[deamhain]

It has to be said that I'm a far better singer than guitarist although that doesn't make me particularly good at singing either!

Anyway, I'd never had the confidence, or ability, to switch off enough to what my hands were doing to enable me to sing over the top of my own grossly mediocre guitar playing but...I did it at the weekend!

Simple lyrics (Rush - closer to the heart) and a simple accompaniment - variations using G, A and D which may not have been totally faithfull to Mr Lifeson's original but worked for me. Was so chuffed it inspired me to practice a lot more than normal yesterday, the result being that I have very, very tender fingertips today.

Just wanted to share.

Cheers

[jshrel24]

Oh i remember the day when i was able to sing and play at teh same time. Still cant do it great, but im working on it. Congrats.

[wannalearn01]

I will swear by this the best way to practice singing and playing is first talking and playing...

If you can have a conversation while playing, your not thinking about your hands at all, and this is the key to doing two things at one time. If your not thinking about playing, but instead your thinking about the conversation...you could also be playing and trying to keep up a melody with your words...

If you can't do that:

First work on playing without looking a lot at your hands, then focus on playing while involved in something else....tv/movie(something with a dialog that you can listen/respond to), after that one of the easiest songs to play and sing: violent femmes 'blister in the sun'....work on playing the SONG first, and THEN singing...if you mess up playing, your more likely to also mess up the singing.

T^roy

This post has been edited by wannalearn01: 01 June 2004 - 09:03 AM

[jshrel24]

I will swear by this the best way to practice singing and playing is first talking and playing...

If you can have a conversation while playing, your not thinking about your hands at all, and this is the key to doing two things at one time. If your not thinking about playing, but instead your thinking about the conversation...you could also be playing and trying to keep up a melody with your words...

If you can't do that:

First work on playing without looking a lot at your hands, then focus on playing while involved in something else....tv/movie(something with a dialog that you can listen/respond to), after that one of the easiest songs to play and sing: violent femmes 'blister in the sun'....work on playing the SONG first, and THEN singing...if you mess up playing, your more likely to also mess up the singing.

T^roy

I agree, thats a good thing to start doing. When you can really focus on the conversation you will drastically improve, or if you can read something, just anything to divert your attention. Kinda like the ole patting your head and rubbing your belly deal, now thats a milestone.