Tips for Playing Guitar AND Singing

Singing while playing guitar can be a daunting challenge for any guitarist.  You need both a good sense of timing, and the ability to sort of "split" your brain in order to pull it off.  But like everything else you've learned to do on the guitar, it CAN be mastered with practice.

It's important to remember that playing and singing aren't two separate things--in both cases, you are tied to the same key, tempo, and (in many cases) rhythm.  The trick, then, is just combining two bodily actions! Just like walking and chewing gum at the same time!   Here are a few tips regarding this type of "multi-tasking":

1) SOS--Start Off Simple!  Start off learning easy songs that you like and know well. Songs that only have a few chords, a simple strum pattern and lyrics you can easily remember, like "Happy Birthday." Or you can Google "Great songs with 3 chords or less" and find an easy song to start with.  Your guitar teacher can also help you find songs.

2)  Know your basic chords like the back of your hand.   Trying to remember how to finger a B7 chord while playing is going to make singing at the same time virtually impossible. Your guitar playing must be at a level where chord changes are effortless. You need to be so comfortable with your strumming that you don't even have to think about it. This will free you up to concentrate singing.

3) Practice strumming with a metronome. For better timing and rhythm, practice with a metronome. Although it will feel a bit restrictive at first, a metronome will make you a more consistent player. Spend 10 minutes a day practicing a simple strumming pattern with a metronome, and you'll notice significant improvements in your timing within a few weeks.

4) Start by playing through the music by itself first--later on, you can hum the lyrics, or start slowly adding them in as you get more and more comfortable with the chord changes.

5) Take it easy (start out at a slow tempo):   It's far better to sing and play correctly and slowly, than to be fudging rhythms at full speed. Go through the song measure by measure, line by line, until you can play and sing it all the way through without errors. Speed will come once you iron out all the kinks.

***A note on finger-picking. If you're playing a song that uses finger-picking, you might find it helpful to take a few steps back to start. First, sing using a simple strum pattern to play the chords. Once you got the song down perfectly this way, move on to a more complex strum pattern, and then ultimately to the finger-picking. pattern.

Of course, perfecting any guitar technique, and adding singing takes time and PRACTICE.  But if you work a little each day, you will find that playing and singing becomes easier each day.  

Good Luck--and Happy Pickin' !!

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Tips for Making Smoother Chord Changes

One of the complaints I hear most often from students who are working on chord songs is that they have difficulty making quick chord changes--especially in songs where the chord is changing every beat, or every two beats.  And I get that--I can clearly remember the frustration of trying to keep up with the songs I was learning as a younger student!

There is good news, however, and a couple of really simple techniques can help you to make those chord changes quickly and cleanly.

THE BOUNCE TECHNIQUE
The bounce technique is great for students who are just starting to work on chord progressions, and it involves simply making the chord shape of a particular chord with your fretting hand (start with a G Major chord, for example), and just bouncing that formation lightly on the strings--over and over and over.  This will help with your muscle memory, and will also help to "burn" that image of a G Major chord into your head.

Then move on to another chord formation, i.e. C Major or E minor.  Just like before, bounce that chord formation off of the strings over and over and over.

As an aside, it does not matter if you are working with first-position chords, barre chords, or even power chords.  The same bouncing technique works for any fingered chord!

MOVE FROM BOUNCING CHORDS TO "LIFTING AND SHIFTING"
Once you have worked on bouncing single chord formations for a while, the next step is to bounce a chord formation once, then immediately bounce to another chord position that you have been working on.  Start with just "lifting and shifting" between two chords, then as you get more comfortable with the transitions, add a third chord, then a fourth chord, etc.

Students often tell me that they are having problems moving from one particular chord to another, but often, this is because they are lifting their hands completely off of the fret board between chords.  In the "Lift and Shift" method, you keep your fingers hovering slightly above the fret board, and snap quickly to your next memorized formation.

Truth be told, if you have worked on bouncing the chords and burning them into your brain and muscles, it shouldn't matter which chord you're coming from and which one you're going to--your muscle memory will get you quickly to and from!

For a visual demonstration, click on the video link below.  Have fun--and Happy Pickin'!

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