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bass and vocals?

#42
My standard response:
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I think the primary obstacle to playing bass while singing is rhythmic:
You have to be able to execute 2 rhythms at once, the the bass part and the vocal line.

My favorite trick to deal with it is to put the bass down, and practice clapping the rhythm of the bass part while singing the vocal part.
Do it slowly and accurately at first.
Notice the spots where the vocal line matches up with the bass line
Pay special attention the spots where the vocals fall 'in between' the bass notes.

I have found that once I can clap the bass rhythm accurately while singing, It's pretty easy to grab the bass and play for real.

Actually singing well is another story....
 
#45
I've been playing and singing since I started(6 years ago) I'm 20 now.
all I can say is practice makes perfect.
learn individual parts first, then put 'em together. or, learn bass first then try and sing on top of it. if you're thinking about messing up the entire time, you're going to mess up
just have fun with it!
 
#46
I learned to play and sing by starting out with songs that were really easy to play on bass... Back In The USSR, Breakup Song, etc etc. Basically just steady 8th notes. That allows you to focus on the vocal because, let's be honest, most people don't care about the bassline near as much as they do the lead vocal.
 
#47
GRAHAM SG1 said:
[QUOTEI am lead singer and bass in my band, I have been on bass about a year but was always the singer as lead/rhythm guitarist, singing and guitar is easy in general, singing and bass is very difficult but I have got it 90% spot on now, the only bits I struggle on are where the bass lines get more involved, something like `stuck in the middle` is hard to sing while on bass, one tip is to have your band mates do the vocal parts that you cant do, for instance, the chorus in `should I stay or go`or I find a certain part in `born to be wild` hard, anytime the bass changes pattern or tempo or just needs a bit more concentration just get your mate do do that vocal part and your problem will be solved !
Click to expand...
Funny you mention Stuck In The Middle. I started learning to sing and play a few months ago and in order to find out what I could and couldn't do, I just sang lead on all the covers I played (at home, not live!!)
I was curious why I found it easier to play and sing Stuck in the Middle than most of the straight 8th note songs on our list like Smells Like Teen Spirit (Nirvana), The Middle (Jimmy Eat World) and Gone Away (Offspring).

I always make sure I know the bass part cold, then learn to sing it cold, then combine the two and synchronise it as I get more familiar doing both. It sure is a lot harder than I anticipated, and helped me realise I don't really want to be a singer :)
 
#48
I sing more than my share in our 3-piece band. Certainly, practice is the key here. Many of the songs I struggled with at first, but they come around in time. I also look for songs where the words fall in time with the beat. These are the easiest to pick up.

But I also know there are some songs we do that I could never sing and play at the same time. Just not gonna happen. The bass line is just too involved. These songs have to be sung by one of the other guys. Period.
 
#50
I'm sure there is nothing that I can say that has not been said better beforehand but for what it's worth I started playing bass at the same time I started to sing and I couldn't do both one bit!!!! I ended up joining a band where I was just the bassist and after 2-3 months I was confident enough to start delivering backing vocals.

About 4 weeks later me and the guitarist found a fantastic drummer and started a new band from the ground up wherin I was lead singer (as we couldn't find anyone else). We started doing pretty basic punk stuff then it's developed over the last three years so I can know knock out far more complex bass lines and vocals at the same time without focusing too much on either.

So what I'm getting at is practice practice practice! And build up slowly... Try maybe doing just backing vox first, then singing over basic bass lines, then just taking a small step up everytime you do something new. It worked for me and although it still takes a bit to get something new nailed I know I'm getting that little bit better every single time, so I get a bit more encouraged to do just a bit more with the bass and vox.

(www.facebook.com/we.are.toecutter if you want to hear it :P)
 
#51
What I do is get them both nailed on their own first, then start with a "bare bones" bassline when doing them together, gradually adding my fills and such in as I get more comfortable. I got thrown in the deep end with it all, I'd never really sang before, showed up to a gig, got a call saying the singer had just been rushed to hospital. I luckily knew all my basslines as second nature, even then I had to drop pretty much any fills that were going on under vocal sections. After that, I started doing vocal harmonies for the band.
 
#52
My two cents worth - The audience will be focused on the vocals, not the bass line, so priority one is to sing the song well. You can usually get away with a simplified bassline. If a particular song gives you too much trouble, drop it or have one of your bandmates sing it. And, of course, practice, practice, practice.
 
#54
Bassmansean said:
....let's be honest, most people don't care about the bassline near as much as they do the lead vocal.
Click to expand...

I think this is the key to getting started. Simplify the bass part to something you can sing over and add the extra bass complexity when you can.

I played lead in a band where the bass player used this technique even when he was not singing, he was a pretty good singer but a lousy bassplayer. Root notes and the occasional walking bass line. That band got more work than any I have been in before or since. We did have 4 members who could sing lead so the vocals were never lacking.
 
#55
I find playing guitar and singing easier than playing the bass and singing.

I also find playing the pass with a pick and singing easier than playing the bass with my fingers and singing. Not even sure why on that part.

But definitely as others have said - if you learn the bass part inside out, then that leaves more brain to focus on the singing and on the "doing both at the same time" parts.
 
#56
onosson said:
I've thought about this a bit, and I think a lot of the difficulty in playing bass while singing is that you are (usually) essentially playing two single-note melody lines, which may not even be related harmonically or in terms of timing. Basically, it's polyphony:

Polyphony - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Click to expand...

This is what I've always thought. I sing some backup in my cover band and at church and what I've had to do sometimes is sing a monotone or sing-speak the lyrics while focusing on lining up the bass part and vocal rhythms. Took forever for me to nail Carry On Wayward Son. Did fine on the acapella intro but completely fell apart on the chorus!:hmm:
 

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