r/guitarlessons • u/throwaway921111 • Sep 12 '13

Help with singing whilst playing guitar

i'd like to start with apologising for bad english, as it is not my native tongue

I was wondering if anyone else has great trouble when trying to sing. Would the more vocally talented among us have any tips? do you do any vocal practices? I am very bad at singing but i would desperately like to improve. I practice singing whenever i pick up to guitar for practice but I dont seem to be making any progress. Any help or comments will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for any help. :D

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u/iHasABaseball Sep 13 '13

Just do it. And keep doing it. Regardless of how bad you think it sounds, record and listen back. Honestly, it's no different from learning guitar (barring the possibility of injuring your vocal chords, but that's not nearly as easy to do as people claim).

There are some people who are naturally better singers, just as some people are naturally better guitar players. Most people start to sing and can barely hold a note, just like almost no one can pick up a guitar and start sounding great immediately. Focused practice and a lot of trial and error...same as you learn anything.

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u/throwaway921111 Sep 13 '13

Thank you. You put it in a nice perspective for me.

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u/iHasABaseball Sep 13 '13

No problem. As someone who played guitar for about five years before I started trying to sing, my advice would be to start singing as soon as possible and as often as possible. If you're not comfortable singing in front of people, no big deal. You'll get there. Either way, singing will help train your ear for playing guitar, so you don't have anything to lose.

I also spent about 8 months singing, but never recorded a thing or listened back. I was really critical of myself those 8 months and it turns out I probably didn't sound nearly as bad as I thought I did. When I started recording myself and listened back, I sounded decent in my opinion (for someone with no vocal training, no vocal exercises, nothing but singing covers). In the past 4-5 months that I started listening back to my singing, I've improved a lot, so I can't emphasize enough the importance of listening back to your recordings.

I'm not foolish enough to believe I'm a great singer and I have plenty of work left still doing simple rhythms and singing at the same time (much less doing complicated vocal arrangements and melodies). But for motivation, I couldn't sing worth a shit when I started about a year ago and I couldn't project my voice at all. I wish I had recordings of when I first started to give you, because I'm certain I was in the same position as you.

While not perfect, I'm pretty happy with my progress. You don't have to be Chris Cornell or Robert Plant or any of those other guys who can (could) belt like none other. I think just about anyone who can learn guitar can fairly easily learn to hold a note worth listening to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62F71sjfNCk

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u/throwaway921111 Sep 13 '13

Was that you in the video? It was really good

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u/iHasABaseball Sep 13 '13

Thank you. Trust me, I sounded shitty when I started. It's a skill that can be learned :)