Any practice tips for a lead vocalist/bassist?

[corychilds]

I've been playing bass for 5 years now, its about as natural as walking by this point, and I enjoy singing as well (although its a bit more difficult than walking). I was going to walk the singer route, but realized that with practice I could pull off doing both.

I've read online to see tips and whatnot, and everybody threw around stuff like "Play simpler bass riffs" or "Ooh thats hard" or my personal favorite, "Don't."

I don't want to sacrifice anything. Does anybody have any good ideas or practice methods?

[thecapm]

I recall Troy Sanders, of Mastodon, once saying that he learns the bass part and vocals separately during the writing and recording and then practices, with brute force repetition, doing both at the same time for the tour.

I say you should practice the bass line to death until it is absolutely automatic so that you can concentrate on the singing, since you say it is the more difficult of the two for you to do. I don't see any reason why you would have to simplify your bass parts at all. The only thing that you're really going to have to get used to is playing the harmony and singing the melody at the same time; it's analogous to patting your head and rubbing your stomach.

[Flalaski]

i agree with thecapm.

Practice. it make's permanent.
Only Perfect Practice make's Perfect.

[kesslari]

Yep. Learn both parts well. Then put them together.
If you hit a tricky part where they don't seem to come together, break things down so you can understand and feel how the different syncopations line up.

[nickonbass]

I sing and play bass in my band. At first I would just do basic bass lines but now, the harder the bass line the more I enjoy learning to sing and play.

As a generalisation (for any song):

Absolute minimum - just sit on the root when you sing.

That's the starting point. That isn't hard to do - so start by adding the obvious. Go back and fourth between the root and the 5th on the beat for example. Or vary the rhythm while sitting on the root.

When you get that down play up to the 5th. So play Root, 3rd, 4th, 5th or something.

Everytime you play and sing each song - do something new and sit on it until you can play it well and then add something else new.

Before too long you'll get stuff under your fingers and be able to just play through stuff and sing comfortably.

The more you do it - the easier it becomes for each song.

For specific (really hard songs):

Break it down note by note if you have to and think of your voice and the bass as the one instrument. Like a drummer has to between hands and feet. ie it's about co-ordination and dexterity.

Slow everything right down (practice just bass and singing with nothing else) and sing/play it all note by note, part by part until you can play through it slowly. Then just play, play and play until you can get through it at full speed.

Then you take it to the band and play it in that setting. Hard at first but over time (weeks/months) you get it under your fingers and will get to the point where you can play really complicated bass lines and sing to the point where you can start mucking around with your phrasing whilst singing while your hands just do what they want to do on the bass.

I find it really challenging and a lot of fun - especially with the more complicated stuff.

And to be honest - it's something that can blow people away. ie it's a bit of a party trick - but also a very usefull/practical one.

I have had people come up to me after gigs and say they watched me the whole night cause they couldn't comprehend how I can sing and play like I do at the same time.

That's pretty cool considering I'm not the lead guitar player!!!!

[mambo4]

One thing I have done, if my bass isn't handy:
clap the rhythm of the bassline and practice singing while clapping.
A good way to train your brain to track 2 rhythms at once.

[spiltmilk_2000]

Hi There, this is something I have struggled with over the past couple of years but feel like im making good head way with now. As im still at a fairly basic level here's a few things i have found helpful and any other beginners at singing / playing might find helpful too. if this is a little too basic then apologies for being patronising!

Firstly, make sure you start off really slow. The thing that makes it so tricky is the conflicting rhythms so the slower you can do this the easier it is to 'feel' the two rhythms intertwine. For purposes of this i dont even worry about pitching the singing at first. just speak the words and play... Once you can do that on auto pilot, start to increase the tempo and finally get the pitching right!

If you nail some simple syncopations the harder ones will be that much easier when you revisit them as your brain will be a little more used to the idea. Here are a couple of really simple bass lines to try as an excercise

You Really Got Me - the Kinks
Summer Lovin' - Greece

Not the most exciting to play but these were two of the first things i nailed and it really helped me progress with more tricky lines

Also, try playing some walking bass line songs and singing. as the right hand is pretty steady it makes it easier to play around with vocal lines phrasing and push or pull away from the beat

One of my fave things that ive nailed of late is Dont Let Me Down by the Beatles. Get to the middle 8 'Im in love, for the first time' bit... its a corker! :-)

Finally, if these tips dont work for you, take drum lessons! All the drummers i know can do this as they are used to splitting the brain a number of ways...

anyway, hope someone finds that useful...
Russ