Congrats!Update: I’m officially a lead-singing bass player! (Well, one song, but it’s a start!)
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(POLL) Do you sing and play bass?
- Thread starter LBS-bass
- Start date
I play both bass and guitar as I'm in 2 bands.
Singing and playing rhythm guitar - easiest
Singing and playing lead guitar - harder
Singing and playing bass - hardest
I've been playing guitar longer so that's probably why it's easier for me.
Singing and playing rhythm guitar - easiest
Singing and playing lead guitar - harder
Singing and playing bass - hardest
I've been playing guitar longer so that's probably why it's easier for me.
That's funny. I have worked with multiple lead singers who could not sing harmony.
Years ago some of my coworkers were working on our annual Holiday/Christmas program and came a across some board recordings of one of the last concerts I ever sang back grounds on. I came into their office when I heard the song.
The recording was made during a large outdoor concert. I hadn't sang this song for quite awhile, but we needed extra material so we were calling tunes we all knew on the break. I suggested Alan Jackson's Chattahoochie which everyone in the band except the drummer had played together many times. The drummer was reluctant, but it's just a train beat with a few breaks, so we were able to talk her into it. She wound up taking it a bit fast, which is sort of rough because the words come fast in this tune, but I got through it just fine.
Anyway, the person who found the recording was really digging it and going on and on about how awesome the background vocals were. She was a French horn player, but also a really stellar lead vocalists and all around entertainer. She recognized the voice of the lead singer on the recording, and was listening to the song over and over trying to figure out who in the organization could have possibly pulled off the backgrounds. I don't think she ever had the chance to hear me sing live, so she didn't have a clue.
After a few minutes I smiled and said, oh that was me. Totally made my day.
As far as me singing lead. That would fall in the category of you really don't want to hear that. I have tried and it sounds awful, but if the backgrounds are in my range I seem to be able to do pretty well.
This is the version we were covering...but we took it a bit faster.
I'm blessed right now to be in a band with two other great singers who have astoundingly good ears for harmony. One of the earliest and most surprising truths I learned as a musician was that singing lead and singing harmony are two very different skills and many singers do not possess both of them.
I came from a musical family; my mom's side of the family were all natural singers and we would sing songs in full harmony at family get-togethers, etc. I just figured anyone who could sing could hear a harmony and lay it down, but I soon learned that it's a huge struggle for many.
Singling lead is a discipline in its own right. In order to do it right, it requires a lot of work and maintenance of your voice. If you don't exercise your voice, it won't last. Unfortunately, the lead vocals are often the weakest part of a band, because many people who want to be singers do not want to work on their voices.
I knew a music teacher who would tell her kids "this is your melody[the 'real' melody]and this is your melody[harmony parts]". Seemed to work for elementary age choir members.
In our 4 piece band, the 2 guitarists and I alternate leads and all of us, including the drummer, sing harmonies as needed. He-drummer-tends to 'hear' a harmony note(usually mine)and take it. I just move to another note. No BFD.
I've tried teaching it that way but only a couple of adults that I've worked with could hold onto their parts. If it isn't the prominent part, most will quickly switch back to singing the actual melody once everyone is in and start doubling that. If they can't actually hear that they're doubling, it's pretty hopeless that they'll eventually get any better.
These were kids singing kid songs so the melodies weren't necessarily ingrained.
I believe most people sing harmonies by imagining the melody and singing an interval like a 3rd or 5th off of it. If you don't have any concept of intervals you can't do it.
A lot of untrained vocalists have natural talent and can hear the melody, but don't understand intervals. Being as they don't grasp the concept of an interval, they are drawn to sing the melody line (lead vocal) like a moth to a flame. You can teach them the melody of the back up vocal line and also give them their starting pitch. But a few notes in and they will inevitably be singing unison with the lead singer.
In challenging songs, some lead vocalists also struggle to find their starting pitch.
I was in choir in 5th or 6th grade. We sang four part harmony and we were taught basically the way you suggest. I.E. each voice of the music was taught like it was its own melody. In order to do this, the kids were broken down into four groups which trained in separate rooms for an extended time.
After our parts were thoroughly ingrained we were brought together and taught how to sing together as a large group. It took several sessions in the large group format before we could sing together.
That's generally not how I learn harmonies today. As a music major I learned voice leading, and singing harmony is part hearing the voice leading in your head and part hearing the tension of the intervals you are basing the harmony on. Even if I were to practice signing the melody of the harmony, I would be hearing the voice leading and tension of the intervals in my head. In most cases backgrounds are not very melodic.
I've just been listening to a recording of a rehearsal where we had a lead singer stand in with us supposedly to sing backing vocals (lead guitarist's idea).
The songs varied from from almost passable to horrible as she tried to follow my harmony and missed most of the time. (She was best on the instrumentals where she played a shaky egg thingy.)
To say I am not looking forward to the 2 gigs she will be doing with us is an understatement! As with all singers who I am supposed to be singing backing vocals for or with, if they are out of tune I shut up and let them take all the credit!
The songs varied from from almost passable to horrible as she tried to follow my harmony and missed most of the time. (She was best on the instrumentals where she played a shaky egg thingy.)
To say I am not looking forward to the 2 gigs she will be doing with us is an understatement! As with all singers who I am supposed to be singing backing vocals for or with, if they are out of tune I shut up and let them take all the credit!
I used to work with a choir that sang like that. (I was the piano player.) Every group (sopranos, altos, tenors, basses) depended on that one person known to always sing their own part.
I don't miss them all that much.
On Six Cowards (now on hiatus), I sang lead about 2/3 of the time. I'm not a great singer but it got the job done and the others didn't want to add a fourth member. Most other bands I am or have been involved in, I sing backups and might take a lead on a song or three over the course of a gig.
