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

[Daniel Grenier]

It's been an "oddity" of mine since day one of picking up a guitar decades ago. That is, I cannot speak (let alone sing) while playing. If or when I try, everything goes sideways. My playing gets mangled and my speaking is just weird. I can't do it. It's not that I need or want to speak or sing, really (I am quite fine with just playing), it's just that I am now curious as to why that is?

Left brain-right brain thing? Anyone else in the same boat?

[cmac]

Originally Posted by Daniel Grenier

It's been an "oddity" of mine since day one of picking up a guitar decades ago. That is, I cannot speak (let alone sing) while playing. If or when I try, everything goes sideways. My playing gets mangled and my speaking is just weird. I can't do it. It's not that I need or want to speak or sing, really (I am quite fine with just playing), it's just that I am now curious as to why that is?

Left brain-right brain thing? Anyone else in the same boat?

I'm fine with singing while playing. Speaking is a whole different ball-game.

If I try to speak while playing then I find I have to wait for gaps when I can fit the words in, presumably I can only do one at a time. But singing and playing fit well together - each guides the other in terms of timing, cadence, flow, etc.

And through practice you know that such-and-such a line of the song starts on a specific note, so the mind is really only doing the one thing, i.e. performing a song.

[Ed66]

I'm somewhat in the same boat -- although I've just been playing a little over 4 years. I'm not particularly musically adept and I'm 100% self taught so I'm sure that contributes to it. Additionally, I've oriented towards fingerstyle and virtually all of the songs I play have a complexity that make it harder for me to sing along. I've got a couple easier songs that I learned early on (Southern Cross, Stairway to Heaven) that I keep meaning to go back and dust off and try to actually sing along with. Maybe I'll get around to it and maybe I won't. I don't let it bother me much.

[Howard Emerson]

Originally Posted by Daniel Grenier

It's been an "oddity" of mine since day one of picking up a guitar decades ago. That is, I cannot speak (let alone sing) while playing. If or when I try, everything goes sideways. My playing gets mangled and my speaking is just weird. I can't do it. It's not that I need or want to speak or sing, really (I am quite fine with just playing), it's just that I am now curious as to why that is?

Left brain-right brain thing? Anyone else in the same boat?

Daniel,
Can you fingerpick, as In alternating bass Travis picking, etc?

If so then you can sing/talk at the same time.

I’ll venture to say that you can tap your foot while you’re playing, right?

That would be more proof you can do it, but only if you want to.

I compose mostly instrumental stuff, but occasionally I write & sing lyrics, and it requires a lot of practice to synchronize & syncopate the voice to ‘float it’ the way I want it.

I sing along with the recording a bunch of times, and then I pick up the guitar, playing quietly while just humming the rhythm of the melody.

It just requires practice, but only if you really want to do it.

Howard Emerson

[difalkner]

Singing while playing comes pretty easily with most songs. Some have odd timing and aren't the easiest to play and sing.

I learned to speak while playing after Alice's Restaurant came out. I got to the point I could do the entire 18 minute song from memory - it was fun to do!

Today, 50+ years later, I can do about 30 seconds of it and it's harder than the full song way back then. But I rarely even try it so I guess practicing helps when it comes to speaking.

David

[srick]

Check this video out:

This video of Levon Helm (it's from his Homespun lesson) was a game changer for me. It made me realize that the lyric's syllables are usually in time with the music.

Before singing, try starting by 'grunting' in time. I think that once you internalize the timing of the song, then the words come naturally.

Keep working at it!

[MikeBmusic]

I have problems speaking while playing, for sure, but not singing. I'd suggest you play along with recordings of songs you know how to play well, and try singing along with them - just keep practicing, it'll happen.

[sloar]

I can talk and play, but I can’t sing and play.

[lowrider]

I can sing and play, but my playing is very simple while I'm singing. I can talk a little while playing.

But this reminds me of what our bass player at my jam group said about Toby Walker.

He said ''Toby can not only have a conversation while he's playing, he could eat a baloney sandwich while playing the Star Spangled Banner!''

[musicman1951]

I suppose anything is possible, but I admit to being a little skeptical. Does this fall under the Ford quote: "If you think you can, or think you can't - you're probably right."

Is it a matter of practice, or do you try it for a couple of minutes and give up? Can you strum quarter notes and sing Mary Had a Little Lamb?

Many questions, no answers. Sorry.

[UncleJesse]

Practice makes perfect. It comes if you keep working at it.

[raysachs]

I can't sing at all, but I seem to sing better (or perhaps less horribly is the more accurate description) when I'm playing than when I'm just singing. I have a little Spire Studio recorder and sometimes when I record a song I'll start by recording both my guitar and vocal through the built in mic but also plug the guitar in directly so I have two tracks with the same guitar on it. Sometimes I'll think I can improve on the vocal, so I'll record just the vocal again with the guitar-only (line-in) track and it inevitably sounds worse than the one I did while I was playing. Although if I do a backing vocal track along with the original vocal and guitar, the combination almost always sounds better than either one alone... I think it's like a grade school orchestra - any one of the instruments would sound really bad, but somehow if you combine them all together, the rough edges get harder to hear and the theme tends to come through reasonably well...

As far as talking, sometimes I can, sometimes I can't - depends on what I'm playing and how easy it is / how well I know it. When I used to play with people a lot, I could generally figure out where we're going next without stopping what I was playing, whether a fairly rote rhythm part of a lead part that I could noodle through for a few seconds with my mind elsewhere.

[Shades of Blue]

I can't sing period, so even though I can do them together, I still choose not to lol. But, it is a bit tricky, and I can't talk and play at all. Singing and playing is hard enough.

[Bunnyf]

Playing piano, years ago, I could never sing or talk while I was playing. I no longer play piano so I don’t know if I could do it now, but I doubt it. Perhaps, if I played something super simple. It may just be a complexity thing, cuz right now, I have no problem playing and singing when I play guitar, mando,etc. but I did have a bit of truble in the very beginning. Now I can sing fine when I’m playing rhythm, but can’t do it while picking. I don’t think it’s unusual to not be able to sing while soloing, again, maybe it’s a complexity thing.

Funny thing, tho, I do find that speaking while playing is difficult. I never realized that until I started playing “He Stopped Loving Her Today”.. When I got to the talking part, either my playing or my talking would stop. It was hard to overcome and I had to find a kindof “sing/talking” rhythmic monotone and find the groove to be able to get the words out. I thought I was over the problem, but when I tried to do the talking part in Bobby Bare’s “500 Miles”, I found it impossible. I found again, that I had to make the worlds fit like lyrics to the song’s rhythm before I could perform that talking part. I realize that I could probably never just randomly talk more that a few words while playing.

In general, though, I have helped others to sing and play by starting with the most rudimentary song, Like “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” or any other super simple song, where absolutely no thought is required for the lyrics. This has always worked, though sometimes we they have to start very, very slowly.

[jaymarsch]

It takes a lot of practice and it is not as easy as some folks make it look. Your voice is an instrument and developing the focus to play the guitar, sing lyrics, and maintain proper breath control to get good tone - well that is a lot of things going on at once. It takes a lot of practice. And it helps to get a teacher that can help give you some isolated exercises to help both your playing and your voice. Good luck and don't give up, just keep at it and see if you can find a teacher to get you on a practice approach that works for you.

Best,
Jayne