot for technique-sharing and/or lessons.

 

[Soul Asylum]

yup Necrome. i do wish we can progress through the stages as mentioned but we'd definitely need a team of regulars/helpers who are out to make this thing work out smoothly. as well as better players who can share their playing tips with the group. its a pity that the group thats currently ongoing only does mandopop as i'm an avid english music listener. nevertheless, we can make this our own la. haha

 

[jmb23]

i like to sing while i play,but i suck when i sing,so thats y i play lead

 

[foogle]

woah sounds like fun. i usually go to kbox or partyworld for my karaoke fix (although i'm not that good a singer) but I think what I'm actually looking for is one of this strum and sing sessions ! It's like karaoke unplugged.

I can do both english and mando songs, but I personallyfeel my voice is suited more to singing mando songs. That said though, i'm delving a little more into english songs, as there are only songs in that language that make me wanna pick up my guitar.

 

[Soul Asylum]

alright guys how about a gathering soon? need ideas for location though. and need peeps who are interested in guiding the learners along too. =)

 

[anisbank]

i agree. so wen is da next meet

 

[EugeneSmasher]

I have no idea how to teach guitar techniques but I can demonstrate. :mrgreen: A meet-up sounds cool, especially the matching of musicians. An acoustic trio would be uber awesome since I'm a rhythm player myself.

And yup, I'd definitely want some vocal training. It'll definitely help.