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I can't seem to sing while playing at all
- Thread starter Sexfan
- Start date
Woodshed the hell out of the bass line. Get it so you can go on autopilot and then do the same with the vocal line.
I've been playing and singing together for many years and I still have difficulty if the rhythms are substantially different. It requires a lot of effort and practice, just keep plugging away at it!
I've been playing and singing together for many years and I still have difficulty if the rhythms are substantially different. It requires a lot of effort and practice, just keep plugging away at it!
Yep. That's how it goes. It is danged hard to play bass and sing -- much harder than guitar.
One more example of the man holding us down.
One more example of the man holding us down.
It's important to note, though, that learning to sing while playing will make you exponentially more valuable in any band situation. I contract a lot of musicians for paying gigs and I would take an adequate bass player who sings over a monster bass player who doesn't every single time. Matter of fact, from my perspective (as someone who writes checks to musicians), if you don't sing, why even bother playing bass? Because there are guys who do sing and they'll always get the gig over you. Amazing instrumentalists have a very, very limited appeal- mostly to other amazing instrumentalists.
I developed this skill because, luckily, my two earliest influences were Paul McCartney and Sting. Those were the songs I was really most interested in learning and most motivated to practice. My advice would be to find someone in your personal list of favorites who sings and plays and then shed that like a mother. It takes years to do well, but your big picture musicianship will expand greatly.
Not sure if this helps, but a piece of advice I picked up from Sting: think of the melody and your bass line like two train tracks that run parallel but expand and truncate throughout the song.
I developed this skill because, luckily, my two earliest influences were Paul McCartney and Sting. Those were the songs I was really most interested in learning and most motivated to practice. My advice would be to find someone in your personal list of favorites who sings and plays and then shed that like a mother. It takes years to do well, but your big picture musicianship will expand greatly.
Not sure if this helps, but a piece of advice I picked up from Sting: think of the melody and your bass line like two train tracks that run parallel but expand and truncate throughout the song.
- Oct 7, 2000
- 18,619
- 38,939
- Disclosures
- Endorsing artist: Musicman basses
After decades of just playin the bass and hating/struggling with the playing/singing thing, I'm doing my first performance this friday of all my own material - and fronting the band. Can't say I like doing it yet, and it took a lot of work for some parts, but it's absolutely doable. Trust me cuz I was the absolute worst at it.
What worked for me was practicing really really slowly, over and over. There's a song on my myspace page below, "wash my hair" where I'm singing over a riffy kind of thing. it was impossible 2 weeks ago, but by goin real slow and committing myself it's now 2nd nature. i truly believe that anyone who can play bass and sing in key, can do the both of them together if they're just patient enough to work at it till they don't have to think about it.
What worked for me was practicing really really slowly, over and over. There's a song on my myspace page below, "wash my hair" where I'm singing over a riffy kind of thing. it was impossible 2 weeks ago, but by goin real slow and committing myself it's now 2nd nature. i truly believe that anyone who can play bass and sing in key, can do the both of them together if they're just patient enough to work at it till they don't have to think about it.
There's a great detailed thread someone wrote up about training to sing while playing..
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=173764
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=173764
I only got my bass yesterday, but am almost two years into learning and playing guitar. I can sing and play (on guitar) very little, and usually only with a cd or iTunes.
Anyway, the point is that Siggi Mertens, who is a guitar instructor and performer said pretty much the same thing... autopilot. Your hands have to have a mind of their own and do their own thing while your voice does something else. It comes with time and practice.
Lot's of practice. That's how I did it. It's awkward at first then one day it just clicks. It's pretty cool writing songs on the bass especially if you have an great drummer and an awesome guitarist.
That sounds like a pretty surefire way to derail a train
Yeah that's what came to my mind too
I guess Sting can think of his thing like two train tracks etc and it sounds logical and all. However that kind of thinking isn't going to help anyone sing and play when they can't yet do it When you're starting out it's more like driving two remote controlled cars at the same time, neither is going exactly where you want them to and each time you control one the other one stops dead or hits a wall I'm no master myself but the way I learned it was to start with songs where each word or syllable is sung on a note you hit. Guitar oriented pop/rock is somewhat optimal for this. Nursery rhymes would work too I guess.
So finally now after a few years of being the screaming background guy I can easily sing while I play but I still can't do the two trains thing
If I'm singing, I play mostly to the same rhytm. Therefore I tend to write lyrics that go with the playing, problem solved 
that works pretty well. a friend of mine insists that his students who are interested in doing both learn the parts simultaneously. he has pretty good success. not saying that's better or worse, just that there's usually several ways to skin any cat.
i gotta staight up disagree on that last part. in popular music the vocals are what the typical listener "gets". simplify the bass if you have to but nail those vocals.
usually the root of the problem is rhythmic:
you sing one rhythm, you play another.
It's easy to strum a guitar on atuopilot & sing
harder to execute the specific rhythm of a bass line against the other specific rhythm of a vocal line.
A solution: put the bass down.
Sing your vocal line and clap the rhythmic pattern of the bass line.
Do it really slowly and work yourself up to speed.
Only when you can clap the bass rhythm accurately, while singing at speed, should you pick up the bass.
this has worked for me every time. It hasn't helped sing well, mind you, just sing in rhythm
If you can read/write standard notation, it can also be useful to write out both parts and see where they sync up and where they un-sync.
Both techniques assume both vocal and bass line are more or less already composed...
you sing one rhythm, you play another.
It's easy to strum a guitar on atuopilot & sing
harder to execute the specific rhythm of a bass line against the other specific rhythm of a vocal line.
A solution: put the bass down.
Sing your vocal line and clap the rhythmic pattern of the bass line.
Do it really slowly and work yourself up to speed.
Only when you can clap the bass rhythm accurately, while singing at speed, should you pick up the bass.
this has worked for me every time. It hasn't helped sing well, mind you, just sing in rhythm
If you can read/write standard notation, it can also be useful to write out both parts and see where they sync up and where they un-sync.
Both techniques assume both vocal and bass line are more or less already composed...
Learned to do it when I was young and have kept it going but it is not easy. You have to put the work in.
This is why I am on this board. No other place can you find a niche group like bass players writing it down...
TB rocks!
