impossible to sing and play the bass

[essexbasscat]

[media]http://youtu.be/-AfPa1_vOzg[/media]

[leftyhook]

Clever, but it's a subconscious thing. like talking and driving...

Just watch the brilliant Mark King , is he thinking about either when he sings and plays? Such ease.

[Lfalex v1.1]

Paradoxically, I can only sing and play when one's on the "off" beat.
So I'm fine with "Message in a Bottle" and "With or without you"....

[Rayman]

I've recently become the bass player in a band I've been singing lead vocals for since the 80s. Heavy rock, original material, so I can get away with simplifying the basslines a bit, because they're our songs, not covers that everyone knows.

It's pretty straight forward on most of the songs, with plenty of practise, but some of them are more difficult because of timing issues.

Geddy Lee I am not, so my basslines with this particular band will be kept simple. In the covers band, where I'm bass and [i]backing[/i] vocals, I'm quite a busy player. How on earth one can play busy basslines [i]and[/i] sing lead, like Geddy, I really have no idea.

[steve-bbb]

cant do it.. guitar or bass.. never been able to ... danger of all automatic body functions shutting down if i try to

people i think are amazeballs for being able to do it very well

only just found this....
[url="http://youtu.be/WYHZVDUr9x4"]http://youtu.be/WYHZVDUr9x4[/url]

also Geddy Lee, John Mayer, Esperanza, Adrian Belew, John Wetton, Greg Lake ect etc etc

[LemonCello]

It's a weird one. I can strum a 6 string and sing til the cows come home. Put a bass in my hand - no cigar?

Got the utmost respect for singing bass players!

[paulconnolly]

[quote name='steve-bbb' timestamp='1347701616' post='1804105']
cant do it.. guitar or bass.. never been able to ... danger of all automatic body functions shutting down if i try to

people i think are amazeballs for being able to do it very well

only just found this....
[media]http://youtu.be/WYHZVDUr9x4[/media]

also Geddy Lee, John Mayer, Esperanza, Adrian Belew, John Wetton, Greg Lake ect etc etc
[/quote]

Ah the amazing Dave Sturt. Fantastic !. Not sure who the old bloke in the Armani overcoat and pork pie hat is though

[martin8708]

Singing with a 6 string is vastly easier than singing whilst playing a bass. There is a huge temptation to sing on the beat of each bass note , you have to separate the vocal from the bass line . Mark King is good at this , but Sting is a true master at singing smoothly over odd time signature bass lines .
Like everything in life , it takes practice.

Yolanda Charles does a great YouTube tutorial on this subject.

Edited September 15, 2012 by martin8708

[Rick's Fine '52]

Macca wasnt too bad either!! Lead vocals, harmonising, and fairly busy basslines, not easy.

I'm awful, as soon as i open my mouth, my right hand just stops... (Theres's a joke in there somewhere I'm sure, but can't be arsed to change the sentence, you know what i mean!)

[paulconnolly]

[quote name='steve-bbb' timestamp='1347701616' post='1804105']
cant do it.. guitar or bass.. never been able to ... danger of all automatic body functions shutting down if i try to

people i think are amazeballs for being able to do it very well

only just found this....
[media]http://youtu.be/WYHZVDUr9x4[/media]

also Geddy Lee, John Mayer, Esperanza, Adrian Belew, John Wetton, Greg Lake ect etc etc
[/quote]

Just like to add that I was in the audience at that performance and I never get tired of listening or watching it.

[essexbasscat]

That song by Jay Leonhart hit the spot for me, as the lyrics go to the difficulties of trying to intonate a DB and sing at the same time.

Being new to DB myself, I can really appreciate what he's talking about in saying 'playing notes that aren't really there' and 'not knowing where you are' on the fingerboard (not fretboard !).

[winterfire666]

its funny really, i cant do it generally even the simplest stuff is too much for me with a couple of exceptions, i find john the fisherman by primus easy and tommy the cat too for that matter, who'd have thought?
dont know why though. and my singin voice is unpleasant too.
oh well best keep quiet on stage.