Playing two instruments at once. post...

Hello all!

This has taken me ages to learn so I thought I'd share it. I hope it helps people to learn to sing and play the guitar at the same time. By this I don't just mean singing simple melodies in the same time as the chord changes, like a lot of pop tunes. I mean playing a rythm and singing off rythm over it or viceversa. I hope that makes sense.

I started playing guitar and singing a while back and would always write the vocal melody to a guitar line. Maybe I'd start a fifth or third above, but it would be there in time with the chord pattern.

I listened to alot of simple folk and blues, and found that if your're writing songs just for the guitar and voice it makes them sound much fuller and more interesting if you can differentiate between the rythms of your mouth and your right hand. If you don't know what I mean check out any Robert Johnson (or any early blues) Nick drake/John martyn vocal/guitar arrangements. The guitar work is great, but on a baisc level they all sing off rythm at some point.

I tried for ages to learn this without much success although I felt that anybody who sings and plays should really be able to do it.

Ever sat behind a drum kit and had your drummer teach you? 'Look, keep your high hat steady 1,2,3,4 and keep going. Play the kick on 1 and the snare on 3 but keep the high hat steady'.

It sounds easy but it isn't at first. Your right hand (snare) follows the bass (right foot). They are linked and it takes a while to unlink them. The same is true with the voice and the right hand of the average guitarist.

I've been playing drums a couple of years now and it has taught me that rythm is at the core of all music (just my opinion!. The rythm will define the mood of a piece long before the meoldy comes in. The rythm is the building, the melody what you turn it into. blah blah.

So I thought that playing with rythm in my live stuff would really add depth to my music and make it stand out.

Now (thanks for the patience) after I could play the rock rythm I tried to play what I think is a common jazz rythm on the drums (I may be wrong). instead of 1,2,3,4 on the high hat as in rock, it's 1,2 and-3 4 5. I practiced for a month or so putting the bass on 1 and then a snare on 4 and 5. You could use any different combination of accents on the kit but that's what I did.

If you don't play drums that doesn't matter a bit. If you can tap you're foot you can do this. I know several pianists who can play drums just because they are used to playing off rythms with their hands.
It's all the mind.

-Just practice that rythm by tapping you hand 1,2 and-3, 4,5 over and over. That'll help your guitar hand to feel independent from your mouth.

-Count out loud. This is the crux of it. Counting out loud will get that old ingrained 4/4 rythm out of your head. You will need to do this until you're not thinking about it. Like when you say a word too may times and it just becomes a rythmic sound. That's when you really feel it. Man! (lol)

-Then put the kick (right foot) on 1. Do it until you can get it every time

-Then put the snare (right hand) on 4.

-Go S-L-O-W-Y. As Chairman Mao once said 'even the longest journeys start with the shortest steps'.

-Say my name! Say it out loud; 'bass' on 1, 'snare' on 4 etc. this helps your voice to let go of the right hand. If it gets too hard, slow it down and strip it down. Just put the bass on 1 and just count the numbers instead.

-Try and put your bass and snare on different strokes of the main rythm. like bass on 1, snare on 3, bass on 5 etc and count or speak as you like (counting is easier at first).

Once I could do this I noticed myself not even thinking about what my guitar hand was doing when I was singing. It went on autopliot playing a simpe three chord pattern and it beacme easier to sing an off rythm. There is probably a missing link here but if you practice this away from the guitar it is very transferable skill.

Once you free your voice from you right hand(which it seems is essentially just another limb as far as rythm goes) you can improvise off rythm more easily.

I'm still quite confused as to how I did this and I'm sure there are many here who can explain it better than I can.

You can make up any rythm (1, and-2, 3, 4-and, 5 ,6, 7. whatever time signature you like)and use any limb or your voice to keep steady or accent with. Improvise!

I'm still crawling along but I'm improving now. I'm not on one of those musical plateaus we all get to every once in a while. I'm getting better at my passion and it feels great. I had to share it because even my lame instructions may help somebody.

Besides it passes the time at the bus stop/in the queue, in bed alone (unless you're having a jam with your bed-mate).

Thanks for the patience. (Sorry about the length Db).

Flashy