I have that same issue. This is why I have a simple strumming pattern that I default for every song so that the beat lines up. But I'd like to change up my strumming a bit.
When you said its very tough.. It gave my soul some peace.. Really man I see everyone playing and singing and I'm fed up with my left and right brain dispute
This has given me a breakthrough that I didn't think would ever come. You changed the way I was thinking about it. I was trying to fully play and incorporate fully singing. This flipped that into fully singing and slowly incorporating playing. BAM! Breakthrough. Thank you so much. p.s. I hope that made sense.
Same here. Maybe i should've picked something easier than "Street Spirit". Playing the guitar part is super easy. Picking three chords. Singing is easy too. Singing while strumming the chords, no problem. But picking and singing = nightmare. I only manage the first verse, then it all goes wrong
@@louisancheta199 yeah same. I can play and sing Street spirit (Radiohead) and Come as you are (Nirvana), but I still haven’t figured out Where’s my mind (pixies). It’s silly.
This video was an absolute revelation for me. I found myself being able to play the down strums in time with the beat and sing. However, I couldn't play the complex strumming pattern and sing at the same time. The eureka moment was when I started to consider the complex strumming pattern as an extension of the down strums;.I started to emphasise those down strums (or lack of sometimes) in the complex pattern in my head and then I was able to sing at the same time!
ronitagar I *super* appreciate your comment because that’s exactly where I was when I came back to this video. For me (but I suspect many others), the difficulty isn’t the changes or the beat. It’s chunking the melodic (singing) rhythm with the harmonic (strumming) rhythm that’s challenging, because they won’t be the same in any interesting song. I’ve applied what you said re: emphasizing the downbeat while complicating the strum, and it does help! Tony helps a lot here, but you’ve stood on his shoulders and added just the little bit more I needed :)
thank you! I've been playing for 15 years and I literally can't strum consistently when I sing at the same time. its annoying because I can sing and play very well... but not together.
Can't believe how incredibly well it works. I've been struggling with this for weeks and after this video in less than 20 min I was able to combine singing with strumming. You just made my day!
Thank you brother this helps learning a old new song last three day . I had suffered a sever head injury haven't been able to even listen to music let along play my Guitar in 28 years in the dark. Due to a CFS leak and sever Migraines 24/7 March 29 it lessened some and Im singing again Im back baby just Rocked a song like no one has heard remember my name. Im going to post it when its perfect or close as i can get. I just impressed some folks and myself today singing again after 28 years.
I struggled with this at one point. I actually learned the same way ( through trial and error) that you are teaching. The key for me, like you said, was nailing those chord changes. Once you get that, everything else starts to fall into place. Great video. Its sort of ironic (for me) to see this explained this way, because although I learned this way, I've never really consciously thought about it.
#smallwin I am 41 years old, brazilian, married, 2 daughters, hard working man. Since my young age I love music, played the electric bass for a few years, percussion too but my long lasting love was the guitar (don't even know why I have never started. work, daughters, boose, marriage?). Well, I just got an old Yamaha APX 4A from my friend and started playing. Having a blast, enjoing every chord of it. Thanks for all the lessons, I am surely improving faster because of your videos, growing a beard too. Cheers (Or as we say in Brazil "SAÚDE") with a glass of good Bourbon. Sorry for the bad english.
If you know anyone who wants to improve their playing but are hitting a wall then turn them onto this.The information you get is varied and that helps keep the frustration level down because he is teaching you to become a performer and writer.The delivery is positive but alwsys stresses practicing these lessons but moving on when you get frustrated.I teach very similarly.Amazing how much easier it is after you move on and come back to it later.
Marko Lukin Very true... i would add to always finish your "guitar sessions" on a positive note.... Another trick I've learned through the years is to stop immediately a lick or whatever is giving a hard time to learn at the moment, play something fun & completely different for at least 5 to 10 min. And then go back to learning the lick or the progression.. It works every time👍
I've been playing guitar since I was 14. Sang in the choir in school. Took violin in the 7th and 8th grades. Took up guitar at 14, playing in bands at 16. Been playing every since. I'm 62.
Dammit Tony, you are changing my life one video at a time. Thanks for this introduction to a skill I've never been able to accomplish despite many frustrating attempts. Definitely hitting the link, CHEERS!
This was incredibly helpful. I have been playing guitar for a long time and only now actually attempting to sing while playing. This really made the process vastly more simple. I mean...I'm still working on it, but this was an excellent starting point. Thanks!
