• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Bassist's Guide to Singing

#101
I've not been through the whole thread yet, but a couple of guys have been asking about how to actually MANAGE playing the bass and singing at the same time. I'm a complete newb at this myself, and although I have been voicing everything from guitar lines/vocal lines/basslines/anything since before i picked up a musical instrument, I actually started the singing lyrics barely a week or so ago.

What really helped me is that I decided to take a mature approach to it and not 'force' my way through the song and I broke it up the vocal line rhythmically into 1/4ths and 1/8ths and compared it with the bass notes. Basically;

1. I sit and tap out the vocal line a no. of times to realize on which beat specific sections of the current line in the lyrics are at. Like I was learning a song by Hoobastank and the lyrics go;

" I've got this fantasy..."

Now I broke up this line into beats. It works up into this.

( ) - I've - got - this - fan' - na - see
D - u - D - u - D - u - D

Now the bass line to that part goes;

C - G - C - G - G# - G - D#
D - u - D - u - D - u - D

you combine the 2 together and word it out REALLY SLOOOWW along with playing the notes. Dont worry about sounding a bit robotic or the fluency needed for the actual performance. Learn to build your sub-concious to accept stuff like when you pronouce the 'Duh' (eg. 'D'ay) or 'Tuh' ('T'ommorrow..) and then relate it to playing the bassline in the same time.

Simplify the bassline while learning. Forget about the 16th notes and stuff for a while. That all stuff is not difficult to do once you get the basic structure of how to connect the song to the bass in your head.

Lastly, after you do manage to learn the song and play bass, it is vital that you practice the same with a metronome. Your time-keeping skills may most probably have weakened while playing and singing and at the end of the day, you can sing your ass off in any form of time and tempo, but the bass needs to be the metronome of the band and keep it tight. So use a met and time your singing and playing . Eventually your flow of teh song will be natural and you'll even be able to improvise a bit of the tonal patterns like singers do in live shows.

Cheers. Hope the advice helps. Newbie-to-newbie.
 
#102
i can't do it except for a few simple songs. i always thought i was crazy but during some unrelated research discovered that an area of the brain that is "wired" for musical ability is also "wired" for speech. In some individuals it is a one lane street. No i haven't been tested for that (boy would that be interesting) but i bet that's my deal. I can't even TALK and play at the same time. not even quarter notes. :rolleyes:
 
#103
Hi, ive read like... a dozen of posts in this topic and coudnt find the Q/A i was looking for. So here it is

Q: I can sing and play at the same time quite nice when i practice for certain songs. The real problems with learning them is when i have to sing something i dont play, or doenst really get linked to my bass.
example,
playing a fairly easy steady song
singing long note, short notes, long notes *like sing/talk/sing*
this would be do-able.
The real problem seems to get in my way when i play low to high notes and sing from high to low.

problems i encounter are;
-singing and bass tones cross each other at a certain point (high to low and low to high), messing my brain up. (with practice this will come arround some day)
-singing notes that i dont play myself.
so;
i have to lock in with the drummer for the rythm,
play my bass part with all the offbeat fills and other weird crap some famous artist came up with,
link with the guitar for the tone of my voice,
and lock in with the lead vocals for my vocal timing.

and the side problem :P when im done practicing my head hurts because i had to keep so many things in mind i need to be VERY consentrated...

any tips on this?
 
#106
Loempiaketzer said:
Hi, ive read like... a dozen of posts in this topic and coudnt find the Q/A i was looking for. So here it is

Q: I can sing and play at the same time quite nice when i practice for certain songs. The real problems with learning them is when i have to sing something i dont play, or doenst really get linked to my bass.
example,
playing a fairly easy steady song
singing long note, short notes, long notes *like sing/talk/sing*
this would be do-able.
The real problem seems to get in my way when i play low to high notes and sing from high to low.

problems i encounter are;
-singing and bass tones cross each other at a certain point (high to low and low to high), messing my brain up. (with practice this will come arround some day)
-singing notes that i dont play myself.
so;
i have to lock in with the drummer for the rythm,
play my bass part with all the offbeat fills and other weird crap some famous artist came up with,
link with the guitar for the tone of my voice,
and lock in with the lead vocals for my vocal timing.

and the side problem :P when im done practicing my head hurts because i had to keep so many things in mind i need to be VERY consentrated...

any tips on this?
Click to expand...

honestly, it sounds like you've got it all figured out. just keep plugging away. maybe do some math in your non-bass time, plow through the songs in your head when you've got nothing going on. don't try to straighten the mental pretzel that comes from doing a lot at the same time, just try to flow with it and keep the beat going. that's one of the most important things. you can **** up a vocal line, but don't **** up the beat. those types of things just get easier the more you do them, it's really that simple.

if it's cover tunes, i like to learn the lyrics first, then play the hell out of the bass line until it's second nature, then play through and see if there are places i can make a mental marker like, for instance, when i go from a D to a G, the vocals change in such-n-such a way.

hey if i can do it with lateralus by tool- while playing synth parts and fiddling with effects and a whammy pedal, tweaking knobs, playing bass and singing, anyone can.
 
#107
sometimes you have to change something.. either the rhythm of the words or the bass part or a little of both. I've been doing this a long time. The only songs where the bass part and the melody sync perfectly are written by singing bass players , but you can practice the others till you get 'em very close or even right. The first time through a song is usually pretty rough.. but after a few times, it just comes to ya.
 
