Learning how to sing and play guitar at the same time (alternatively referred to as accompanying yourself on guitar) is undoubtedly one of most important goals for more than a few beginner and intermediate guitarists. It’s so cool to be able to sit with friends at a get-together or social occasion and belt out a few tunes! It’s also a real benefit when starting or trying out for a band.
Do You Need an Amazing Voice to Sing and Play Guitar?
The short answer is “No.” Of course, you want to be able to hold a tune. However, being able to sing like some incredible recording musician vocal superstar just isn’t necessary! In truth, a number of the biggest-selling singer-songwriters ever, such as Neil Young or Bob Dylan, haven’t got notably great voices nor are they particularly great guitarists. But, boy do they know how to write and sing a song! It doesn’t make any difference at all whether you’d like to just play and sing guitar at parties or you’re interested in penning your own songs for the whole world, do not let a less than stunning singing voice hold you back. Singing is one thing that comes from the heart.
Of course, you do need to be able to sing reasonably well. However that is just a matter of training. Take a few singing lessons and learn all the basics of how to sing and you will notice your voice expands dramatically. Then, determine whether or not you wish to take your singing more seriously or whether that is sufficient for simply singing while playing guitar.
Choose a Track and Learn to Play It On the Guitar
The typical course of action for many newbies is to try to play guitar and sing at the same time right from the get-go. That is really, really not a particularly good idea. What you have to do is learn to play the guitar part first. Only when you’ve done that, learn how to sing the vocals. After that, put them together.
Your first step, then, is to decide on a song you want to learn which has comparatively easy chord progressions and easy chord changes. It doesn’t matter which song you choose. It really doesn’t. There are hundreds of simple songs for beginner guitarists. Just something you’ll be able to learn how to play the chords to fairly easily, and which you enjoy. Oh, and which doesn’t have a super-hard vocal part. No matter what you select, it must be accomplishable. You don’t want to spend all this time and then not even be able to sing the song.
Once you have selected your tune to concentrate on (and you should solely focus on ONE at a time!), spend as much time as you need and practise until you can play the guitar part back-to-front, up-and-down. Don’t simply focus on your fretting hand, either. Pay attention to your right hand: the rhythm patterns and your strumming technique. Practise, then practise some more without singing until you’ve mastered how to play the guitar part and formed a type of “muscle memory,” meaning you can play the piece without looking at every chord change or slowing down.
Learn to Sing Your Chosen Track
Then move on to learning how to sing it. Your first step here is to commit the lyrics to memory. Do not attempt to play guitar and sing together quite yet! Simply study the lyrics and listen to how the singer hits particular notes, holds different notes (and for how long), and puts across the feelings of the track.
When you have “the vibe” of the music and you’ve got the lyrics down, you’ll want to record yourself singing along to the music. Yes, the thought of that in all probability sends shivers down your spine.However, the fact is you have to know how your voice sounds and the places you need some additional focus and help in the event you’re ever going to play guitar and sing in front of people.
Now it’s Time to Put the Singing and Playing Together!
Okay, now you’re able to deal with putting the two halves, singing and playing, together. Take note of the bizarre thing that will occur: You will start making errors within the chord progressions, you may confuse the lyrics, you might get tripped up on simple sections of the song… All of the things that you had completely in your control just before, they’ll now appear troublesome again. Weird. It’s going to seem hard at first (and, it isn’t a simple thing to do), almost like your mouth and hands just will not work together!
Chill out. It’s only a small adjustment and by slowing down and practising in a really deliberate and careful fashion, only then will you start to grasp it. And then it’ll happen pretty quickly. The risk right here is boredom and frustration. Do NOT quit here and start studying another song. Stick to the plan as laid out in this article and sooner than you realise you’ll be able to play guitar and sing at the same time!
Source by Leslie De Winter