I’ve always wanted a technique on how to play and sing at the same time instead of playing randomly and repeating until I get it right. This is exactly what I needed ! THANK YOU SO MUCH 🙏🏻
One tip I will tell people is it's okay to simplify some songs using 3 to 4 chords. Not every song but try to experiment until you are ready to play the exact notes in the song. Playing in front of people, you don't have to use overly complex finger playing while your singing if you don't want to. Keep it simple so singing and keeping rhythm will be good. Thank you for this video. Baby steps is important. 🎸🤘🎼🤘🎸
Learning to sing and play those first songs were like climbing a brick wall. I remember sitting in my room with a print out of “elderly woman behind a counter in a small town”, trying to figure out the strumming patterns. You’re completely right to take it in steps. Great vid. Made me remember how great it was when I learned to sing and play at once.
Great tips! Break it down into easy chunks and focus on the placement of the changes. I also used to edit the tab so that the chord changes and lyrics synced up better. I rarely found tabs online that worked well for me without editing. Lately I’ve been working on singing backing vocals and playing lead together and that is a bit harder for me because I am so used to tying the vocals to the chord changes. Songs with vocal melodies are always easier for me to play than instrumental pieces. I use them to know where I am in the song. With originals I also tend to build my solo ideas off of the vocal melody. Without one I am forced to come up with my own musical ideas from scratch. No one wants to hear that! 😜
i was playing for nine years before i was comfortable enough with the guitar to start singing along. but then again i didnt have people giving me these tips
I literally printed out the sheets of chords/lyrics and did what you said and I can comfortably say that doing what you said helps. I sound 100x better than I did before this video after about 45 minutes of practice
i just wanna thank you coz i have been playing guitar for a few years and never been able to sing and now i just practiced for 20 minutes your way and i could do it... like im flabbergasted. Thank you so much.
This has always been a challenge for me. That is why I usually just take the role of guitarist and have a dedicated lead vocalist in the bands I have been part of. Backing vocals I've been able to coordinate my guitar playing with singing, if my strumming is complimentary with the rhythm of the vocal part. But doing lead vocals while singing is usually a train wreck. I'm starting over without a band, so all singing and instruments are up to me. With the current pandemic, there is no way to audition vocalists or even rehearse with other musicians. So, I am determined to finally figure out how to coordinate my singing and guitar playing. This video was a great help. I'll follow your instruction steps and keep practicing. Thank you, and Happy New Year.
Great lesson! This is one so many people want but are afraid to ask for... As usual the metronome or rhythm machine is your friend to help bring the timing home. I use a Beat Buddy when practicing and it does wonders to help my timing.
Singing and playing guitar is a art.this artistic knows the beginning problems we struggle with and sets a pattern of teaching that beginners can connect with and learn from,thank you.Forrest wheeler
This was helpful, thanks. A few years ago I determined to sing for my wife at our 50th anniversary dinner. It came off okay but damn it was hard to put it together! This approach would have made it easier!
Dear Tony, After 3 years of starting to play guitar - I've first time tried and succeeded to strum and hum at the same time - THANKS to your video. Folks reading this - just simply try the 4 steps approach suggested here: - Listen to the song and read the tabs, while noticing the word where chord changes - Strum only once with word where the chord changes - Practise with only down-strums - Practise with regular strumming pattern Last part is still a bit a struggle, but its a major progress from the paralysis attach i was thrown into - whenever i Tried singing while strumming.
Really good and very simple tutorial. Thank you mate, i have been playing for decades and never been able to sing at the same time. Not that I have great voice but always wanted to be able to. This approach has really helped me. Not that i will be posting in the near future, my singing still sucks. However proving useful when i want to really punish my family 😆
I've been struggling with singing and playing at the same time for over a year (since I first began playing the guitar). This is really a lightbulb suggestion. Thank you. I'm going to try this. I think it's going to work.
I DID IT, i actually was able to sing a song while playing the ukulele, i was having problem with strumming while singing, thanks to you actually telling me how, i was able to play the song and strum well.
