I can sing backups on some songs like Gloria or Blue Suede Shoes that have fairly easy basslines, but anything even remotely more difficult and I can't sing and play bass simultaneously.:help:

I know these songs very well. Some of them I've been playing for 3 years.

Is this an indicator of my level of skill? Or I am I just not employing some sort of technique?

It's not hard I think. It just takes practice, like anything else one isn't used to doing.

It was very difficult for me to learn to, especially on guitar. Just keep practicing, and it will get easier, I promise. Like anything that requires coordination, it's just easier for some people than it is for others. The good news is, you'll get better across the board and future songs will typically become easier and easier to learn and you'll pick it up at a much quicker pace.

I am sure you have figured this out, but I find a couple factors seem to come into play when determining the difficulty of to add vocals while playing an instrument-

1- how complicated/comfortable you are with the instrument part
2- how comfortable you are with the vocals (frequent pitch changes or something that is approaching the top of your range are always a little more challenging since you will be tempted to focus on that)
3- how closely the vocals resemble what it is your playing- it much easier when the notes and the pitch your singing and the basic melody, are close to what is being played on the bass

I can offer one tip that actually worked well for me.

When someone plays the piano, they're typically not thinking of the left and right hand operating independently like you may be when you listen to it (when you listen to it, you're probably hearing a bassline and lead part). When you learn to play it, you generally learn to dissect the song and and coordinate the two hands together, note by note- until you have what sounds like two completely separate parts. Another way to describe it is think of it as no individual notes, but just a bunch of chords 2 or 3 note chords that will evnetually sound like independent melodies when you play them in succession.

Try doing this with the bass- think of coordinating each note you sing with each note be played, one step at a time- very slowly, and very deliberately. If you have to group a small vocal and instrument phrasing together in certain parts to make it flow in your head (as opposed to one note at a time), that's ok too. But break it up in your head as if the bass and vocals were actually one instrument that needed two things to be done in order for you to play a song.

At first, it will sound a little unnatural and robotic- but in a short time, you will find yourself being able to sing as two independent melodies that are simply being played at the same time.

I hope that made sense, it's a little hard to describe. But once you put it all together and practice for a bit. It's not nearly as much work as it sounds.

It's not hard I think. It just takes practice, like anything else one isn't used to doing.

I agree. At first it can be hard, but like anything else the more you do it the easier it gets.

learn to hold a conversation while playing, then learn to speak-sing, then learn to sing.

soon you'll be telling the drummer jokes while the guitard is f***'n up the changes.

As said above, you have to practice. That is really all there is to it. Practice your ass off.

I think it can be hard because some basslines are syncopated. When you add a different rhythmic vocal line on top of that; voila - difficult to sing and play at the same time.

We had a nice chat about this not too long ago:

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=560801&highlight=singing+playing