Best technique for singing while playing?

[justlouiz]

Thought there was a thread for this but I can't seem to find it. But what technique is best for singing while playing? I use to floating thumb technique to play but when I watch bands with the lead singer playing bass it seems like he's struming it like a rythm guitar but still sounds like the technique I use. Any advice? Or could anyone redirect me to the thread I mentioned before? Thanks guys.

Example of bass singer
Tokyo Police Club - In A Cave - YouTube

[Russell L]

It's not about your thumb technique, or anything like that. It's about what the rhythm of the bass notes is in comparison with the rhythm of the melody you want to sing. AKA counterpoint. I never found a particular exercize regimen to make it work, but rather just had to work it out when the bass part was complicated. Some bass parts, like a driving rock part on just one note will allow you to forget what the bass is doing, much like strumming on a guitar, so that you can sing without any trouble. But, for other things it's not so easy. The only thing I know is to go slow, or even write it out if you can, paying attention to what's on the beat, off the beat, and how the two parts intertwine in general. It ain't so easy, though, sometimes.

[IAmTheWalrus]

When my band decides that I should sing on a song I run through the bass part a billion times and then a few more after that, until I can think about anything else in the world besides my bass playing. To test how far I've come I usually try to talk to someone while I'm playing to see where/how often I mess up. After that it's just a matter of learning the vocals/lyrics

[Marginal Tom]

I use the KISS (keep it simple, stupid) approach. I don't even attempt to duplicate the complex bassline some extremely competent studio bassist played while somebody else sang the song. I play the simplest basslines I can whenever l'm singing.

[James Judson]

AUTOPILOT. Thats what I call it. I can only "think" about one thing at a time. So, singing, playing, sound engineer is to many jobs but I often wear all three hats. Two of my three jobs have to be on "autopilot" or the whole band sucks.

KISS is a good approach.

Practice will get you there and it will take you awhile but it's worth it. And you'll find yourself doing complex vocal lines at the same time as complex bass lines.

[testing1two]

This is a skill that requires a different kind of practice in my opinion and it's based on the same type of muscle independence that drummers and pianists develop when they perform different rhythmic patters with different parts of their bodies simultaneously.

My personal case in point: when I was young violin student my instructor would teach me a particular written piece with piano accompaniment. Once I was familiar with the piece and could read it, we moved to playing it from memory. Once the piece was memorized I started playing it without accompaniment. It is worth noting at this point that listening to your own playing without accompaniment is the genesis of good tone and technique.

But once I could play the piece properly without accompaniment we started working on independence by multitasking. I would walk around the practice room and through the halls, drop to one knee, stand up, sit down, alternate eye blinking, chew gum all while correctly playing the piece "in the background" while the other activities were in the foreground. My ears were always listening and I was adjusting my position, intonation, & vibrato consciously at first, but eventually the adjustments became automatic and didn't require conscious effort.

Years later I applied a similar approach to learning bass parts via multitasking once I had the part memorized. Sometimes by walking around, other times by holding conversations with people while I played, but always listening and always making the necessary adjustments & position changes in the background to play the part correctly without conscious efforts. I would also learn to sing the melody (or background harmony) using the same approach: performing the part in the background while other activities came in and out of the foreground.

With time the process got faster and faster and my confidence and proficiency grew by leaps and bounds...but that also was accelerated by multiplied hours spent studying and practicing, for which there is no substitute.

So that's a very long-winded way of saying this: once you learn the part, try doing other things while you practice until you don't have to think about what you're playing. Take the same approach with your singing. Then work on putting the two together and letting your ears guide your hands & voice to the right places without conscious effort.

As always YMMV, IMO, IOU, LMAO, ETC.

[maxgrant]

Originally Posted by testing1two

This is a skill that requires a different kind of practice in my opinion and it's based on the same type of muscle independence that drummers and pianists develop when they perform different rhythmic patters with different parts of their bodies simultaneously.

My personal case in point: when I was young violin student my instructor would teach me a particular written piece with piano accompaniment. Once I was familiar with the piece and could read it, we moved to playing it from memory. Once the piece was memorized I started playing it without accompaniment. It is worth noting at this point that listening to your own playing without accompaniment is the genesis of good tone and technique.

But once I could play the piece properly without accompaniment we started working on independence by multitasking. I would walk around the practice room and through the halls, drop to one knee, stand up, sit down, alternate eye blinking, chew gum all while correctly playing the piece "in the background" while the other activities were in the foreground. My ears were always listening and I was adjusting my position, intonation, & vibrato consciously at first, but eventually the adjustments became automatic and didn't require conscious effort.

Years later I applied a similar approach to learning bass parts via multitasking once I had the part memorized. Sometimes by walking around, other times by holding conversations with people while I played, but always listening and always making the necessary adjustments & position changes in the background to play the part correctly without conscious efforts. I would also learn to sing the melody (or background harmony) using the same approach: performing the part in the background while other activities came in and out of the foreground.

