So, I’m into the lessons far enough that Justin suggests to play and sing with at least a few songs before moving on to the next lessons. I narrowed my play down to 5 songs. I searched through tabs and other artists lessons on how to play these songs, including Justin. There is so much information out there!!! Different chords to use. Different chord progressions. Strum patterns. Capo gets used on different frets or sometimes no Capo. Different ways to play various chords. It’s amazing and a little overwhelming. So, now I’ve been sorting through the various ways to play these songs. Picking the way to play that kind of “fits me”. Did I pick the right ways to play these songs? I don’t know but I’m rolling with it for now. The guitar playing has gotten much better. The singing parts??? Not so good yet. I’ve been trying to use Justin’s advice to help but I’m just not getting it yet. Anyone have any tricks to help with the singing along? The songs I picked are fairly simple lyrics. Cheers from Montana
What are you having trouble with? Learning to sing is probably just as complicated as learning to play guitar…you need to tell us what your issues are.
Breath support? Vocal registers? Pitch matching? Finding the key?Phrasing?
I’d suggest you think about this, and create a new post called “my difficulties with singing” (or something similar). You’ll get a lot more help that way.
There is a specific video for this. It is not an easy skill at the beginning but I find comes naturally along the way as long as you are trying to move in that direction. You need to make one of the skills so natural that you are not even thinking about it so that your brain can think about the other skill. It really can be either. Sometimes the song is so engrained in the brain that the guitar part is hard and sometimes the guitar is so natural the lyrics are what takes the effort.
For sure Tim. I couldn’t agree more.
Like you, I use the one that fits me best. I will say, if Justin has a lesson on a particular song your doing. I’ve found his interpretation generally pretty spot on.
Sometimes when I do a song I will mod what is written, or told to me for how to play a song to something I think sounds better. Usually the chords will agree, but I may pick somewhere else on the neck to play said chord. I will also sometimes be presented with 2 ways to play a song. Again, like you I pick the one that seems best to me.
I’m kinda lame about my strumming. Unless there is a part that I really need to strum a certain way. I strum as to how I think the song sounds, not thinking to much about my up, down up down strumming. I play what comes natural to me. Right or wrong.
Along with right or wrong. I’m of the opinion that any song I do will not be a perfect match to what I’m trying to cover. I’ve decided to embellish this to a degree. Make the song mine. As I am not joe blow (insert your favorite name here) musician, I am me. I will never achieve the tones or intricacies exactly like the original was played. At least that applies to me.
Also, many songs I do are 4 piece bands with maybe 2 guitar parts. I’m by myself. I can’t play 2 parts at once so I gotta choose what to play and make my best judgement as to what sounds correct ‘to me’.
As for the singing part. I sure can’t help ya there.
I find it very hard to sing and play at the same time too.
My best suggestion is to try to sing on pitch. It’s very hard to do (for me). I hear others play here too and I don’t think I’m alone.
Lastly.
I think
‘music’
when I’m playing a tune. Does what I’ve done sound like music to me? If it does, I’m on the right track. If not, I got work to do to make it sound like ‘music’. I want to get the feel of the song across and sometimes that can be very hard to do. Practice seems to help. Sometimes a lot of practice.
I’m doing a song now. Not to hard for chords, but singing at the same time makes it much harder. I’m not to the point where I think it sounds like music to me, so I don’t post it up and keep working on it. On this particular song I’m doing, it’s got two guitars at the same time in it. Rhythm and lead. At this point in this song I’m still deciding if I just want to do it as one part or try to add the lead in as a second part (a 2nd recording of lead only).
So choices have to be made sometimes.
How will I cover this song? Make it sound like music with me, by myself. Most of the time, these are hard choices that have to be made.
Good luck in your adventure.
Hi Tim,
I totally understand where you’re coming from here. (Been there, Done that!)
There is so much information available on the web… many different (even opposite) ways to learn that it’s overwhelming. I think that it’s best to pick one guitar instructor at first & follow his/her advice with all the aspects of the learning process. Especially if you’re new to guitar. Later in the Journey, it becomes more appropriate to branch out & incorporate other teachers into the learning process. Stick with Justin… he’s guiding us down the right path!
As far as making songs “yours”, Justin definitely encourages us to do that! We all learn differently, what’s hard for you & I may be easy for others & Justin recognizes this! If certain chords are hard, he often shows us alternatives in the song lesson! Also, don’t be afraid to play with your own interpretation. For example, early in my Journey (20 + years ago), I wanted to play Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl” fingerstyle. I couldn’t get even close to the correct tempo so I just played it at about 115 BPM instead of the recorded speed of approx 150 BPM. Now, I can play faster but prefer the slowed down version the feels more like “me” than Van! So, moral of the story is to be “You” & also as @HappyCat says, keep it Music but importantly, make sure the Music pleases you!
Sorry to be a bit long-winded here…
Good luck!!! 
Tod
My approach for some time has been to watch a bunch of lessons for a song from different people and take the bits that I like (and are within my ability more or less) and go from there. Sometimes a single song I’ll be playing the verse from one lesson, the chorus from another, the bridge from another all mixed with the strumming from a different one again. Obviously you can’t really mix capo and non-capo versions, although some ideas may translate. While certainly you’ll not go wrong with Justin’s lessons, sometimes maybe there’s a section that’s too advanced for where you are at that moment and perhaps another teacher has something that helps you out.
I can’t sing at all so I’ve nothing to say on that!
As I’ve developed as a player I feel that I’ve been able to get less rigid with my strumming, relying on my ear more and adapting as a song goes along but that’s come along gradually (as maybe singing will someday).
One thing that I do despise are the YouTube videos (and comments) that say if you’re not playing a song a certain way then you’re playing it WRONG. You might be playing it differently to the original recording but music is an art and is open to interpretation - if it sounds good and brings you joy then it’s right
Don’t worry about the singing not working yet.
