how to play and sing at the same time

[birv2]

I took the plunge at a jam this week and fronted the house band for 4 songs. We had a trio -- me on my JV strat, bass, and drums. You have to understand that so far I have been very content to be the guy who plays second guitar, does fills, and takes a one-verse solo every song. But I have not really sung.

I did OK while just singing or just playing, but in a 3-piece, it's hard to get away with just doing one. When I sang and played at the same time, I had some "rhythm issues".

So how to get better at this? Is it mainly practice, practice, practice? My practice now is all guitar, no singing.

On the bright side, my guitaring got some positive comments.

Bob

[thearabianmage]

To help solidify your rhythm when it comes to multi-tasking like that, it's a really good idea to use very exaggerated foot-taps, always tapping the toes on the 1 & 3 of every bar. Practice this for a while and the 'feel' of the vocals and guitar should start to synch and become more natural.

[SweetSong]

I'm not really great at either one but For alot of things I think it's easier to learn the song by singing too. If I learn it that way. It helps me because I kinda know how it's should be sung so I use that like timing to know where to learn a chord or or a fill between them,Whatever.