Singing over complicated basslines

[ptooner]

It's already been said, but let me emphasize that the secret is seeing the song as a whole. I had played piano and sang for MANY years before I picked up my first bass. On the piano I often have to play a melody, a counter melody and a bass line while singing something between the melody and counter melody. The "secret" is that it's all part of one song. The concept of only having to play a bass line while singing seems ridiculously easy and it is if you are playing with a band or even to a track. If you try to practice just the bass and vocal alone I would expect that to be difficult because you don't hear the whole song.

Gerry

 

[David Canady]

As a member of an acoustic duo, I play bass about 60% of the time (Guitar and Mandolin are the other instruments). It's very rare that I'm not singing lead or at minimum harmony. It was hard at first but after lots of practice my hands can go on auto-pilot while I sing lead. As we learn new songs, it is taking less time to get to that point. I now able to play a complicated mandolin line while singing the chorus in Wagon Wheel. Practice, Practice, Practice!

 

[lafave]

What helps me is slowing the song down to a ridiculous tempo, and just crawl through it. Slowly speed it up. Some songs come much easier than others.

 

[Bad bassist]

Haha good thread,
for me it was a mental challenge at first, but tbh it all made sense very fast. No real issue with singing and playing bass.
I use a pick, heard some guys have trouble finger playing and singing but with a pick no such issues.
Our brains are very interesting.

*link in my signature is an example of my bass+voice. Played bass for less than a month at time of recording.

 

[40Hz]

It's a slow day so I was just thinking more about the OP's question…

I think the biggest part of my "problem" is that solfege was a big part of my musical instruction when I was first learning to play bass. The jazzers that taught me kept emphasizing the importance of "singing through the instrument." Which resulted in me now being able to almost immediately find and play anything I could sing or hum in my head on the bass. And it's now so ingrained that my hands just try to immediately play whatever it is I'm singing. At least when it comes to bass. And I actually do mentally sing what I'm playing on bass 99% of the time.

I don't have that problem (as much) with other instruments. Possibly because those I learned to play mainly by looking at the music or charts. Or maybe the physical detachment of using a pick versus fingerpicking factors in by somehow breaking the mental link between hand and voice that I have for bass.

Or maybe it's just all in my head and I'm making unnecessary challenges for myself trying to figure it out.

Either way I don't practice simultaneously singing and playing anywhere near enough to ever get good at it. Which is fine. I don't mind singing. Sometimes I even enjoy it. But it's not really my "thing" like handling the bass player's role is. I'm sure I could do it if I had to - or if I wanted to. But as of now, it isn't much of a priority for me.

And that works for me at this point in my life.

 

[gerry grable]

What's odd is that I can sing and play rhythm guitar, the strumming doesn't mess up my timing but fingering a bass part does. The brain is a mystery drool

Because the chords fall mostly in the beats, it's syncopation that's the bitch.

 

[gerry grable]

What's odd is that I can sing and play rhythm guitar, the strumming doesn't mess up my timing but fingering a bass part does. The brain is a mystery drool

Because the chords fall mostly in the beats, it's syncopation that's the bitch.

 

[gerry grable]

What's odd is that I can sing and play rhythm guitar, the strumming doesn't mess up my timing but fingering a bass part does. The brain is a mystery drool

Because the chords fall mostly in the beats, it's syncopation that's the bitch.

 

[Andrew Magnotta]

I make the most progress when I think of the song as a whole—think of the *music* that's happening. Where is your vocal melody in relation to your bassline? And how can you use your bassline to help keep you on pitch.

Of course you need to know both parts independently and be comfortable with them separately. Then take it slow, figure out which bass licks correspond with which parts of the vocal. I try to dumb it down as much as possible before bringing it back up to speed. Then when you're performing, you kind of have to not think about it.

When my band plays live I sing harmonies on a bunch of songs, including this one, which has all these fast polyrhythms:



I always kind of feel like I'm on the edge of making it sound awesome and ruining it, and I've probably been guilty of both.

