Why can't I sing (or even speak) when I play???

[richpjr]

It seems to come much more naturally to some people than others. I have to know a song inside and out and be able to play it in my sleep before I can even attempt to sing - and that is usually while doing some simple strumming. The one who blew me away watching him live was Keith Urban - he plays guitar solos while singing.

[LyleGorch]

I can’t breathe.

[guitargabor]

I think it's mostly a "natural "kind of ability.

At 10 years of age, when I learnt the three basic guitar chords I could sing along immediately .Although not great, most have claimed I have a good voice.

My guitar playing.....well I'm not a virtuoso by any means.

Of course, practice and voice training do help a lot...

My best childhood friend was never "musically inclined" when we grew up together.

Today at age 67 he's a an accomplished banjo and mando player.

So never say never!

[_zedagive]

I can easily talk or sing while playing. The problem is, nobody wants to hear me sing.

[stormin1155]

I have difficulty playing and singing at the same time. When I play I enter into a trance-like state where I am fully aware of events happening around me, and hear and understand people when they speak to me, but am unable to respond. I strongly suspect that this condition contributed to the demise of my first marriage. I have since trained myself to recognize when this is happening and am able break out of the trance. This, however, causes be to become highly agitated, and my responses are often perceived by my current spouse as being inappropriately aggressive.

I've often wondered if this condition has anything to do with my inability to play and sing at the same time.

[Earl49]

I recall reading an article years ago (Scientific American?) that basically said that only about 20% of all musicians can sing and play at the same time. It has to do with how your brain is wired. Personally, I suspect that those who cannot do both but are still musically inclined end up playing symphonic instruments like flute, brass, or violin. It seems to be a self-sorting situation for the most part.

My advice to my students who are starting is that you have to thoroughly learn all three parts: the guitar playing part, the singing part, and the putting-them-together part. Each element takes a lot of work to be on auto pilot.

[printer2]

Haven't read any of the reply's, just the first thought that came into my head when I read the title - because you are too polite?

[AgentKooper]

The answer is practice, practice, practice. I couldn’t simultaneously play and sing to save my life for my first couple years of guitar playing. I actually couldn’t believe how hard I found it. The key for me at last was a simple, three-chord strummer that was fairly easy to master, and then trying (and failing) to sing over it until finally, agonizingly slowly, it started clicking.

Once you can do it on one song, the next one is a little easier, and before you know it, it becomes second nature. But the first one can take a while. As others have said, the better you can play it on autopilot, the easier it will be to sing over.

And believe me, I have no particular innate musical talent. If I can do it, anyone can do it.

[SteveBurt]

This is Stefan Grossman showing how it's done
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbKaUnp2Zpc

[lowrider]

For those of you who say that you can't sing; GO TAKE SOME LESSONS!

Really, when you first picked up the guitar, you couldn't play it. It took a lot of practice and for some, a lot of lessons. For others, lessons over the internet. You learned to play, you can learn to sing.

The biggest obstacle to singing is confidence and the best way to get confidence is to start to know what you are doing.

Except for 2 college semesters, I never sang a note in my life. As a kid, we didn't even have a radio in our house. And just like everyone else here, I don't have a naturally ''good voice''. But who does? How many popular singers do have that great voice?

Elvis, Bono, Freddie Mercury, Adell?

For every one of them I can give you five Neil Youngs, Dylans, Levons, Bruces, Southside Johnnys, Lyle Lovetts, John Hyatts, Towns Van Zandts, ROBERT EARL KEENE's

They have average to not even average voices, but they know how to sing.

Just like you had to learn to play, you have to learn how to sing.

Here's a secret that my voice teacher told me, and she's a great electric, rock lead guitar player and lead singer, she said ''Nobody cares what you play while you are singing, they listen to you sing'' Don't try to play the crap out of the guitar. Just keep the rhythm. Work on singing and strumming, play an intro, play something in the break, play something to close but keep it simple.

Find a voice coach. If she's young and good looking, and an up and coming rock star, you'll have a good time and you'll learn to sing.