Lead Singer/Guitarists vs Lead Singer/Bassists

[southernrocker]

The "soul" in vocals and guitar comes from, in a large part, from its deviation from the actual beat, usually behind. Bass is 99.9% of the time on the beat, so playing on the beat and yet having that delayed soulful vocal is tough to pull off, while "slurring" the guitar and vocal together is very natural to do (while a bass player is staying on the beat for you so you can roam around it, btw).

A lot of bands with bassist/vocalists have very tight beats and vocals (think Rush). You'll almost never see a variety cover band with only a bass playing lead vocalist (not that they don't exist).

I'm the singer in a variety cover band. Boy is it a bitch. I have to have 100% seperation of mind and fingers. Voodoo chile and stranglehold are tough, but doable.

 

[Gin]

I'm wondering if there is a certain method for practicing lead vox/complex bass riffs.

 

[southernrocker]

Gin, to me it was just a need. Noone else would sing and there was no lead singer in sight, so I did it. Start off with something easy like freewill or working man (rush), and move on to other stuff like rock n' roll, cocaine, tush, ect. It's kind of a muscle memory thing. In la grange, I focus on singing and the fingers just know what to do.

The whole thing is hard to explain, just practice.

 

[iridiumrocks]

Jack Bruce
Sting
Les Claypool

You gotta love Les Claypool tapping on a 6-string while singing "Jerry Was a Race Driver"

 

[M.Wrenn]

i sing in my trio and i love it!! its soo much fun, i love finding ways to compliment the singing with my lines and vice versa

 

[shackled]

I think the music/vocals become more memorization, and less improvization. You have to be really good to pull it off well...

Another band that comes to mind is Type O Negative.

 

[Liberty]

Mark King?

 

[kiat]

Very impressive bass/vocalist that popped up when I was looking at some gospel bass videos...and female too on a 6-string! Debra Killngs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeZK9BD90F4

 

[cfsporn]

Well, McCartney, Jack Bruce, Geddy, Lake, Wetton, Sting (early) ... are cool but so are Lennon, Harrison, Clapton, Hendrix, Cobain ...
They're all great musicans and they're all cool. Except maybe Sting ...
No offense to anybody but I don't buy into this resentment of guitar players I sometimes hear. I like guitar and guitar players. Some of my best friends are guitar players and I wouldn't play in a (rock) band without one.

What a coincidence! Lennon, Harrison, Hendrix, and Cobain all played bass too. Not sure about Clapton, but in 2013, can you still call him "cool?"

 

[cfsporn]

You gotta love Les Claypool tapping on a 6-string while singing "Jerry Was a Race Driver"

I could sing while tapping before I could sing while plucking straight eighth notes. I think it has to do with both hands making similar types of movements.

 

[kiat]

Just tried to play that Les Claypool video on my phone and its marked private

 

[iridiumrocks]

Just tried to play that Les Claypool video on my phone and its marked private

I originally posted that link almost 4 years ago. It worked in 2009