How do you learn to sing and play bass at the same time?

[RaniBrandt]

My hat is off to all you guys... I have played in bands for over 30 years now, and the absolute first thing I tell a new band is I cannot sing, and you wouldn't want me to.. It hasn't been an issue.. Two reasons, Imagine the worst "American Idol" audition you ever heard.. I'm worse.. In addition I absolutely, positively, cannot multitask.. At ANYTHING! My wife has learned not to talk to me while I'm driving...

Although I have been known to sing and play at the same time, I also have terrible time with driving while in-conversation! A typical exchange would be as follows:

Wife: So can you take care of the pool when we get home? And what should we do for dinner? I was thinking Chinese, or Greek would be good, too. What do you think?

Me: Um...

Wife: Hey, you missed the exit! Again! Why do you always do that?

Me: Because you're talking to me. I can't think and drive! This never happens when I'm driving alone, you know.

Wife: Um, you missed the turn-around, Dummy.

Me: D'oh!

 

[Munjibunga]

interesting. I only sing the "Knock, knock, knockin' on Heaven's door" part in background. It's just a matter of knowing what note I want / need to be on when I'm singing specific words and metering my path to get to that note.

But I actually can (and have) sing lead on this one. We do the GnR version, which leaves a lot of room between the words to add fills or travel from one strong note to another.

That's easier than the "I can't use it any more" etc. lines.

 

[malthumb]

That's easier than the "I can't use it any more" etc. lines.

True, but if you space out the notes you play a bit while singing lead, it gets simpler. The times I have sang lead on this I've focused on making sure of what notes I land on to correspond to the lyrics, down to the syllable......

in Gb (doing this in my head at the office, so I hope it's not too off)

MA(Gb)ma take these GUNS(Db) off of ME(Ab)
<noodle....embellish>

I(Gb) can't use them (Db) anyMORE(B)
<noodle....embellish>