Learning to Play AND Sing...

[Base Delta Zero]

I've been teaching myself to sing while playing guitar. So far, I've stuck to Misfits songs (and a few other punk bands) because they're easy to sing while playing. Although I love the Misfits, I'm looking to branch out a little more and I am asking for good and easy artists/songs to learn to play and sing to.

Metal songs would be better - I'm kind of getting a little bored with punk.

 

[Pђoenix]

Man, that takes some real coordination. Stabwound by Necrophagist is fun to growl to and not as difficult as you'd think. But then again it's quite a jump from punk to tech. death.

 

[waif]

yeah, it does take surprising coordination. Try Am I Evil? by Diamond Head. Pretty easy to play.

 

[ThrashTillDeath]

I like to do Symphony of Destruction by Megadeth
The chorus is kind of fun
Though the verses are maybe to easy, since you're not playing when you sing

 

[xeperu]

Why don't you just take the songs you usually sing to, and instead of trying to pull off complicated leads while singing/growling, just playing simple chords of the key that the passage or song is in? Try some Venom or Unleashed, or maybe even Bathory or Hellhammer. Those seem pretty fun but simpler things to play while singing..

 

[Blackened6]

I've been teaching myself to sing while playing guitar. So far, I've stuck to Misfits songs (and a few other punk bands) because they're easy to sing while playing. Although I love the Misfits, I'm looking to branch out a little more and I am asking for good and easy artists/songs to learn to play and sing to.

Metal songs would be better - I'm kind of getting a little bored with punk.

Try to learn to sing and play some metallica, they are easy and fun as shit, also when your ready to step it up a little try to learn to sing and play some arch enemy. I can sing and play dead eyes see no future that one is an easy one, and a harder one is Ravenous but it is also really fun. I am learning to sing and play the whole melechesh album Emmisuries, I spelled it wrong its their new one with a black cover. I can also sing and play the whole god dethroned album Bloody Blaphemy exept for two songs.

Misfits fucking RULE

 

[Blackened6]

yeah, it does take surprising coordination. Try Am I Evil? by Diamond Head. Pretty easy to play.

That was the first song I learned, its awesome and now I do a like a black/thrash style of that song

 

[waif]

That was the first song I learned, its awesome and now I do a like a black/thrash style of that song

one of the most classic metal riffs. Sometimes I think everything I write comes from that song.

 

[Blackened6]

one of the most classic metal riffs. Sometimes I think everything I write comes from that song.

ahahahaahahha you could be right

 

[Jreg]

Having had to sing and play simultaneously for around five years now, I've found that concentrating on posture is a big part of it. You toy around enough and find a "sweet spot" where you're completely comfortable holding the instrument (as in, it's not weighing you down heavily) and still able to project vocally to the best of your ability.

In my case, it seems particularly challenging since I'm trying to sing and play power metal, a style that conventionally uses a dedicated vocalist. As best I can tell, it's a kind of constraint that you're constantly having to work around, and it inevitably shapes the songwriting process a lot of time in trying to create something that can be executed properly. Overall though, the best way for me to do any given song is by practicing the riffs and vocals separately, then slowly integrate them and practice them together a lot.

 

[Blackened6]

Having had to sing and play simultaneously for around five years now, I've found that concentrating on posture is a big part of it. You toy around enough and find a "sweet spot" where you're completely comfortable holding the instrument (as in, it's not weighing you down heavily) and still able to project vocally to the best of your ability.

In my case, it seems particularly challenging since I'm trying to sing and play power metal, a style that conventionally uses a dedicated vocalist. As best I can tell, it's a kind of constraint that you're constantly having to work around, and it inevitably shapes the songwriting process a lot of time in trying to create something that can be executed properly. Overall though, the best way for me to do any given song is by practicing the riffs and vocals separately, then slowly integrate them and practice them together a lot.

That sounds really cool, and power metal bands are hard as shit to cover, I can do some iced earth and its an adventure. Do you know any persuader and savage circus

 

[Elimist]

It's all about playing riffs in 5-beat and singing in 3-beat.
Polymeters are the shit.

 

[Jreg]

That sounds really cool, and power metal bands are hard as shit to cover, I can do some iced earth and its an adventure. Do you know any persuader and savage circus

I've covered a lot of Iced Earth, and a lot of the original stuff I play has those fast gallops in it anyway. Some of those kind of riffs are challenging on their own, so throwing vocals over top of that is definitely still an uphill battle. I'm familiar with Persuader but have never tried covering them. They seem like they might be a little easier to cover than some bands.

But one advantage about playing and singing power metal is its often more "traditional" sense of rock composition in that the riffs know to lay low and take a backseat to the vocals until they drop out. This seems to be less common in more extreme styles like death metal, so the challenges are different there.

 

[cholo11]

Can't see anything special about singing and playing. Dead Eyes See no Future kicks ass

 

[xeperu]

Can't see anything special about singing and playing. Dead Eyes See no Future kicks ass

What if you have a good voice? It would be a shame to have a good voice but never be able use it while playing an instrument. It can be very useful IMO.

 

[Elminster]

But one advantage about playing and singing power metal is its often more "traditional" sense of rock composition in that the riffs know to lay low and take a backseat to the vocals until they drop out. This seems to be less common in more extreme styles like death metal, so the challenges are different there.

QFT.

Someone mentioned Metallica earlier, which I have to agree with. Particularly some of the Black Album stuff.

 

[ParsonsMatt]

You're already started on the Misfits, good. You've got the basics. Now learn Metallica. Master of Puppets is great for this.

After that, do Children of Bodom. Then you should be ready for pretty much anything.

 

[Reaper_of_Pestilance]

I am going to start off with Bodom, A fully decked out ESP Axe And finger weights then maby some Classical!

 

[cholo11]

What if you have a good voice? It would be a shame to have a good voice but never be able use it while playing an instrument. It can be very useful IMO.

I don't say its nothing special doing it but achieving it. Its just the same for me to play and to play and sing, it doesn't make it any harder or easier, neither when i first tried nor now.

 

[xeperu]

I envy you then. I always wanted to be able to use my voice properly without perhaps fucking up the rythm or the riff Im playing. Especially when I want to communicate to someone while playing, lest it be giving someone the key or pointing out a passage change.