With time the process got faster and faster and my confidence and proficiency grew by leaps and bounds...but that also was accelerated by multiplied hours spent studying and practicing, for which there is no substitute.

So that's a very long-winded way of saying this: once you learn the part, try doing other things while you practice until you don't have to think about what you're playing. Take the same approach with your singing. Then work on putting the two together and letting your ears guide your hands & voice to the right places without conscious effort.

As always YMMV, IMO, IOU, LMAO, ETC.

This. Plus, there is no way to do it but to do it. Play however you are going to play. I play a lot of rather complex parts while I sing. I think the only song that has ever completely boggled my mind is the intro to Tool's "The Pot," which to sing and play together seems flat-out impossible because the bass and vocals are in different time signatures as far as I can tell. I think it is still doable, I just am not quite motivated to spend weeks and weeks getting it down when I have no intention of ever performing it live.


I will, however add one critical thing that I see almost everyone who tackles this topic overlook. LEARN TO PLAY WITH YOUR EYES CLOSED. You HAVE to be able to take your visual attention off the fretboard in order for your hands' motion to become automatic. And on the very same vein, practice in front of a mirror. You need to learn to support your voice and standing up properly is the best way to do that. If you are standing comfortably with good posture, singing is much easier (I never sit down when I sing unless I am in the car, where proper breathing is not really critical).

[dtripoli]

Playing bass and singing simultaneously
Let me throw in my 2 cents...
For years I alleviated this problem by simply stating when I joined a band, "Oh, by the way, I am a terrible singer but a great bass player" hence I never got asked to lead sing any songs. Although I am sure I missed out on getting in some really good band due to that statement. Truth be known, that statement is false on both counts; I can sing and I am not a great bass player, good but not great. Well, having to sing and play bass finally has caught up with me. I recently did a couple of acoustic gigs as a duo with a female singer and I just played guitar and was able to easily sing along while strumming. Long story short, that girl is now the singer in our band. The cat is out of the bag. She started feeding me back up vocal lines to sing. Most of the time the lines are the 3rd or 5th above the root which is a skill in and of itself. I really wish I would have started working on this singing/playing bass thing years ago. I feel like I am back to square one. My first attempts at it in rehearsal were dismal. Not only did I suddenly suck at bass playing, my vocals were way off pitch. I started doing a lot of the suggestions in the previous posts; learning/playing the song over and over until I could do it without thinking just going by hand memory. Also playing all the songs with my eyes closed. Now this may sound weird but for some reason, I somehow play better when my eyes are closed. It's like once I disconnect the eye to hand link, my playing gets more in the groove and more nuanced. Although it's probably just because all I am using are my ears and I actually get to enjoy listening to my own playing for a change rather than having my eyes like laser beams focused on my fingering technique.
Lastly, I noticed a number of singing bass players such as McCartney and Cetera use a pick. I tried it and it does make it a bit easier but I don't like the sound a pick produces.

[The BurgerMeister]

simply put: learn one, then learn the other... then learn them together.

thumb positioning doesn't figure much, in my opinion. however you're comfortable playing the bass is how you should play the bass.

[jcburn]

I have to admit primarily I'm a pick player and have been the lead vocalist and bass player in all the bands I've been in for the last 10 years(top 40's rock to hard rock to metal). I am an adept fingerstyle player but like the sound or not I find it a lot easier to play and sing using a pick.
Just my 2c.

[RamesesNiblick3]

Personally I prefer to combine the parts as soon as possible. The idea being that I'm no longer learning two parts that I have to play simultaneously. I'm learning one part that happens to feature two instruments. If its a tricky part I'll have to start much slower, but I find it works best for me in the long run.

[DESRTpunk]

Originally Posted by RamesesNiblick3

Personally I prefer to combine the parts as soon as possible. The idea being that I'm no longer learning two parts that I have to play simultaneously. I'm learning one part that happens to feature two instruments. If its a tricky part I'll have to start much slower, but I find it works best for me in the long run.

Same here.
As soon as I can play the song, whether it be perfect or not, I start by humming along.
After I get to the hum/strum level, I start to speak the lyrics out as I strum.
Then slowly from the speak/strum level, I start singing more and more parts until finally I can do both at the same time.

It probably breeds somewhat bad technique, but it's the way that I've found I can do it. I can work fixing technique and all that later.

[Marty Forrer]

I'm a lead vocalist/bass guitarist and lead vocalist /double bass player. When I sing I put most of my concentration into the vocals, and the bass playing seems to take care of itself. Drummers have to learn independence, and that's pretty much the same thing here. I'll use whatever technique the song requires. The only advice I can really offer is practice, practice, practice, and then practice some more.

[whitefuneral]

I'm trying to play and scream (metal). Near impossible.

[Blue]

.. It seems a common problem. The practice tips above are great. For me it's a matter of what might be called dissociation: kind of split - or better Dual - personality. If I'm singing lead, the vocal takes strong precedence, but the rest of me must remain aware to hold the groove.

Not to be overlooked: The practice tips above are great - find that spot between confidence and arrogance.