[The Bard Rocks]

Play until your right hand acquires muscle memory, goes on its own without you having to think of it. Freed from that, now you can think about your singing. I recall, decades ago, the moment when it fell into place with fingerpicking. Happened all at once.

Now my mind when performing operates on several levels. One level dictates my singing, the words and notes. Another thinks ahead about such things as harmony, where I want to include breaks or embellishments, to raise or soften the volume, or how I want to end the song, that sort of thing. Another whole different level takes care of bass runs, rhythmic variations, guitar things.