How to Play Guitar and Sing

For many (including myself), it seems like some people are just able to play an instrument and sing at the same time like it was nothing.

Like they have two brains or something. One brain that plays guitar (or another instrument) and the other brain that sings. In some cases this may be true, but for someone like myself who started out as a guitar player and then learned to sing, I had to figure it out.

When learning how to sing and play guitar at the same time there are several easy steps you can follow that will make your life a lot easier. This is assuming two things:

A) You already know how to play guitar and

B) You already know somewhat how to sing (or are at least working on it)

The first thing I want you to consider (which I talk about in my video here) is a drummer. A drummer has to think in different rhythms all working together at the same time. He may be hitting 1/4 notes on the down beats of 1 and 3 with a kick drum, while hitting the snare on 2 and 4 of the beat. But at the same time, he may be keeping an 8th or 16th note groove on the hi hat. We can learn a LOT from this when trying to apply our singing while playing.

First: Learn your guitar parts so well that you don't have to think about them. Then (like I demonstrate in this video here) start thinking about where the vocal melody/lyrics hit on a particular beat. It may sound intimidating at first but it really isn't. Start with just one line of a song. Memorize where the vocal hits are in the beat (or where they are in the beat in relationship to where the guitar parts hit on the beat).

Little by little, you will become more and more comfortable with where both of these hits fall much like the drummer. The more you do this, the easier it gets.

I lay out more in this video and add a little bit about my singing lessons to help you have a better understanding of how it works.

Thanks for checking it out.

Ken Tamplin