Learning how to sing while playing the guitar is a skill that does not come easily. Typically, guitarists first play for many years before learning how to sing along. The only exception to this rule are people who have already learned other instruments.
There are a variety of different ways one can learn to sing while playing the guitar. Every person is different but below are a few surefire ways to learn.
**Note that it is recommended that the guitarist at least know how to strum comfortably and be familiar with the major chord positions on the guitar before attempting to learn how to sing along.
1. Sing the lyrics of the song in your head while you are strumming the chords for the song. You should have all of the lyrics memorized and be familiar with the melody of the song to try this step. Many seasoned guitarists practice this step before ever attempting to sing a song while playing the guitar.
2. Hum the song out loud while you are strumming the chords to the song. Huming is a much easier thing to do than singing and allows your brain to dedicate more mental energy to harmonizing the strumming. This step also works very well if you are playing individual notes on the guitar (rather than chords) in accompaniment with a vocal melody.
3. Play your guitar along with songs from the radio or your own CDs. Your timing will be way off at first and you will need to know the chords for the songs you will be playing along with. An easy way to determine the chords for any song (even one that is played spontaneously on the radio) is to type in a few of the lyrics of the song into your favorite Internet search engine. Then, after identifying the title of the song, type the title in followed by the word "chords" and you will find the chords you need to know to play along with the song.
By practicing these steps, you create structure and protocol for your brain to follow when it attempts to harmonize your voice with the way your fingers move on the guitar. Eventually singing while playing the guitar becomes second nature and you no longer need to think about it or concentrate to create harmony.
The above will teach you how to harmonize other melodies with chords on the guitar. Learn the guitar chord parser method if you are interested in creating melodies from the chords themselves. |
