Before trying OF with a song, I slowed it down with playing half speed to a metronome.
Click: 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
Strum: D D U U D
If that makes sense. It helps time the ups and downs. Do it with DUDUDUDU FIRST.
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Andres
It took me a while to get the hang of missing the down strum. Yes I had the same issue as you getting the second up strum at the right time and sometimes still do so I went back to working with the metronome.
As for a song I went for Brown Eyed Girl, the chord sequence is pretty straight forward and repetitive which was important to me as I was want to sing as well.
Justin has an excellent lesson on it as well.
Hope this helps
Michael 
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My experience with playing guitar and singing has been in two phases: one in that I for several years played and sung in a relaxed way, following basic songbooks, without attempting to pass beyond a basic performance for my own pleasure, using the guitar skills already acquired from in person lessons I had (in those lessons the teacher played the bandola [mandolin] in a way that did the singing). In that phase my guitar skills didnât progress much further from where they were after the in person lessons and didnât master or memorize the songs.
In this second phase, with the guidance of Justin Guitar lessons and other sources, the bar is set up a little higher and my expectation is to be able to perform a song in a way that can be played (and sung) in front of family or friends (instead of being heard casually by my wife and daughter). So the higher the bar the higher the effort to get there.
As others have said, the first one it is the hardest, but it doesnât mean that automatically after that one the others come super easy. Each song has its own challenges specially for us that we are using very different rhythms and chords on each one to apply skills that we have just learnt or improved. The most important thing that I think it can be obtained from the first song is a method that can be applied to future songs. I am on my fourth song of this phase and I am still refining the method.
From the steps Justin gives, the one I donât do too much and maybe I should do more is singing along the record. I practice singing without the record but not too much with the record.
For Blowinâ In The Wind, to perform it in a way that I was satisfied enough to share it, it took me I estimate year and a half. The greatest challenge was to fit the lirycs in the bars. Maybe because I was singing it my way and not following the record I was lengthening some syllables farther the bar they should be in. To fix that I wrote the song with the lyrics per bar and put musical notation with the duration of each syllable. Sometimes I had to go over and over a single or a couple of bars until I was able to do it satisfactorily. Once I was able to synchronize the right syllables with the chord changes it went smoother and the singing started to make more sense with the guitar playing. Iâm not still able incorporate smoothly the Yes, ânâ that connects each question in the verses.
Learning Saber que vendrĂĄs, a mass song in Spanish, was easier because it borrows the music of Blowinâ In The Wind and I had sung it along during the mass many times. So the same rhythm and general idea than Blowinâ In The Wind, but different chords and two chord changes per bar.
My third song Donât Be Cruel I knew was going to be challenging for me because the lyrics donât fit square with the bars. So in my posting in the AVOYP section while trying to keep the rhythm and counting beats to know where to enter with the lyrics I ended doing some three beat bars and five beat bars instead of four as my younger brother found and showed me in an audio he prepared for me. Now after my posting I went back to the basics, playing slowly the chord sequence, counting aloud the beats, to automatize the guitar playing, to later increase the speed and go back to incorporate the lyrics.
Learning from my previous song Iâm taking a more step by step approach with Yellow Submarine. So although Iâve given it a try to the full thing before, Iâm now just playing the chord sequence and counting aloud with all four downs to automatize it so I donât stumble with the chord changes in the first and fourth beat when I later try to use the actual rhythm patterns and try to sing over it.
The aim of this lengthy post is to share my own experience with the hope that someone may get something useful for their own playing and singing and doesnât get discouraged by the difficulties faced when playing guitar and singing at the same time and quit both, thinking that it requires something he or she was not born with.
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Thanks for this thread!
I am not a singer, never have been, but would like to at least sing a little as I play. It rounds out so many pieces with a singing melody, that otherwise would be dry strumming or a very complex fingerstyle version.
So, in my early forays into just trying to start singing a little, with songs I have been playing a long time an know well, I have noticed an the typical phenomenon.
As soon as singing starts, I lose all sense of what my right hand is doing. I have no idea, zero, none, of what happens to the strumming pattern I was doing . Even if it is simple.
