Do you sing when you play?

[KitKat1]

I was really surprised to learn that singing with others is the most fun of all. Playing guitar in a bluegrass band and not exactly having the Bryan Sutton/Molly Tuttle chops, well, you better learn to sing!

[fumei]

Originally Posted by jaymarsch

Most of the time I am singing while playing but I do know some lovely instrumentals that I enjoy playing from time to time. As a lyric-driven song writer, I am definitely a singer songwriter who plays guitar rather than a guitar player who sings. Mastering the art of using the guitar to accompany my voice and lyrics is my main objective.

Best,
Jayne

Yes yes Yes

[FormerFoodie]

Yes. But, not well!

Sing like no one is listening, right?

[FrankHudson]

I'm not a good singer. Pitch issues, other things too.

In the past I've played live, including a very small amount solo work, so of course I've sung while I played. And like most everybody here, I'll just sing and play for my own amusement at home.

When recording I think I generally sing better when I overdub a final vocal. I think it's the walk and chew gum thing. However, some stuff works with tight interaction between the playing and singing, and the simultaneous method works better there.

[Polishguitar623]

There are so many tunes with so many great melodies . . . I would hate to ruin those melodies by inflicting my voice on them, so I stick to playing the melodies all over the fretboard.

[rokdog49]

Originally Posted by Tnfiddler

I’m a singer first and foremost and guitar is just a tool I use to help me accomplish that.

That’s me for the most part.
I have learned to do some soloing over chords and stuff that comes in handy.
I am a heckuva rhythm guitar player and very humble about it.

[whvick]

More like I play when I sing

[raysachs]

Depends what I'm playing. If I'm strumming a song on acoustic, I "vocalize" (can't call it singing with a straight face - I basically suck at singing). I love doing this, as bad a singer as I am.

But I also do some blues fingerpicking, all instrumental, no singing. And when I'm playing electric, I'm generally playing lead or rhythms to loop and then play lead to. All improvisation - no vocals. I'd get really burned out really quickly if I only did one of these things all the time. And only one of the three involves singing.

-Ray

[Mark Stone]

Originally Posted by LeDave

Do you sing when you play?

Yes. It's becoming more challenging as I age (67) but I still like to sing when I play.

[Yrksman]

Yes


https://vimeo.com/445229699/8b342902...d=%5BUNIQID%5D

[HodgdonExtreme]

I'm a more of a guitarist than I am a singer - but I try to learn to sing along with every tune.

In my experience - unless you're like Tommy Emmanuel, nobody wants to sit there and listen to you play an instrumental bit on your guitar; but many people enjoy listening to a mediocre guitarist/singer playing some tunes they recognize.

Singing along adds a LOT to your ability to entertain somebody - if that's important to you...

[DWKitt]

I'm not much of a singer, but I try.

[guitar george]

My guitar playing is not that good, but, my singing covers for that. My singing is not that good, but, my guitar playing covers for that. Together they sound pretty good.

[Misifus]

I first learned guitar to accompany my singing. I’ve always enjoyed singing, but in the mid-1960s you just didn’t sing without playing an instrument.

[alnico5]

I consider myself a guitar player who sings, but if worse comes to worse I can sing four sets by myself. I sing about 45% of the time in our acoustic duo and share vocals with all four members of our electric band.