Looking for Singing while playing advice.

[sheabraden]

I've only been playing guitar for a few months and I have been practicing a lot and learning a lot of Dave songs and others but I can't seem to maintain rythem and sing any advice on how to accomplish this.

Thanks

We're livin in

One Sweet World

[ryopan]

just keep at it dude. get to where you can play the song in your sleep. when you can sit and have a coversation while playing a song, you are ready grass-hopper. just give it time. play anytime you sit down and your hands will start to think for themselves.
good luck and keep us posted on your progress.
ryan

[DMBFan63]

Close your eyes and see if you're able to still play it.. once you get it down like that, you're ready.. tapping of the foot helps as well

[JesseK]

I think this is a fairly common problem to have... It was very frustrating for me, in fact there were times when I thought I just wasn't coordinated enough to do it. I'm amazed now at how easy it comes.

I would say to try to play -n- sing something other than DMB first. Dave really has a unique singing style, and the rhythm of his vocals don't always match that of the guitar. You really don't get the points of reference that can help when trying to play and sing. By points of reference, I mean certain words that fall exactly with chord changes, etc...

Try to first sing Angel From Montgomery, or Watchtower first. Another easy one is Wish You Were Here from Floyd. These were some of the first that I could play and sing together.

good luck, and just keep trying.

[borocks]

I would just start trying it with very simple strumming patterns. Like a downstroke on every beat and try to sing to it. Then after that works well, I'd gradually make the SP more complex and complicate. I think that's a good way to get it. At least I got it that way...

[sheabraden]

Thanks for the advice, keep it coming. Meanwhile I will keep practicing and let you know of any progress I make. I'm glad to hear others had a similar problem. One of my friends told me you can either sing and play or you can't, so you can imagine my dissapointment at first, but now i'm rejuvenated so thanks.






"where has is gone...........the very last Dodo.. bird"

[Dancing Ants]

I've only been playing guitar for a few months and I have been practicing a lot and learning a lot of Dave songs and others but I can't seem to maintain rythem and sing any advice on how to accomplish this.

Thanks

We're livin in

One Sweet World

it just comes, my friend. be patient. at seven months, I started trying to sing and play...got Proudest Monkey pretty good...now here at eleven months...well, I've got Proudest, Watchtower, part of halloween and crash, and then Pay For What You Get (although I'm a bit rusty on that one).

[MWR]

Thanks for the advice, keep it coming. Meanwhile I will keep practicing and let you know of any progress I make. I'm glad to hear others had a similar problem. One of my friends told me you can either sing and play or you can't, so you can imagine my dissapointment at first, but now i'm rejuvenated so thanks.

I wouldn't take anymore advice from your friend as he doesnt know what he's talking about. You must know the guitar and vocals perfectly when your first starting out. As you play more and more (particularly Dave songs) you'll notice patterns to his songwriting and it gets a lot easier. Practice, practice, practice.

[grock]

i think like many things, people either are able to play and sing right off the bat or they have to work at it. it's like walking up to a guitar we all have a certain "ability" right off. then developing that is what practice is. but if like me you start off with sucky ability it can take a year to do what some people can do just months after they start playing. and other people pick up an out of tune wrong-handed guitar and rock on their first try.

you can be anything you want but you gotta start somewhere and usually that place is called "sucking".

[sunglassesatnight]

That place called sucking is a tough place to be, but knowing that you suck is actually a tremendous motivator, at least it was for me. I just started with some really simple stuff and now I'm all the way up to simple stuff. It is a great feeling to finally get it down though.

[Skankerton]

I think I have a trick for you, get a magazine with kind of big print and just read it while your playing the progression. That will get your brizain doing diffrent stuff at the same time. I would try for some sublime, green day, creedence, easy stuff to start to get the hang of it. This technique has taken me from "completely sucks" to "doesnt suck quite as much"!

[Jay]

One of my friends told me you can either sing and play or you can't,

rubbish. what he should have said is "either you have the patience to sing and play or you don't." because it takes a LOT of practice...but it will come.

[sunglassesatnight]

That magazine trick is a smart one. You just have to be so comfortable in your playing that you can play it without thinking about it, then you can sing.

[reis-a-roni]

I was advised by a teacher to at first just try to make any noise while you're playing. Even just holding an 'ah'. Gradually work on changing the tone of that to sound like the music. Then try the words. I still have a terrible time with singing basically because I've never had any training in how to sing.

[Snyder]

I was advised by a teacher to at first just try to make any noise while you're playing. Even just holding an 'ah'. Gradually work on changing the tone of that to sound like the music. Then try the words.

I was just going to say that. While learning a new song I try and hum the melody while I play. Then after awhile the words just start poping out.