Playing and singing is my new goal. I’ve always wanted to learn and made excuses because I didn’t want to take it slow really is what it is Thanks for the tips, I’m definitely going to sit there for days working on it
Oh my, thank you so much… I've been trying to play and sing Eagles' Take It Easy for a year, but I just couldn't figure out the trick. My strumming always ended up imitating the vocal melody. But I feel like this could work…
I'd like to thank you for the video! Singing and playing has always been such a huge issue - just breaking it down to the changes seems like a massive step forwards
I can rip round the fretboard with plectrum while talking to someone and never looking at the guitar, I can sing and do classical or country fingerpicking but strum and sing? Nope! Totally throws my syllabic rhythm out so I will try this very peaceful 1960s folk song style for sure! :o)
I can also do a fingerstyle with some of the rythm without looking at. I can also strum the way it supposed to sound. But when it comes to strumming and singing I really find it hard because it loses my strumming pattern and this is why I stick to playing fingerstyle songs. Hope this tutorial will help me through!
Playing thrash is easier. Stop putting people on pedestals and realise if you just try you will do it, just stick at it. Hetfield started with Purple and Maiden covers, he's had 40 years practice!
Thank you so much for this Tony! I'm currently struggling trying to sing and play at the same time, I know one needs to be automatic eventually (the playing pref), but you have explained a great simple way to start out. Though I am trying to read chords, read words and sing and play at the same time, so I guess there's quite a lot going on there that needs practice.
Cool tip, That helped me play riffs and sing simultaneously (although my voice isn't the best). Is to 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐞 the "singing parts" while playing the guitar, before singing. Turns out its a lot easier for the mind to whistle and play at the same time, than singing. That way you can learn the songs, and then 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 them with ease while your guitar weeps.
Thank you very much, you're really really good at teaching you're my favorite guitar teacher on the youtube. Thanks for all the effort you put into these quality videos.
Well, I'm having a really hard time playing and singing Sufjan Steven's Casimir Pulaski Day because of all the weird folk ornamentations that are going on in the song.
When you've really got the song down, it won't be a problem. You'll still key off the chord changes, but you'll hear them in your head while playing the solo. The biggest trick is to know the words cold. You already know some songs well enough that you can sing along to the radio, even if you're doing something else, like driving. In your head, one word triggers the next on a subconscious level. You don't think about "this is the second chorus and the verb tense changes here", each word leads to the next and you sing on autopilot. Once you can play the chord changes and hear them coming, you don't actually think about the words consciously. Your subconscious knows what it feels like when you get to "face" "place" "met" "girl" "world" "met" "Da", and knows what it always does when it feels like that and just plays the same chord it always does at that point. If you have to read the words or decide what verse you're in or what follows logically in the sentence, you'll never be able to do anything else that requires conscious thought, like the solo you want to play, at the same time. One brain. You can train it to do any number of things subconsciously, but you only get one conscious train of thought. When you can sing the song while doing a Rubik's Cube or driving, or some such activity, you're ready. It's not hard; you can already do that with the core songs you love; just make it one of those.
Such a simple thing that I knew already but didn't have the patience for. I was too busy just trying to strum just like the song. That's the good thing about music; you can improvise. Now I have the singing down with the guitar. Just have to "make it my own."
Sethakis Farina nope I can play everything on guitar but could not sing while playing until like a year ago.. I've been playing guitar for 6 years. It's your mind. It's not like that
i watched this when i first started playing a few months back and i couldnt do it for the life of me, and without trying steps or anything like that randomly a week ago i started being able to do it, relaxed and all
This is a sound approach to use for any song you want to play and sing. Even if you've been playing and singing for a while. It's always good to know where the chord changes are and get the singing rhythm and basic guitar rhythm down before you get fancy with strumming and fills and .... So if I were you I'd keep applying this process.
Mark Young I agree more with your tip because every song is different, speed of chord changes are different, and then there are fills and lead lines etc etc! Thanks
Nothing is just learn it once. You’re always learning. This, as Tony clearly and candidly states over and over, requires baby steps, which in English means practice, patience and tenacity. When you’ve built up skills it will get way quicker.
Honestly This Is The Basic's Of Common Sense Style Playing To Me.. Take It Nice & Slow (Which is Hard Sometimes) Get That Down, Then Advance.. Great Lesson To Live By🤘🏼
It’s wild how this is actually the exact same process I started to try to do by instinct though I still decided to look up a video for safe measure to make sure I don’t develop bad habits much appreciated
Doing just down strums for me was tougher than using a strumming pattern because it meant I had to be better about keeping the beat or I had to count down strums in addition to everything else. I practiced a strumming pattern until it was almost totally a habit and didn't have to keep count.
