Do you guys sing while playing?

I can do it well on electric bass, but trying to sing while playing URB really throws me out of whack. My intonation gets really bad when I have to split my attention. Chalk it up to inexperience, I guess.

 

I thought this was going to be about Jazz players who sing their solos at the same time as they play them ....I've noticed a few recently and as a listener, I find it really irritating - although I appreciate all the reasoning and arguments about it helping you to play melodically etc.

 

I am trying to learn to do this too. The only thing I have come up with is practice practice practice. If I know the bass and vocal parts so well that I don't have to think about either one, then it seems to comes together. Like Mike says, it seems easier with BG. I would be interested in any ideas from the pros.
Dwight

 

Yes I sing while playing and they're almost always different parts. Very challenging, as the issues are the same for both...intonation, timing, dynamics...but lots of fun IMO.

My first classical bass lesson, interestingly, had me singing and playing and counting the lines in unison to train me to keep in my mind what I was doing and anticipate what was going to happen next.

I don't ever go up to thumb position while I sing so I haven't had this problem (yet LOL), but I'd say just keep doing it and experimenting with whatever comes to mind and you'll eventually find a way through that works for you.

 

Maybe you should not go above 5th position while you're singing.

 

I was just funnin', man. You know, the ol' thing about no money above the second position.

 

In the past I have found it difficult to sing a melody and play a bassline at the same time. Generally it helps to minimize shifting (which usually means playing an absurdly simple line and staying in low positions haha).

Good luck, though!

 

You oughta e-mail Jim Ferguson (I think his membership is still here; if not do a GOOGLE to find his website), he plays great and sings great and does them both at the same time. He's been doing it for a long time, but he should be able to talk about what he worked on when he was coming up.

My best recollection was that he was a singer before he was a bassist.

He's a great (and really nice) cat, so don't feel weird about contacting him.

 

Yeah +1 on Jim Ferguson

It made me think of Kristin Korb too...her website has a bunch of pictures of her playing various concerts
http://www.kristinkorb.com/

She keeps her head up all the time and that makes total sense to me.

 

thats where your sound is. if you can hear it play it. sing without making any noise!

 

Rob, he's talking about actually singing like a vocalist, not singing along with what he's playing. If he sings "without making any noise", he's gonna get some funny looks.

 

thanks ed, i was just making a general comment about singing or not singing.

 

Unless miming to a backing track!!

 

What about using one of those headphone-type mics that go over your ear or something. There are some good ones out there, prolly have to worry about bleed from the bass with your head getting closer; but they're usually pretty good about not picking up too much background noise.
My $0.0199999...

 

I can sing while playing and love doing it. I've done it on gigs and although I haven't done it in a while, I'm planning on doing a little bit (only this time only as a backup singer) for an upcoming show. I've never found it too hard but there are limits to the bass lines I can play while singing. Usually the changes have to be pretty simple. It is great practice to play bass lines and sing the melody - start with ballads.

 

I've been working on this recently. Try playing the melody and singing the roots as well.

 

does singing Pennsylvania 65000 count?