#108
@ scottsnellgrove and tasty sweeps

thanks for the confirmation of my "learning methods" :)
at least i know im trying to learn in an old fashioned way that some people like/worked with that paid off.

Ill go and play the s******t out of my bass and trying to sing my parts :)
 
#110
IvanMike said:
...I can't even TALK and play at the same time. not even quarter notes. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

To talk when you're playing is MUCH more difficult than to sing while you're playing. I guess it's because there's no set rhythm or melody when you talk. It's always challenging when I have to present the band members and keep a groove ongoing on the same time. I have to talk very slowly and with long pauses in between not to mess up the groove. And as you all know, a groove is a terrible thing to waste... :D
 
#112
Haha... I tried it already and I don't plan to do it again.

I'm a worship leader in my church and because our band lacked a bassist, I had to play bass while leading while singing.

It's really hard... concentrating on the bass guitar AS WELL AS on singing AS WELL AS leading AS WELL AS concentrating on God. Too bad I'm not a woman...

Thankfully we got a bassist now
 
#113
tasty sweeps said:
if it's cover tunes, i like to learn the lyrics first, then play the hell out of the bass line until it's second nature, then play through and see if there are places i can make a mental marker like, for instance, when i go from a D to a G, the vocals change in such-n-such a way.
Click to expand...

You nailed it.
I had a hard time learning to sing songs that I already had figured out to play. My lead singer told me to forget about playing the exact bass-lines as the original. Just get the root notes first, and focus on singing.
It took some time, but I realized he was right.
Mind you, I do have to play more simple bass tracks when I sing, but I also learned that the crowd (or at least 99% of them) is not interested in difficult bass-lines, but they sure do love the 3-way harmonics we do.
 
#115
Oke!
seems i can learn allmost any song playing bass while being/trying to be the lead vocalist!
WOEHOOOO!
now,... i have the next problem....

Best example would be denim and leather by saxon.
When i sing the song without holding my bass/playing it i can put much more feeling into the lyrics. ill try to type it out.

(with bass)maybe youre a singer, like me and front the band
(vocals only) MMAaybe youre a SINGERRR, like MEEEE AAAANNDDD FRONT THEEE BÁÁÁND!!!

i hope you guys see what my problem is (exagurated ofcourse)...
Now i know practice makes perfect and im getting there in a slow but steady fashion.
Question is... what do i do to speed up this proces?
 
#116
jive1 said:
Songs
Singing and Playing the Bass at the Same Time
OK, this is the thing that you guys are probably most interested in. You’re not gonna give up bass for singing. Plus being an egotistical singer is an anathema to our wise low-end nature. But for whatever reason you gotta sing, and play bass. So here’s some tips.
- While you are singing, try to stay in one position. Reduce the amount you go up and down the neck. Doing this will reduce the amount you will look down to see what fret you are hitting as well as the likelyhood of moving to the wrong note.
- Work on your plucking hand. The plucking hand is what locks in with the drummer, provides the pulse, and pumps the groove. Missing with your plucking hand is more noticable than missing with your fretting hand. Practice plucking eighth notes, quarter notes, syncopated plucks, etc. If you are a finger picker, while you are singing along with the song on the radio in the car, tap out the pulse of the song with the index and middle finger of your plucking hand on the steering wheel.
- Memorize some generic patterns with your fretting hand. Learn patterns for funk, rock, blues, etc. The patterns should be moveable, i.e. a pattern played on the E and A string can be moved to the A and D string, and a pattern played on the 3rd fret could also be played at the 5th fret. From there it's just a matter of learning the changes of a song and adjusting those patterns to them. The advantage of singing along is that you'll know when the changes are coming.
- Use your vocals to cue your bass playing. The other tips are to help with independence, this one is for interdependence. Use a note or word to trigger the note you are going to play on bass. For example, when the first word of the chorus is sung make a mental note to play "X". Practice this and let your vocals and bass work together. It's sort of like how the two hands of a pianist work together. It will also make remembering bass lines and lyrics easier because you'll have another thing to associate them with.

Now, you have the basics of singing and ideas on how to develop it. So go and sing!
Click to expand...

I just saw this... Cutting to the chase!! This is exactly the position I am in right now.. needing to sing & play.. What a great thread... I play in a Christian band... and I have what I consider an ok voice.. but I play bass..... :bassist: however my wife and the keyboard player have been pushing me to sing... and play bass.. I am going to try the tips in this thread and see what happens... We do a lot of Israel type stuff.. and I just don't see me singing and playing this ... but they believe in me so I am going to try to see if I can pull it off...
 
#120
I've only just started singing for real recently, after about 10 years of bass playing. Lots of good advice here, it's really just a matter of practice on my part.

I found something interesting at last practice, though, speaking of areas of the brain - I could play and count (on key) without much problem, but as soon as I tried to switch the numbers to words (even just made up gibberish) either my fingers or my mouth got all jumbled up. Weird.

I find I have to practice staying at the mic and not looking down at the fret board too!


Finally, a piece of advice for those starting to sing in a band (an original band, probably, but this could work for cover bands too): have vocal practices. Either at the end or begining of a jam, we usually drop the drums, bass, synths, etc., and just sing - either just singing all together, or with one guitar quietly to guide. It seems obvious, but it's amazing how more you hear without loud rock instruments banging in your ears!
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back