Roger, I really envy you, having had that experience. Parties must have been great fun.
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Thank you everyone for your comments. It has cheered me up to know that the reason I couldnāt figure out how to put a song across by just playing rhythm was because it is not really possible. The only way of doing campfire songs is to sing or play lead.
I have watched the singing video again and the only hope I have is the ātalk singingā, although I have found that hard, but I have only tried once so far.
Thanks again for everyoneās comments.
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There are more grammatical (word) errors in that quote than I can actually handle 
ā¦
Yes, that was and is certainly funā¦ now only 1 such birthday per year with really a lot of good musicians and many instruments (although I wasnāt there the last 2 times). so this year I am able to joining that group of friends if/when they are playing early on the day 
If than than I let my wife video it 
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Cool 
Try to remember to separate the different skillsets of āsingingā and doing two different things simultaneously. As Josh says:
Phrasing the lyrics in a talking voice over your playing is a skill anyone can practice (and can sound fab). itāll make it a lot easier, if you decide to āsingā later on too 
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I love Sudoku, Wordle and Rogier 
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Tjeemig de Peemig 
I almost choke with laughter 
serious pressure on my head and bright red 
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Check out this guy, amazing, no singing.
https://youtube.com/@KfirOchaion?si=AjV4Ffl9cPHgbStI
A high target to aim for, but you have to start somewhere right?
You could maybe find a few tracks which are melodic on their own, without a rhythm underneath - is there anybody out there springs to mindā¦
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Tony, if thereās other people around, and youāre at a party or bbq sort of situation, and you have a guitar, tell people what youāre about to play and invite them to sing along. Music is communal and even if you canāt sing youāre providing the musical accompaniment for them to sing. It is joyous. 
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Personally, I find singing extremely hard.
There are many layers when adding singing to your playing.
What I notice for me is that as soon as I try to speak-sing-croak anything I suddenly have absolutely no idea what my strumming hand is doing (fretting hand not so bad, maybe because I am left handed?). This is actually quite hilarious, and I am trying to work on it. The keys seem to be to simplify (both singing and strumming) and to learn/ingrain the strumming more deeply first.
Regardless, although some people seem to be able to sing along easily, just like some seem to learn guitar more easily, it is absolutely not easy in my book.
I sit alone in my basement music cave making strange noises as I slowly put this together. It will never be fantastic, my voice is untrained and I am not going to work on it that way, just work on getting a bit out to the best of my ability so that I may be in front of family or a few close enough friends to tolerate me and sing, and laugh, and cry and laugh about it all again (name the songā¦).
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Talk about āperfecting the artā- That cover was so spectacular, I nicked the artwork for Pulpās version, drawn by Jamie Hewlitt (of Tank Girl & Gorillaz fame) and put it on my YT channel.
I donāt really pay attention to views, but this one has thousands 
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This thread is very timely for me. At six months in, Iāve realized that the songs Iām learning to play really donāt sound a lot like the song unless someone sings. Even when they are recognizable, theyāre very repetitive.
My mother will be visiting in June, and I know sheāll want a ārecital,ā so Iāve identified a few songs that Iāll try to perfect by then, but itās clear that - without singing - theyāre really pretty much ādoneā after a few bars.
I could say that I donāt sing well, and that would be true, but - more importantly - I donāt want to sing. Learning to play the guitar is plenty challenging enough; Iām not interested in making it more difficult by trying to do it while patting my head and rubbing my belly at the same time. I have zero desire to join a band or perform for audiences. I just want to learn to play this instrument.
So I lean much more strongly toward learning to play songs (or arrangements of songs) that combine rhythm and melody in a way that lend them to being played by a single instrument. The challenge now will be finding those.
As always, I appreciate this discussion. It has brought to the fore and clarified something that was just entering my consciousness.
Addendum: I know myself well enough to know that Iām rarely satisfied with āgood enough,ā so itās very likely that, someday, when I get the guitar bit down well enough, Iām probably going to say, āOK, letās revisit that singing thingā¦ā But that day is very far away. Very.
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When the day comes that people realise Iām learning guitar (Iāve mostly kept it under my hat because I donāt want to play for people until Iām ready) then Iāll definitely be playing with a backing track and I have no issue with thatā¦ Iām learning rhythm guitar after all. Yeah Iāll look to develop with embellishments over time but thatās where I am for the foreseeable future and Iām fine with that
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I feel like doing that to MY GUITAR when Iām playing!!! 
Tod
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I sure hope no one does that to me! lol
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Thatās why I donāt let anyone hear me play. My guitars would probably kill themselves if they could.
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My guitars are all in straight jackets so they canāt hurt themselves!!!
Tod
PS - Brings to mind a name for a really bad bandā¦.
Six String Suicide!!!
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Playing with a backing track is a really great idea. You become the rythm guitarist of your favorite band and everyone will recognize the song.
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This is an interesting discussion. I enjoy singing but i understand that not everyone wants to sing or enjoys singing. I hadnāt thought out the realities of playing songs at a party; how to get people to join along or recognize the song. If you done want to sing, I wonder if you could announce to people next to you what you are about to play to see if they would sing along. Maybe say something like, āHey I am going to play (insert name of song) anyone know this song?ā
I saw some posts on learning to sing and play in this thread. I leaned the hard way that is it harder than it looks to sing and play at the same time. I learned that I need to practice the singing and playing separately and put it together when I know both parts well. You can also play the song using a very simple strumming pattern. For example, you could play 1 note per measure or quarter notes and that make it easier to sing along if you donāt know the song well.
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