Conference napalm::guitar

    How about singing and playing ANYTHING!?
    
    I know what you mean;  I can strum rhythms on my guitar and sing,
    but as soon as the picking gets a little complicated while the singing
    still needs to go on, I either screw up the guitar part or forget
    the words.
    
    The only songs where I've been successful at both singing and picking
    are the ones where I know both parts in my sleep, with both hands
    behind my back, standing on my head, in the dark. Soooooo, practice,
    practice, practice.....
    
    Steve

    Glad to hear I'm not alone with this brain/motor skill deficiency.
    
    I even have trouble just "talking" during some songs. Wierd!  I dread
    those times when someone from the audience just "has" to talk with you
    while you're playing a choppy bass line.  That's when smiling and body
    language really pays off big time!
    
    I guess that's why lots of bass players appear to be the more stoic,
    quiet and reserved members of some groups.  Well as they say, it's a
    tough job, but someone's got to do it! Right?  
    
    I have sung in the past on some tunes but it has taken lots of
    rehearsal and the songs were very very UNcomplicated.
    
    If you ever want to silence someone - toss them a bass guitar, ask
    them to play the bass line to Consider Me Gone by Sting or I Wish by
    Stevie Wonder and see how quiet they get suddenly!
    
    Good note!
    
    Thanx ... Dan
    

    It's all been said before, but it's true... you have to practice
    it and practice it until you *can* do it. You will be able to do 
    it, but you do have to make the effort. Sing and play with every
    song you know. Easy tunes first, harder ones second, impossible
    ones next month, then after 1 month (or less) you can play/sing
    Stings, "Consider Me Gone" with a *fretless*! Ya-Hoo!
    
    Fred

	You'll reach a point where you can have conversations with people
	as you are playing. Of course, there are occasions when you speak
	in short bursts & the bursts are in 3/4 or 4/4 time. This comes
	with the familiarity of a song as well as time. Odd how your
	mind can multiprocess like this. Often someone from the audience
	will walk up to you 10 seconds after you start a song & want to
	talk to you, usually to request a song & they will stand there
	until you talk to them. You'll get the hang of it, but you have
	to work on it.

							Jens

    you've got to learn the bass part well enough so that you only have
    to check on it once in a while...it takes a lot of time but you'll
    see what I mean.....Some songs I haven't even played in years,
    like Thin Lizzy's boys are back in town I can do on demand and 
    I haven't even heard let alone played them in 5-6 years.Hang tough
    and keep trying,
    Bill
    

    DITTO. DITTO.
    
    I have had to play bass and sing in our band. Usually I play the
    bass part over and over a million times till it is second nature
    then I take on the words. After more practice, it starts to happen.
    
    Tony (who personally hates it when people want to talk to you while
          you are playing.)
    

Jeez Tom - whaddya wanna sing now?????

8^)

    
    I have been playing guitar and singing for so long it's like second
    nature, but the few times I was asked to play bass in a song, it
    is like someone put a muzzle on me, couldn't concentrate on both
    simultaneously. Of course bass is not my instrument, so It feels
    foreign to me to begin with.
    
    Strangely enough, I have the hardest time trying to talk while
    playing. If someone asks me a question while I am playing, I pretty 
    much have to stop playing and blurt out a one word answer. I think
    this is because the music and lyrics go togther, and after hearing
    a song on the radio or record a million times, your subconcious
    can handle it, but conversation does not fit in with the song, and
    it distracts you. Another strange observation I've made is that
    it is actually more difficult for me to sing *without* playing
    than it is for me to sing and play simultaneously. I really feel
    naked when I try to sing without a guitar in my hands.
    
    Perhaps the hardest feat is to sing lead and play lead guitar at
    the same time. There are very few people that can do this with
    any real proficiency. A few people that come to mind is Jerry Garcia
    and the late great Lowell George. Lowell could play an awesome
    slide guitar solo, while singing lead on some of the most intense
    songs Little Feat ever did.
    
    Then again, there are professional musicians that cannot sing and
    play simultaneously at all (ie. B.B. King).
                          
    My advice is not to try to sing and play a song until you have mastered
    the instrumental part, and memorized the words. Trying to learn
    both simultaeously is just too much to handle. 
    
    I used to get most of my lyrics directly from records. I would spin
    the record for one sentence, then cue it up and write down the line.
    Then I would start at the beginning and play upto the second sentence
    and cue it up and write that line down. By the time you write out
    all the words, you have heard the song several times, and you pretty
    much know the words well enough to sing them.
    
    Mark 
    

    I've found that the only way I can sing and play bass at the same
    time is if I'm reading the tune's chord changes as I'm playing (as
    opposed to improvising the bass line out of my head).  I guess that
    maybe this reduces one layer of concentration that frees you up
    to sing.  Does anyone else feel this way?
    
    -RP-

    
    I take the easy way out...before I learn to sing a song, I check
    out how easy the bass line is.  If it's very syncopated, I scrap
    it.
    
    Hope all these replies show you're not alone.  Eric Clapton once
    said that he'd like to be able to play "Layla" correctly while he's
    singing it, but he can't do it.

    
     
      I read an interview with John Entwistle about the time the Who was 
    starting their recent tour that touched on this very subject. The 
    interviewer asked him why he didn't do more of his material. His answer 
    was that on some of them he couldn't sing and play at the same time.
    
      He went on to ad that some bass patterns lend themselves to singing
    while others don't as Brian mentioned in the previous note.
    
      While not a heavyweight singer (backup only), I noticed that tunes
    I've know for years are no problem while new ones seem impossible.
    This probably lends some support to the 'practice, practice, practice'
    idea. 
    
      I do much better when I don't think about what I'm doing. Once
    I start to think about it, it goes awry.
    
      I thought this problem was only mine....thanks for lifting the
    weight off of my shoulders. 8-)
    
      Bob

    Another big sigh of relief in this corner !  I always found
    singing and playing guitar chords as straightforward; but when
    I took up the bass my voice felt paralyzed.  I agree with all
    the other replies: practice the bass part first, memorize the
    words, and practice it over and over.  Since I am singing
    harmony parts, I feel another level of challenge - but it
    has been worth it.  I might add that, the more songs you
    master for bass and voice, the easier it is to pick up
    new ones.

    I tried for years to play guitar with little success. Something I 
    always did was to sing along wtih the song to help with the cord
    changes. I gave up on guitar and moved to bass and as stated in
    previous notes, unless the bass line is pretty simple, I get all
    confused as soon as I open my mouth. Is bass that much harder to sing
    with, did those of us that are having such a hard time play six string
    first or is it simply the nature of the bass and it's role in a song.
    I tend to belive the latter. 
                                                              Jim