I still remember the first time I tried to play guitar and sing at the same time. I’d just learned to play Otherside by Red Hot Chili Peppers and thought it’d be fun to sing along. But as soon as I opened my mouth, my brain overloaded, my hands locked up and everything stopped.
Turns out that singing and playing simultaneously time isn’t something you can just do. Even though you might be able to sing a song comfortably, and play it on guitar with ease, combining the two is not obvious. It might look that way, from seeing so many musicians effortlessly combine their vocals with instrument playing on stage. But it requires practice, like any other musical skill, from learning new chords to training your ears.
In this guide, you’ll learn what can make singing and playing at the same time challenging and what the solution is to doing it nonetheless. I’ll share 5 tips that will help you practice this impressive skill!
Be able to play on autopilot
What makes singing while playing guitar so tricky is that we can’t focus on two things at the same time. For instance, when you’re trying to remember lyrics, you can’t consciously think about what strumming pattern to play. So it’s key that you practice both your guitar playing and singing to a degree where it feels almost automatic. In our example, if you don’t have to think about your strumming pattern, that leaves you free to focus on your singing.
Similarly, make sure you know the melody and lyrics well, so you don’t have to work hard to remember them. More generally, it can really help to become more comfortable with your voice, so you might consider taking either in-person lessons or online singing lessons. In practice, for most people this means that 80% of their attention will go towards their vocals and 20% to their guitar playing. The vocals are the ‘main character’ in most music, so that’s where you’ll usually want to focus most, so you can tell a compelling story.
Start simple
So, we’ve established that we need to be able to play on autopilot. That’s why I’d recommend starting off with a super simple guitar part. For example, you might simply strum some muted strings on every beat (as if you’re a human metronome) and practice singing along to that. This by itself can be quite tricky, because your hands and your voice are doing different things. At first you might find that your hands really want to do the same thing as your voice! Another way to practice the ‘independence’ of your voice and the rest of your body is to put on some music and walk on the beat while singing along.
When you’re comfortable with something simple like that, I’d recommend starting with a guitar strumming part. Singing while playing a melodic guitar part is the most difficult, because the timing of both parts is so complex. So that’s definitely not the place to start! A better choice would be a song that you know well, with a simple strum pattern that repeats over and over and that doesn’t change chords all that often.
Figure out how the timing ‘interlocks’
Start by examining the song at a slower tempo to understand how the vocals and guitar part fit together timing-wise. Knowing where certain words coincide with a strum can serve as helpful ‘anchor points’ that help you figure out how the rest fits together. You can practice this by playing the guitar part very slowly and first speaking the lyrics along with it (don’t worry about melody yet). Notice how certain words align with specific chords or strums. Do this a few times and you’ll start to internalise how the strumming and the melody sound together.
Build up gradually
You might have noticed a theme in all the steps above. We start simple and gradually increase the difficulty level. To emphasise this point, let me list a few levers you can pull to make things easier or more challenging, so you can slowly build up towards playing the guitar part and singing simultaneously.
- Play a very basic strum pattern without variations
- Speak the words (and forget about about the melody)
- Hum the melody, so you don’t have to think about the lyrics yet
- Take it one section at a time. For example, focus on the first verse or on the chorus. Combine them later.
- Slow it down! The lower the tempo, the more time you’ll have to think.
Use a drum track or metronome
Once you feel somewhat comfortable playing the song (guitar and vocals at the same time), perhaps the ultimate challenge is to play along to a metronome or drum track. Singing and playing simultaneously is complicated, and this makes us likely to speed up, slow down and generally be a little bit ‘flexible’ with our timing. In many situations this is not a disaster (and it can even be a way to express yourself, if used consciously). But it’s good practice to try to play your song on a steady tempo and it helps you develop your overall sense of timing and rhythm.
I’m sure you know what’s coming now: we’re going to build this up. Start by playing just the guitar part to a metronome or drum track. (A drum track is often a bit easier at first, so try to master both.) Set it at a tempo that’s comfortable. This doesn’t have to be slower necessarily: often a lower tempo is more challenging! Once you can play along with your guitar, try to sing the song along to the metronome (without guitar). For the final challenge, do everything at once!
Get going!
I hope this guide has given you some concrete steps to take towards improving your guitar and singing skills! Remember that like pretty much every musical skill, this ability exists on a scale. With practice, you can get better and better at it. Seeing that gradual improvement is super rewarding.
