Playing guitar and singing!

the way i learnt was by playing reeeally simple stuff first of all. something like green day's time of your life... that simple. then when you get used to that you can start building up to more complicated stuff.

other than that, practice practice practice!
 
Im trying it with The Distillers - Drain the blood atm, just simple three chord stuff.

Good idea?

If so im going to dedicate every bit of my spare time to it :)
 
stopstartstall said:
the way i learnt was by playing reeeally simple stuff first of all. something like green day's time of your life... that simple. then when you get used to that you can start building up to more complicated stuff.

other than that, practice practice practice!
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Lol, that is exactly how I did it.

I can pretty mush sing along to most open chord based songs now, but still struggle with picking, somethng like Street Spirit by RH.

I've been playing just over 2 years now, and I'm still pretty crap at most stuff, but at least I've got the basic chords learnt and can switch freely between them without even thinking.
 
Noel Gallagher said:
I learn to play the guitar till I remember how to without looking, then I could sing without any problems.. :)
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My training and background musically is as a singer, so naturally I found myself taking the opposite approach to you. Dug through song books and stuff until I found songs with 3 or 4 simple chords in them, memorised the words and then brought in the guitar, meant I could concentrate on what I was doing with the guitar whilst maintaining the vocals almost subconsciously.


OP: Give it a few months of regular practice both singing and playing and you'll get the hang of it. It does take a bit of dedication and determination though, don't give up because it sounds so bad (which it probably will for a little while), just keep persevering and all of a sudden you'll find you're doing both bits without much effort, and not long after that you'll find you can pick up any song you know the melody too and play straight off.
 
I don't sing, but I'll have a go if I'm by myself, and I find it best to associate the chord you're playing with the word you're saying at that time.
 
Fubsy said:
Lol, that is exactly how I did it.

I can pretty mush sing along to most open chord based songs now, but still struggle with picking, somethng like Street Spirit by RH.

I've been playing just over 2 years now, and I'm still pretty crap at most stuff, but at least I've got the basic chords learnt and can switch freely between them without even thinking.
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:eek: One of the earliest songs I learnt to sing and play, you just reminded me of when I was sat outside the bathroom in my old house whilst about 14 or something just obsessed with it. And the song too.

Street Spirit!!! - I suggest you learn this Megahurtz! Belting out the chorus section whilst picking chords C, Em, Am, just gives you such a buzz when you nail it.

This and Wonderwall.


Sad but true, it's just practice and does take a little time, I definitely struggled with it for a while. Helps if you really know and are into the song you choose to do though. I was into Oasis in a big way and most of their songs are the easy strummy chord type so I would advise, if you like their early stuff, start with that!
I can't actually give you any real advice because it becomes so automatic you forget the whole learning process it took eventually...
 
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Funny I just did a google search for this subject about a week ago, one bit of advice I found was to start of by trying to talk and play the guitar at the same time.
 
You don't want to hear me singing - trust me ;)

But because I'm so bad it means I don't worry about not being able to sing and play simultaneously.
 
I know it sounds obvious but as people have said, learn all the chords/guitar parts inside out but also learn the words without having to think about them. As soon as I have to think about which line comes next I'm screwed.

Also don't try reading the words, memorize them.

Try whistling or humming to replace any words you don't remember, it's the same skill.

Neil777 said:
Funny I just did a google search for this subject about a week ago, one bit of advice I found was to start of by trying to talk and play the guitar at the same time.
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My wife has asked me to practice this instead of developing the guitarists thousand yard stare and ocassional inappropriate nodding.
 
Practice, practice, practice, practice and... Practice. :p

As long as you know the words, melody and guitar part, then this is all you have to do. :) Just keep going back and trying again and again. Eventually, you will be able to do it. ;)
 
When I used to practice, I used to have the guitar/bass amp quite quiet.
Music playing in the background and after managing to play along to the music I put in the singing.
Bear (or bare) it in mind I am useless at both!
 
I found it difficult but I got it eventually.

It's all about practice, knowing the song back to front helps so you're not thinking about singing and playing.

Panzer
 
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