Players like Sting, Geddy Lee, Esperanza, Les Claypool all blow me away, but just because it looks easy doesn't mean it is!

 

[DiegoA]

I used to have this problem and I cheated to solve it. I'll tell you how...

After 20 years of amateur bass playing I came to the conclusion that good bassists who sing are usually the ones who compose their songs, or at the very least they compose their own bass lines. So my cheat is that I modify the bass lines of the cover songs we play, so I feel comfortable playing them while singing.

It involves significant collaboration from the rest of the band. I first changed their expectations: the bass lines from the covers we play won't sound line the original song (shocking thuth: they didn't mind at all, I doubt they ever heard the bass properly speaking).

Bottom line: keep in mind that most people don't really hear or distinguish the bass lines. Focus on singing and tweak the bass lines so they fit your singing. It worked well for me.

 

[ghostinthemach]

Of course you need to know both parts independently and be comfortable with them separately. Then take it slow, figure out which bass licks correspond with which parts of the vocal. I try to dumb it down as much as possible before bringing it back up to speed. Then when you're performing, you kind of have to not think about it.

You've just jogged my memory of an associated situation.
Anyone experienced learning a difficult bass line/vocal combo, then found yourself performing only one or the other suddenly (as in a jam session situation), and found it to be more challenging than doing both together, as you're programmed to?

 

[DiegoA]

Another tip that worked for me: learning to play piano. Somehow the right/left hands (and brain) distribution of treble/bass helped me improve my playing-while-singing skills. I am not an expert in neurosciences so I wouldn't know how it works, but it did the trick.

 

[bholder]

Because the chords fall mostly in the beats, it's syncopation that's the bitch.

Something only made easier by repetition (apparently).

 

[No Treble]

What's odd is that I can sing and play rhythm guitar, the strumming doesn't mess up my timing but fingering a bass part does. The brain is a mystery drool

Same exact problem. Amazing: some folks just make it look so easy. These kind of folks are playing and truly enjoying themselves. Not that it isn't fun, of course, but when I do it, man it looks like work! Excellent playing.

 

[paulbent]

I can't even sing over a simple quarter note root bassline .... I'm in total awe of bassists who can sing and play at the same time like this, and on a fretless too!



How many hours of practice went into being able to pull this off?!

Jay Leonhart said it best - it's impossible!

 

[LanSolo]

I can't even sing over a simple quarter note root bassline .... I'm in total awe of bassists who can sing and play at the same time like this, and on a fretless too!



How many hours of practice went into being able to pull this off?!

It requires a lot of practice, to the point where your hands play the bass part on auto-pilot, which allows you to concentrate on singing.

 

[brothersdavis]

I can’t wait for her to be my next wife.

 

[twrshredmaster8]

Mark King. Level 42. 'Something About You'. THE master at work!!!!

 

[John Voysey]

I can't even sing over a simple quarter note root bassline .... I'm in total awe of bassists who can sing and play at the same time like this, and on a fretless too!



How many hours of practice went into being able to pull this off?!

This is pretty remarkable and is brain-splitting at its very most. For lesser mortals like me, there are 2 approaches. Backing vocals: get them down solid in your memory and do them on automatic pilot so you can still be a bit spontaneous with the bass. Lead vocals, get the bass down on memory and then you can deliver the vocal with a bit more conviction. As for being spontaneously expressive on both at the same time? no idea how that's done. Women are supposed to be better at multitasking so maybe that helps Ms Spaulding but probably not; she's just very very good at what she does and has worked hard at it.

 

[crossthestyx]

I think it's easier to follow and sing in accordance to the single notes, especially in that jazz fashion, than vocals rhythmically off beat of a chord, which any drummer can tell you. (Rubbing your belly while patting your head at the same time.) But she's a great jazz vocalist, and it's very cool. "fretless"- There are dots/inlays on the top edge of that bass you know. lol But that does take some getting used to. (fretless) Good Luck! Sounds good!