Most musicians will focus on just one instrument and stick to that. However, the voice being an instrument, some musicians have gone the extra mile to learn how to sing while playing another instrument, reaping significant benefits as a result.
As an instrumentalist, it can be incredibly valuable to learn how to sing as it enhances your ear development. Additionally, you can sing backup vocals and harmonies, which increases your value as a player. You can also sing in case you can’t seem to find a singer for your group or if the budget is tight. This will also increase your flexibility when booking your performance events.
Even so, playing while singing can be extremely hard – doing just
one is already hard enough as it is. However, with lots of practice, nothing is impossible. However, these four neat tricks from Dylan Welsh will also help you get there quicker:
- Perfect each part individually
Before you can mash your singing and playing, you need to have perfected each part.
Spend the majority of your practice time on each individual part, and make sure you get super comfortable and can execute each at a competent level without thinking about it too much. This is especially true if you’re fairly weak in either singing or playing, as is often the case with instrumentalists who want to pick up some vocals, or singers who want to learn to accompany themselves.
The “without thinking about it” part is the key here. Your brain doesn’t like to multitask. It doesn’t do good work when it has to multitask. Thus, you need to take as much thinking out of the equation as you can, and the way to do that is through slow and careful practice of both the singing and the accompaniment individually. Via Sonic Bids
- Identify the most demanding parts of the song
The brain always tends to resist multitasking, so even if you are able to minimize your conscious thinking for the individual parts, you will still stretch your brain significantly when you mash them up.
When you’re feeling ready to start practicing putting the pieces together, make a mental note of what needs to take top priority. If you’re playing guitar and singing in a hard rock band, you might need to sacrifice a word or two of the vocals in order to make the technical guitar work happen. If you’re a folk singer-songwriter, you may need to miss a chord change or two here and there to make sure that you deliver the vocals in the way you want. Via Sonic Bids
- Involve others
You will quickly notice that it’s much easier to play and sing at the same time when you’re in a group than when practicing alone.
First of all, there’s less pressure on you and your playing when there are other players in the group backing you up. The drummer will be helping to hold down the time, and the bass and additional chordal instruments will help keep the harmony going even if you need to drop out for a second to nail a vocal delivery. Via Sonic Bids
- Give it time
As with any new skill, singing and playing will take lots of time to develop, so it’s important to start slow, preferably with one song you are already familiar with. As you go through the process of individual practice and establishing the areas that need the most attention with each song, you’ll slowly get used to it and improve your speed.
Eventually, you’ll reach a point where your mind knows how to shift its focus appropriately with very minimal effort or thought on your part, and you can really spend your time focused on learning each part really well individually. I can’t stress this individual practice enough, as the better you know each part on its own, the easier it’ll be to make the transition to singing and playing at the same time. Via Sonic Bids
- Where possible, learn to drum
Even if you don’t intend to become a drummer, drumming will help you hone the vital multitasking skills needed when playing and singing.
When you sing and accompany yourself, you’ve basically got two things going on at the same time: playing and singing. When playing drums, that number actually doubles! Advanced level drummers are capable of using both of their hands and feet to play four individual parts that could be completely independent of one another, essentially playing four different instruments at the same time. This requires the same sort of mental focus and shifting that singing while playing does, and learning to play a drum set can help you to develop your coordination skills much faster. Via Sonic Bids
Colombian musician Juanes and John Legend perform outside Ariz. jail to draw attention to plight of immigrants https://t.co/ZeL46LbaUd
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 21, 2016
For 40 years he was a musician. Then #dementia set in. But then, at 95, he sat at a piano… https://t.co/NFqcW8SVwH #ArtfulAging
— PBS (@PBS) January 15, 2016
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Or perhaps it’s because the doctors said if he stops playing guitar, he’ll die.
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