Good songs to learn to sing whilst playing

[bluesparky]

I've decided to bite the bullet and try to sing (properly) whilst playing.
Any suggestions of easy songs to start with?
Just simple or good songs that won't be too hard to start with - i appreciate it doesn't happen overnight and that a lot of effort is needed for it.
For example "My Friends" by the chili peppers has seemed to be a good starting block so far..

[elom]

Radiohead's Creep would be a nice easy one to start on.

[Happy Jack]

A lot of blues stuff is quite easy to sing while playing bass.

Try something really obvious like [i]Walking The Dog[/i] by Rufus Thomas. Easy bass line, you can alternate the singing with the playing or do both at the same time.

[GM10]

Hurt - Johnny Cash wrote by Nine inch Nails

Knockin on Heavens Door

[acidbass]

The Who - My Generation, either backing or lead vocals will give you a good workout!

[MuseMatt]

All Right Now by Free should be pretty easy!

[thisnameistaken]

For a bit of picking to syllable practice:

The Cure - Love Cats
The Specials - Blank Expression

I used those to practice when I first started singing and playing at the same time. They're tricky to get right.

[E_MaN]

blood and thunder - Mastodon

First song I learnt to play while singing and I didn't find it too hard so it can't be.

[Oscar South]

Molly Bond by Oysterband would be a good one if you're into Folk Rock.

[EBS_freak]

I found a great exercise was getting your singing head away from your bass playing head. By that I mean, you need to seperate your phrasing from your bass playing.

Great examples to try and nail are -

Daytripper and Drive My Car by the Beatles (obviously).

Macca seemed to have nailed it ok... but if you having trouble, slow it down and figure out which vocal parts land on which notes on the bass and take it from there. As soon as you have nailed an exercise like this, you will find it easier to progress.


Some guys are way good at having their head away from the rhythm that their body is playing. Whilst depping in a band, I played with a drummer who could shout out the rhythms coming up whilst drumming the current rhythm. Stonking stuff!

[Sarah5string]

Long road to ruin by Foo fighters isn't too bad

[dangerboy]

I find Morphine songs work really well.

[OldGit]

[quote name='elom' post='280738' date='Sep 9 2008, 10:14 PM']Radiohead's Creep would be a nice easy one to start on.[/quote]


Love that tune .. the way the guitar comes in a builds the expectation.. excellent!

[NJE]

I started with Message in a bottle, great tune and it flows while you are trying to sing, great fun.

[Happy Jack]

[quote name='MuseMatt' post='280911' date='Sep 10 2008, 09:39 AM']All Right Now by Free should be pretty easy![/quote]

Actually it's not!

The verse is fine because - of course - you're not actually playing, but trying to sing the chorus while playing one of the most famous bass-lines in rock is not easy at all.

[Count Bassy]

I'm trying to do the same thing at the moment. Two I'm working on are:

'Jail Bait' by Wishbone Ash - while you're singing is the bass is pretty straight forward, but with more complicated (but not difficult)bits when your not singing.

'16 Tons' (merle travers?): simple bass line which doesn't cut accross the vocal line too much.


These may not be to your taste, but the trick is (IMHO), as with many things, to start simple and get the idea established before you go for the complicated stuff. ie make sure you can walk before trying to run

[MuseMatt]

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='281231' date='Sep 10 2008, 05:28 PM']Actually it's not!

The verse is fine because - of course - you're not actually playing, but trying to sing the chorus while playing one of the most famous bass-lines in rock is not easy at all.

[/quote]

to me it is, the timing of the singing is easy while playing bass! (not that I'm a good singer but I can manage this one!)

[YouMa]

Walking on the moon started me off.

[BassBunny]

Best bit of advice I was given was to learn each part seperately. Learn the Bass Line so you can play it in your sleep and learn the vocals without playing the Bass.
Then do both.
Works for me but I still have a voice like a Frog with a bad cold, (hence the avatar).

[bluesparky]

Nice one, thanks guys.
Some great suggestions there.
Cheers.