singing/bass

[Unregistered]

Since the keyboard and bass practice thread came up:

I just started singing while playing bass. Now, I've played bass for quite some time, but I've always heard that singing while playing bass is hard, so I never tried it. I just started with a few guys that used to be a good band before they broke up. We're singerless now, so it couldn't hurt to learn how. The last 2 or 3 days I've been working on easy stuff like "reckoning day" by Megadeth, and I have it down pretty well (even though it kills my voice to sing like that).

Is the "do easy stuff at first" approach the best way? Any suggestions from experience? Any web sites for singing technique or discussions on the bass/singing topic? Does a voice adjust to singing in a rough tone eventually (i have no singing experience, but I'm managing so far).

 

[LordFireworm]

Les Claypool (Primus) does it by just learning the bass totally.He doesn't even have to think about it.Then he moves onto vocals.
And you know,he has some crazy bass parts.

 

[israel]

Yeah, that's everything I'd like to do for now... My band is also singerless now, the other guys are really novices on their instruments, just some months, and we're playing easy stuff, like Wicker Man, Breaking the Law...

I always thought it would be cool to play bass ang sing too, like Hansi Kursch from Blind Guardian, but, you know, I'd like to have his voice, not his bassplaying abilities h0h0h00h0h0

But no way to get it well, maybe after manyyyyyyy time of practice, who knows?? Lemme try what you said, completely learn the bass so it feels like "natural", and then go to vocals...

 

[Unregistered]

That's kind of what I've been doing. I learn the part well, then try singing through it without much emphasis of the quality of singing (just coordinating the two). Then when I'm comfortable with doing both (which may take me a dozen tries), I try going all out for both singing and bass. Makes even simpler songs muuuuch more fun (and challenging).

For parts with alot more finger action, I do alot of :
<sing> "dammit" <rewind> <sing> "shit!" <rewind> <sing> "dammit" <rewind> <sing> "shit!" . Hehe.

But, It's super cool when the harder parts can be sang over. It's feels like your on auto-pilot, and I'm thinkin "yeah! babyyyy!"

I'm gonna try to work on another easy one this weekend. I think maybe something simple like "freak" by Silverchair. It's a shame I have to start with that lighter stuff. But it has a catchy rythym, and it's so I can get better, so, "what the hell". Plus, after friday, I have 2 weeks off from work for Christmas, so I can practice my butt off while the wife is at work.

 

[israel]

Yeah dude, I am also gonna try something easier first...

What about "Overactive Imagination"?????

 

[Nevermorian]

I'd recommend to learn to speak before. Just talk to your self, saying your address, telling a joke, whatever. If you are able to do so, take the next step to learn to sing while playing the bass. At least, I know many guitarist who learned to sing while playing this way.

 

[Unregistered]

Very good point. I can remember not being able to take my concentration off of playing in the past. I can separate my playing from other things now after alot of work, but I wish I had thought of that before, it would have helped. I think I'll still use it (can only help).

Maybe, while playing, read the lyrics off of a sheet of paper in time with the song while playing the song.

 

[israel]

Hey dude, tell us how did you get to separate your concentration from your playing and all the rest!! Did you use any exercise or something??? Or it's just like getting the bass a part of you by playing it a lot of time??

 

[Higon]

Hey man, I do this, it's not so difficult to do... My band was bassless, and I was the vocal, then I get a bass and here I am. What I do is first learning the song, then the lyrics, then play everything.

The first song I learned was Suicide Machine. It was fucking hard to sing, and fucking hard to play. I tried to imitate Chucks voice, but I'm crap and it sounded like shit. Then I tried singing some gutural stuff, and sounded pretty cool! Then I started just playing the song, and then singing, and now I can play and I don't even notice what the fuck I'm doing in the bass.

Now I can play the song, sing it and read it if I don't remember the lyric. And I sing and play Suicide Machine and Hammer Smashed Face at the same time. This weekend we are going on Catatonia (Suffocation).

I don't know any singing technique, it just come to me when playing. You just have to concentrate in the music. Forget about tempo, forget about notes, forget about banging your head, just listen to the music a lot, then play it.

 

[israel]

Cool, today I started practicing with easy stuff, like "Breaking the Law" and "Wicker Man", let's see what hapens...

 

[israel]

Originally posted by israel
getting the bass a part of you

Heh, pretty touchy, isn't it?? h0h0h0h0...

That's why I always say: "Never write on messageboards when you should be sleeping".

 

[Fyhed]

Playing lead/rhythm, (eg. chuck schuldiner) guitar and singing is harder than playing bass and singing.

 

[Higon]

Originally posted by israel
Heh, pretty touchy, isn't it?? h0h0h0h0...

That's why I always say: "Never write on messageboards when you should be sleeping".

Hmmmmmm... To wich part are you refering???

Seems like Boy Band stuff, really Disney Style. "See Mickey?? The music is inside you! Fell it! Fell the bass! Make it a part of you!"

 

[Unregistered]

If you start with easy stuff, but still get bogged down with coordinating the singing and bassline, don't go past it. Take just that part, and work on it over and over. Listen to the song closely to see where the words are in the bassline.
For that Megadeth song, the chorus is played 3 times through the song; the first 2 times the singing lines start on the 3rd beat of each bar, while the 3rd time the chorus plays he sings the lines at the beginning of each bar. It would throw me off until I sat down and analyzed it. Now, I've played through the song 2 or 3 dozen times, and I don't really have to think about it anymore, I can "feel" when to start singing.
Having learned to play one song and sing at the same time, I find doing the singing and playing in other songs aren't so hard anymore. It seems to be a skill to separate your bassplaying from your active concentration, and a skill of it's own to coordinate singing with bass playing. So, my theory is, if you learn to play and sing a song (no matter how simple it is), any future attempts at a completely different song will be that much easier. I'll let ya know if I'm right in few months. Hehe.