bassist/vocalist pointers.

[Grist]

so iv been playing bass for about a year and a half now, and i had just recently preformed a stripped down cover verson of the pixies "were is my mind?". it went pretty well but i could use a few pointers on singing while playing bass. i would greatly appreceat it.

[Daniel Trolie]

i guess it's a link for this, and there is something called a "search" button. but one important thing when singing and playing is(i've recently worked on this=) to learn both the bassline and the vocal separate, repeat many times...

[Enden]

Originally Posted by Grist

so iv been playing bass for about a year and a half now, and i had just recently preformed a stripped down cover verson of the pixies "were is my mind?". it went pretty well but i could use a few pointers on singing while playing bass. i would greatly appreceat it.

Actually, a few months ago I did my first gig of playing while singing. I did Where Is My Mind. It wasn't much of a challenge.

My advice: Learn the bassline as completely as possible. Memorize it fully so that it becomes natural. Then do the same for the words. The bassline for Where is My Mind was simple and easy to remember, and I already knew the words, so they came together.

[Rune Bivrin]

One thing that a vocal coach helped me discover is that twisting your head to look at the fretboard makes singing much harder and puts mor strain on your vocal chords. Since then I've made a point of practicising my bass lines with my eyes closed, so I know I can play them without looking. Otherwise, it's just all too easy to look without thinking, and then you're not quite focussing on making your fingers know their position by themselves. Which will come back to haunt you when you play in front of an audience.

Rune

[ABH_bassist]

ive been singin lead and doing bass at once since february. its a little difficult but just like learning the bass, or learning to sing, its all about practice.

good point about turning your neck and cramping the vocal chords.
its tempting but much better when youre not checking the frets every second.

also if youre gonna be the frontman you gotta learn to sing, play bass, and rock all at once.
THIS is the challenge

[Sean Baumann]

I just started singing some backup with my band. I've never tried to sing before, except to myself. It is/was very difficult for me to play and sing at the same time. It is a matter of breaking myself so that I can do two seemingly disjointed things at the same time, sort of like limb independence for a drummer. The more I practice and memorize the bass lines, the easier it becomes. Just keep it up, you'll get it eventually.