Books that teach how to sing AND play guitar simultaneously...

shotgunn

shotgunn

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Any ideas guys? I can sort of carry a tune vocally. I can sing/strum some basic 4 chord patterns. I'm looking for something can help me break down things somehow and help me be able to sing a vocal line that has no common rhythmic pattern to the guitar part I'm playing. I've never seen a book or video of this nature. Hopefully it exists and someone can point it out to me. For now I'll keep googling it.


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This has always intrigued me too. I cannot sing for nuts (or play guitar well for that matter), and I can barely speak in a monotone whilst playing, so I have enormous respect for people who can sing and play at the same time.

I am always blown away by guys like John Mayer, who can play some quite complex rhythmic parts, as well as sing in an almost completely different groove to the riff he is playing. It's almost as if guys like that have TWO brains, each dedicated to one task.

But I am guessing that it is a skill that can be learned over time. It's a bit like the old "pat your head while rubbing your tummy" thing I suspect - very hard to do the first few times, but with practice and repeated efforts, it can become natural.

Sorry I couldn't help out with your request - It's an area that I have avoided because my vocal skills are not even worth trying to do anything with, and I am full time just trying to improve my guitar playing! :D
 
It would be hard to write a book, given that it can be boiled down into a few sentences.

1 - Break the song down into small sections.
2 - Play the guitar part several times, slowly if needs be.
3 - Try to sing the phrase while playing.
4 - repeats steps 2 and 3.

There is no secret to it other than breaking it up, slowing it down, and repetition.
 
Wow, makes me think of necrophagist. The lead singer is sick on guitar and sings at the same time.
Freaking nuts!
My only advice is train it. It's like being a drummer and learning how to do two different things at the same time. Even experienced players can have a hard time playing guitar and singing at the same time.
Usually they break the song in parts. Sit at home playing it a slower tempo and just gettin the groove. Try that.
But I will keep a lookout for you.
 
I can't do both either. Friends that can recommended I just practice the guitar part over and over until I can do it without thinking while doing something like watching TV. Then once you get your hands on auto-pilot work adding singing while the hands do their thing.
 
If people want a really good song to start developing this technique on, use Faith by George Michael. The guitar part is the 1950's "hand-jive" rhythm, which is moderately sycopated, so it will feel a bit awkward at first.
 
Manning said:
Non-Australians may not know this guy, but he is a master of playing wicked guitar parts while singing.

John Butler - "Funky Tonight" - YouTube
Click to expand...

Saw the John Butler Trio live last year for the first time. To say that my mind was blown is an understatement.



This topic also brings back memories of watching Tommy Emmanuel play live... He doesn't sing, but the fact that his thumb is playing a difficult complex groove whilst his other fingers pick a complex melody over the top must employ the same sort of 'dual brain' thing that singing and playing any instrument must do.
 
you have to know the guitar part backwards and forwards without thinking.. muscle memory, then your brain can split it up.. still very difficult. Watch Les Claypool sing and play Tommy The Cat and it will fry your noodle.
 
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I don't know how good you can get at it as an adult. I saw a show on TV a while back that talked about how some people can easily do two things at once while others can't. It has to do with a bridge connection being created between the right and left sides of the brain by activities you do as a child while your brain is developing. I don't know how possible it is to develop that as an adult or to what degree of success you could develop it if it was possible, but I sure as hell haven't ever had much luck with it. I can't play piano well because I have trouble separating my right and left hands rhythmically, and I can't play drums well for the same reason, though I do have way better luck with drums. How the hell I ever managed to play bass or any semblance of guitar is beyond me, but I did for some reason. Could be because most of the intricate focus is on the left hand instead of the right. Beats me, but hell, I'm happy I can play those. Wish I was good at keys and drums too, but oh well. I've tried singing and playing bass at the same time before, but I can only manage to do it over simple bass parts. If there's anything complex, either the bass takes over and I stop singing or the vocals take over and I mess up the bass part. Oh well. I'm not that great of a singer anyway. XD
 
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I can break the book you're looking for down to one simple thing. PRACTICE. Nothing you read in a book or see in a video can help or change that. You really just have to practice alot, there is no other way.

You can send the money you would have spent on the book to my paypal account.

p
 
I remember trying to learn Michael Hedges' cover of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps": the guitar part was an odd 6/4 shuffle in BDABEA tuning while the vocals were more like the Harrison version. To put both together I had to first practice both separately until it was second nature internalized, including working on the vocals away from the guitar. Only when each was "ready" did I put them together. I guess this applies to any song when the guitar and vocals are pretty much independent compositions in and of themselves, still, this was a tough one. one of the coolest covers though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKn0hdvTL6A
 
Thats a pretty good video.

Some songs are easy to sing and play and some take a lot of work for someone that didn't write them. I think either mentally or on paper writing the lyrics and denoting the guitar changes on the sheet, slicing and dicing as necessary is very useful.
 
I sing both backup and lead vox while playing guitar - mostly while NOT playing leads, but I do the occasional vox harmony part over a lead. I don't have a great lead vox, so it's mainly harmonies. There's no special sauce involved. I learned as an adult - it's just practice. Simply put - you can do anything you put your mind to, but you have to want it bad enough!

I got there by singing along to the track/song while rehearsing at home, then doing same at band rehearsal(s), and once I got accomplished enough - at a gig!

I recently started play Bass in second band, and having a REALLY TOUGH time playing walking bass lines and singing harmonies. It's a syncopation thing, but watching Sting do it AND play a foot pedal at the same time boggles my mind! Being able to sing and play guitar I assumed that it would be a *no-brainer* while playing bass. Not the case, but I'm a better singer than our lead guitar, so it makes sense for me do the 3rd harmony - along with the lead vox and the girl - and learn to do both!! I'm also having a similar challenge with fairly simply bass lines and syncopated/offset vocals (example: Backing harmonies on Carrie Underwood's "Before He Cheats"). I'll get there, but it will take a LOT more practice on both.

In summary. No magic here. PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!
The older you are, the harder it will be to *get it*, but keep at it and you'll get there.
 
I think it can be learned, providing you already have some reasonably good rhythmic/phrasing skills. I'm in the same situation in that I rarely have reason to sing and play simultaneously, but my latest cover band is playing Alice In Chains numbers which requires singing tight harmonies while playing some unusually phrased riffs. Take the song "Check My Brain" in which the riff involves bending a single note up and down by different degrees to a precise rhythm. I found that the only way I could train myself to get this right was to use the lyrics as signal points indicating what my hands should be doing at a particular time.
 
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