Trying to combine playing and singing is hard enough, especially if you still need to engrain that muscle memory of timely chord changes. As long you can’t do that ‘quasi in your sleep’, singing will feel like an ordeal that will make your strumming engine sputter.
There is no shame putting singing on standby for a while and revisit when you are able to feel the rhythm while strumming, so you can have your playing going on autopilot.
About that auto-pilot:
I’m no one’s idea of a good singer, but I do sing and play.
Different people do it in different ways. There are many proponents of the learn one so it’s automatic, then incorporate the other. I get it, but I tend to learn them together. I always do instrument 1st, but bring singing in fairly soon in the learning process if I need to sing (e,g. For a gig, or at church). Some of the following may or may not work for you:
Hum the melody whilst playing. That way you don’t have the words tripping you up. Once you are comfortable humming, start adding lyrics.
Try singing part of the song e.g. chorus only. You could put the section you are learning on repeat. Then do the same with the 1st verse etc.
Sing as though you were a backing singer. But be easy on yourself and just sing melody (unless your objective is to sing harmonies) and start by only singing in the places you want to sing and that you find easier to sing.
Sing and play to the song on a streaming platform or other media. I find this good for confidence as It covers up your mistakes - like having a band mate who always plays the right notes, the right rhythm and sings the right notes. You still need to know what mistakes you are making if you are going to correct them, but it is good for confidence.
singing and playing has been a real challenge for me. my wife picked it up FAST but I’ve had to think too much to do it. even for songs whose lyrics I know pretty well. but I noticed a couple of weeks ago in a song circle I was in that I was starting to sing along a bit. it was a song I didn’t necessarily “know” how to play, but the chords were easy and the changes weren’t too bad. I wasn’t using a complex strum in this particular group, but I was starting to “feel” it.
then yesterday when I was playing a song I’ve been working on for awhile (for some reason, I have a lot of fun with this one in particular) and I was able to sing along with probably 90% of it. the part that I was missing was more rhythmic, where a few syllables start up near the end of a measure and the first beat of a chord change hits a few syllables into that line of lyrics. I was missing the exact spot where that line of lyrics starts and it didn’t really seem to start consistently on the same beat. I think it’s something I’m going to have to work on and memorize line by line until I can “feel” that part, too.
as for the huge variation in “ways” to play a particular song, a lot of it has to do with why someone is playing it. maybe someone is playing it as a solo guitar for their own enjoyment so they mush together different parts. This song I was playing yesterday is like that. It’s “It’s Good to Be King” by Tom Petty. And what I play is a combination of the guitar and piano parts. So I’ve got some bits of single note picking mixed in with some strumming. And if I really listen to the song, even the strumming I’m doing is a bit of a mix between the guitar and piano bits. This is especially apparent if I listen to different versions of the song (I have 3 different versions of it from the extended Wildflowers album).
Sometimes people want to learn to play exactly what was played in the original song so they can play along with the recording or so they can do their own multitrack recordings or whatever.
Sometimes people want a relatively easy strum version of the song so they can sing along with it campfire style. Has a passing resemblance to the original rhythm/key but is easier to sing to. And this hits on why you find songs in so many keys (and capo positions). Maybe people sing better in one key vs. another. My wife does this all the time. If she starts learning a song in its original key and then finds that doesn’t work for her voice, she’ll change keys until it does. Sometimes, folks change keys because it’s easier to make certain chords or certain changes. One song my wife and I play we do like this. She plays it with the capo in one spot so she can use chord shapes in the key of C because that works for her on ukulele. I put the capo in a different spot so I can play it with chord shapes in the key of D. The end sound is that we’re both playing in the same key, though the chords have slightly different voicings. Sounds good that way.
I’ve been working on a version of “Stand By Me” that my guitar group wants to play together on Saturday and we’re working on it in a different key than the original specifically so we can play the intro bass line on our guitars. If we tried it in the original key, part of that bassline would be below what a regular guitar could play. One of the folks in the group found someone teaching it this way on youtube and liked it, so it’s what we’re working on.
It was overwhelming to me, too, until I really started to understand the whys of it all. When I was starting out, I was so set on there being one “right” way to play a song. And none of my instructors (in person or online) really took the time early on to put on the brakes and tell me to relax about that and help me to understand otherwise. It’s been a long time coming but I think it’s something I’m finally starting to understand and internalize.
I am still not at a point where I can just start strumming in such a way that “feels” right for a song. I’d like to get there, though. I think I kinda came close on “It’s Good to Be King” though. My instructor gave me one strumming pattern to work on and when I started the song that’s what I used. But when I got to a point where I was playing with recordings of the song, I didn’t like it. And without really thinking about it, I started strumming it in a way that sounded to me like how the song sounded. Again, if I really listen to the song, that rhythm sounds like it’s coming from multiple instruments. But playing it myself, it just feels right. But other songs? I’m not really there yet.
Thank you all for your comments and encouragement. I can sing reasonably well. It’s just trying to put the two pieces together. I have the list of suggestions from Justin. He’s awesome. I think it’s just time. I try very hard to be patient. I caught a bit he shared about Neuroplasticity in the brain. I found that to be very interesting. I’ve been reading a book on it. Working on small bits of things for short intervals. Our brains can “digest” things better in like 5 minute sessions better than practicing for an hour straight. Take breaks. I look at my grandkids and how fast they absorb things, but they loose their attention after a short period of time. Anyway, thanks again for all your replies.
“Keep your stick on the ice”. (the Red Green Show)
Yeah its not easy but once it clicks its really a good feeling. It always takes a bit of work.
Such a great comment. I love doing this.