How to Play Guitar and Sing at the Same Time

Some people nail singing. Some people are awesome on guitar. But to do both at the same time is difficult because you are essentially applying two different rhythms at the same time with different parts of your body. It requires dedication and a whole lot of practice to combine these two skills that are difficult in their own right. Below you will find some common challenges faced by musicians when learning how to play guitar and sing:

• Singing on pitch
• Remembering chord progressions while at the same time remembering the melody
• Maintaining a constant strumming pattern while singing
• Maintaining dexterity
• Maintaining a consistent sense of timing for the duration of the song
• Remembering lyrics while remembering the  song arrangement

It may seem extremely difficult to maintain these different rhythms yet millions of people around the world have learned this skill. Below are some guidelines that will make learning how to play guitar and sing a little bit easier when starting out:

Start Simple

A common mistake people make is they try too much at once. They either attempt a vocal that is too hard or a strumming pattern that is too difficult or even both. The end result is that one of them suffers. It is too taxing on the memory bank and the overload results in mistakes. I wise teacher once taught me if you are constantly making mistakes because you are trying above your ability, you are only practicing mistakes.
Choose a song with a simple rhythm on guitar so as to give your mind a chance to concentrate on the vocals also. Conversely, choose a song well within your vocal range and with a simple melody line so as to free up your rhythmic skills with your hands. When beginning to learn how to play guitar and sing, starting simple is very important.

It is very important when learning the song to nail one part, then the other and THEN combine them. Otherwise it can be too confusing. I recommended learning the guitar part first, then you have your own rhythm to go by when learning the vocal. Once you start getting reasonably comfortable with the guitar part, try humming along with the melody so you don’t have to concentrate on the lyrics. Once you are comfortable with that, then sing the lyrics.

Timing is usually the biggest problem when learning to play guitar and sing simultaneously. If a note is sung off time it can throw the whole rhythm off and put you completely out of time or cause you to rush your lyrics and it becomes very obvious to the listener. I recommend learning in small segments. Play one verse at a time or even one line at a time until you can nail it ten times in a row without making a mistake. Then move onto the next verse or chorus and do the same. Once you have completed that it’s then time to join them together. It’s a simple and methodical process but there is no better practice than repetition. Just remember not to practice your mistakes.

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Use Your Imagination

When a novice, an important skill to learn is one that involves imagining the pitch before it is sung. It takes a lot of mind megabytes to be constantly thinking of the next note before it is sung, but it is a great way to nail the note. I still do this technique today when I am singing a difficult vocal. I sing it in my mind before it comes out and for some reason it really works. I use it when there a large intervals between notes because it is much more difficult to hit the exact pitch of a note when the previous one  is far from the one you are singing.

The same technique can be used on the guitar. Look at your fingers and visualize where they are going to be for the next chord or note. Constantly think ahead.

I find it is also a good idea once you have learned how to play guitar and sing over a song that you have nailed, is to then record yourself.  The reason being once you start learning other songs and rhythms it is easy to forget and sometimes you can save a lot of time with a quick listen to how you played it before to get you right on track. Also when you are finding it a little difficult to find the rhythm at the beginning of a song, put yourself inside the rhythm of a completely different song before the start of the difficult one. It can be frustrating but once you nail it you will never forget it.

In conclusion the most important lesson when learning how to play guitar and sing is lots of practice. All the great players will tell you the same thing. So keep strumming away and try to put some of these techniques into your playing and I’m sure you will get a lot out of it.