how to be heard and look at your guitar at the same time

[macmanmatty]

I play a lot of complicated fingerpicked songs many of which are in open tunings that require me to go at least to the 9th fret and sometimes even higher. I can sing fine while playing this the problem is I need to look the dots on the neck and my head moves away from the mic (I try not to move it much) and when playing live amplified this means my vocals suffer. Are the any tips to avoid this or least reduce it ? mic placement sitting height / standing / guitar position?

[3notes]

IMO, if you're good enough to sing and play live, I would think you're good enough to play and not look at the fingerboard.

If I was in your shoes I would play in darkness until you get it down.

That should be your goal. Chase it...

Are you solo or do you play out with a band.?? If solo, I would sit and position the mic where your head never moves.

I'm thinking it's a bit awkward for your audience, so I would practice in darkness.

[Big Band Guitar]

Originally Posted by 3notes

IMO, if you're good enough to sing and play live, I would think you're good enough to play and not look at the fingerboard.

If I was in your shoes I would play in darkness until you get it down.

That should be your goal. Chase it...

Are you solo or do you play out with a band.?? If solo, I would sit and position the mic where your head never moves.

I'm thinking it's a bit awkward for your audience, so I would practice in darkness.

Good advice.

Practice Practice Practice.

I work on a song at least 6 months before I roll it out in public.
I wish more musicians did.

[FwL]

Maybe look into a headset mic.

.

[JonPR]

Place the mic so it picks up your voice when you're looking at the fretboard. Then stay in that position. (Audiences don't really care if you don't look at them - except between songs, announcing titles etc, when you probably should.)

[macmanmatty]

Originally Posted by 3notes

IMO, if you're good enough to sing and play live, I would think you're good enough to play and not look at the fingerboard.

If I was in your shoes I would play in darkness until you get it down.

That should be your goal. Chase it...

Are you solo or do you play out with a band.?? If solo, I would sit and position the mic where your head never moves.

I'm thinking it's a bit awkward for your audience, so I would practice in darkness.

I am solo but I would much rather play with band or duo where I just pick and someone else sings. People like my playing well enough but the hacks who beat out all of 9 chords but can really sing do much better. People like well played instrumentals but, they LOVE songs with singing.

[Mr. Jelly]

Originally Posted by JonPR

Place the mic so it picks up your voice when you're looking at the fretboard. Then stay in that position. (Audiences don't really care if you don't look at them - except between songs, announcing titles etc, when you probably should.)

This is what I would do......++

[Pnewsom]

You may need to decide who's the boss, the vocals or the picking.

Its somewhat questionable whether playing complicated passages over top of the vocal phrasing is the best strategy. Generally, good vocal accompaniment works around the phrasing of the singer. Otherwise it is kind of like everyone talking at the table at the same time.

Also, avoid hyper/super cardioid mic's, as their pick up patterns are so narrow that head movement really affect the sound.