I can kinda play. I can kinda sing. Put them together and I kinda sound like two cats fighting. I already know our brains are hard wired to do only one thing at a time. Our bodies have what's called physical remembrance. The more you do something the more your body remembers the moves. The more you rely on physical remembrance the more things you can do at one time. However our brains can not concentrate on more than one thing at a time. That's why cellphones and driving kill people.
First stop for finding out how this art is done is Youtube. Found a great video,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29w4RyBjugo
Lots of great advice. However most of us do our own songs. And some of us don't have a way to recored ourselves playing. Then recored ourselves singing. Then listen to that and follow that guys instructions. But people have been doing this for centuries. Without listening to themselves. Came up with this. If our brain can only concentrate on one thing we need to work with what's there. Our body has physical remembrance. Our mind has memory callback. And there's a need to concentrate. Combined all three!
Start with a single cord strummed on a simple downbeat. Four beats per measure. On the downbeat of each strum start singing the alphabet. Once you get comfortable at this change how you sing the alphabet. Remember to always keep your playing even and in time. Never practice mistakes. if you catch yourself changing the beat stop. Take a breath. Find out what threw you off and practice that till you can do it evenly. Then go on. Numbers are easy to recite. Try them too. Get good at simple singing. Then try harder things. Take the alphabet to a new level. Wail away at it. Remember to always keep your playing smooth and in time. Never practice making mistakes.
Once you get good at a simple down beat strum try a strumming pattern. Cord changes. Or both.
If you have a camera with audio recored yourself. Listen to what and how your doing. Pick out the areas that need work. Get them smooth and then try harder stuff.
This has really helped me. I haven't tried the great advice in the video yet. Wanted to work out something that might help people who write their own songs first. And help give me confidence too. Been using Garage Band to listen to myself. The more I do this the more I find to like. And the more I find that needs fixing. The more I fix the more I find to like. The more I like the more confidence I have to try harder things. Either I'm becoming a Diva or I'm actually getting better at this.
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Man I can't believe how much fun I'm having with this. Because I don't have to think about numbers or the alphabet I can play almost anything I want and sing. Once I get to the point of not making any mistakes I start singing on odd beats. Thirds, sixteenths and the like. Or even try to sing out of time. The more i do this the freer I get with melodies. I can think of a line, then without hesitation sing numbers. Trying different melodies over the same guitar part.
The really cool part is as I'm doing this I'm working on my first songs. First I play the guitar part. Then try to sing along. I get the feel for where I want the words to fit in. Then start over and sing numbers instead of my words. I do that till I get confident and mistake free. Then sing the words. Because there's that feel already there. Getting that feel by singing numbers. It's easier to get the words to fit where they go. Admitting it's harder to sing words than numbers. But so much easier to get it right.
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Man I can't believe how much fun I'm having with this. Because I don't have to think about numbers or the alphabet I can play almost anything I want and sing. Once I get to the point of not making any mistakes I start singing on odd beats. Thirds, sixteenths and the like. Or even try to sing out of time. The more i do this the freer I get with melodies. I can think of a line, then without hesitation sing numbers. Trying different melodies over the same guitar part.
The really cool part is as I'm doing this I'm working on my first songs. First I play the guitar part. Then try to sing along. I get the feel for where I want the words to fit in. Then start over and sing numbers instead of my words. I do that till I get confident and mistake free. Then sing the words. Because there's that feel already there. Getting that feel by singing numbers. It's easier to get the words to fit where they go. Admitting it's harder to sing words than numbers. But so much easier to get it right.