sing and play guitar at the same time and actually sound good

Good is a vague descriptor. I’m at the point where I can sing on pitch and play in time. Sometimes I make mistakes on the guitar but I make mistakes even when I’m not singing.

The band I’m in now gives me the opportunity to sing while playing. I’m still working on my coordination and, as that improves, I’m relaxing more which is improving my singing. This goal is vague; how good is good? But I feel like I’m getting close.

It is my dream to be a full time acoustic folk rock musician, I can sing, I can play, not at the same time though

1) listen to the guitar while practicing guitar, and keep practicing until it sounds the way you want it to

2) listen to your singing while practicing singing, and keep practicing until it sounds the way you want it to

3) BUT while doing BOTH, step back and listen to the overall sound while practicing both, not alternating between listening to the one and then to the other, but focus singularly on the one blended sound, and keep practicing THAT until it sounds the way you want it to

4) remember you’re trying to get the overall performance the way you want it, you’re conducting yourself, the ultimate measure of “rightness” is how the overall sound (intonation, dynamics, phrasing) conforms to what sounds/feels right to you

5) after all that practice, you must finally forget/lose your self, so the performance ITself is no longer weighed down by focus lost to and/or dissipated into your self

Sorry guys i wish there was some magic way but it turns out practice really is the only way to get good. start with simple songs that use a repeated chord pattern (think nirvana, beatles, any blues), slow them down a lot, and you’ll soon start to get going.

the thing about this goal is that the better you get the more you want to practice, its all about getting the ball rolling.

and sing at EVERY possible moment you can!!!

For the longest time I wasn’t able to sing and play at the same time. Either I’d lose track of what I was supposed to be playing on the guitar or just wasn’t able to sing the right notes. I don’t think it’s a question of how well you can actually play. But you can’t concentrate too much either on the singing or the guitar part. Just try to listen to how the chords change and figure out how to match that with your voice. It doesn’t matter if it’s not exactly the way you hear it on the record either. Just as long as you get the two parts to go together.

Well I played bass for about 4 years then switched to guitar a year ago and have been playing that ever sense. I just started trying to sing and play at the same time but for a first time im not that bad(at least I think :P) I can almost play and sing Polly by Nirvana all the way threw. Like FlyingFader said it really helps if you get each measure down first. What I did was load Polly onto Acid and had it separate it into measures, Then I just practiced them one by one, trying to get my voice to match Kurts(hard shizzle….) The only thing im having problems with right now is remembering how the damn lyrics go. Other then that all is well :)

We played Friday night at Hank’s Saloon in Brooklyn. I sang backup on three songs and lead on two. None of it was anything too complicated. On Saturday, we played a wedding in Callicoon Center, NY, where I sang the same songs again. I’m finding that the key is to have each part down separately, and then practice integrating them carefully. If I know that I need to be playing a certain note when I’m on certain syllable, I can play fills and more complicated stuff. It’s just that my part will sound the same every time I play it. I’ll have to get more used to this before I’ll be able to make note choices while I’m singing.

This may be a little easier for me, because I play bass guitar. I already can sing and play simultaneously. There’s one song that I sing with one of my bands that I manage to get through without embarrassment. I’m fine as long as I’m playing a steady rhythm, I stick to roots and fifths, and just play passing tones in the spaces when my lips aren’t moving.