Aaargh!
I am sure it is something I will slowly learn by trying, and I need to start with single down strums per bar or something remedial. Like all the good advice above.
Sigh. Maybe it would help to practice walking down the street singing and rubbing my tummy or somethingâŚ.
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Keep at it Joshua, I had major issues when starting out trying to sing, your description is perfect in losing all sense of what your right hand is doing, itâs the most frustrating thing!!
Iâm most comfortable with old faithful as a pattern I can do mindlessly but getting there with others as time goes by. If ever anything was an example of the need for persistence itâs this (oh and F chord of course⌠
)
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I am trying to look at it as an opportunity to laugh (at myself). It really is kind of humorous to see a capable grown man lose control of his body in this way.
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Try to think that both the strumming pattern you play and the melody you want to sing, they both come from the same beat. It helped me to tap my foot on the beat while singing along with the original recording without playingâŚAnd I had to struggle a lot to have that beat steady while playing, I just perserved to tap my foot as consistently as I could and with time and practice the singing and the playing combined.
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I am at the very early stages of playing and singing, however adding in tapping my foot at the same time throws me off completely. Playing and tapping, singing and tapping no problem add the third element and it goes wrong.
I guess like a lot of guitars things keep at it with more practice.
Michael 
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I agree, it takes (a lot of !) practice. Multitasking is not easy, I still struggle, but as things are getting more automated it becomes easier 
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One more way to drive the dog out of the roomâŚ
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I tend to sing and play in band environments nowadays. These are jam sessions with relatively random other musos, such as a drummer, bass and lead guitar. Sometimes pedal steel, fiddle and keys. So, the environment is always moving. When learning I listen to the song a few times, then play along with it. Using the chord sheet at this stage. Then I turn the chords off and play along with the song a few times until I am comfortable with it. Then I learn the lyrics. I just have to repeat them over and over focusing on the sections I am having trouble with. After all that I play and sing at the same time and force myself to use my memory. If I get stuck, I just hum a bit then continue. Usually that all works out. I sing the songs I am learning while I am out for a walk. This really forces my memory to recall. If I really forget a section, I know to focus on that for the next practice.
Performing it live I usually have the chord sheet next to the mike stand (I use SongBook Pro on a tablet). I donât look at it but use it to remember what songs I am doing, what key I am in, and it is handy just to look at the first line to get my mind into gear. It is also a great prompt if I forget the structure of the song.
Have I forgotten the words or the chords? Yes, but I just make up something or hum for the vocals until I get back on track, and just strum muted strings until I work out where I am at again. It happens sometimes. A couple of weeks ago we reached the key change in âMe and Bobby McGeeâ but the harmonica player had the wrong harmonica so we kept going in the same key repeating the section until he could get the right instrument out. Then we changed. Phew.
Last weekend a member of the audience came up to me after the set and said I was really good and thought it was amazing how I could remember it all. I had actually mucked up some of the words to one of the songs, but he obviously hadnât noticed. I know how much work I have to put in to be able to get up there, so it is always lovely when a nice comment like that comes my way.
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Justin - you make me learn alotâŚbut you also make me smile alot! thanks 
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Iâm a grade 2 but it was always my ambition to be able to sing along. I took a lot from Justinâs video but the breakthrough for me came from another piece of advice I found which is to record yourself playing and then sing the melody over that. Specifically:
- Record yourself playing the song along with a metronome
- Practice singing the melody over that recording
- Play along with the recording and sing
- Play and sing without the recording
Of course as per Justinâs advice you still need to have the guitar part automated and know the song but having that recording helps immensely I found.
Link here: https://youtu.be/PRe3xCTWgQc
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Great lesson! As a âlow intermediateâ guitarist, one step that has helped me with singing and playing is to just hum or vocalize the melody, e.g. da-da-da-da-daâdaâ, prior to singing the words (âitâs late in the eveningâ). That helps me to get the timing right, and it requires less focus on singing than being sure you get the words right. Once I was comfortable with this, I found it to be an easier transition to singing the words.
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