LeftyBassist.com

i have been having trouble being able to play my bass and sing at the same time unless its simple root stuff but if i try to make my line a little more complex i either have to stop singing or stop playing i just cant seem to do both so i was just wondering if anyone out there had some tips.

I know the obvious answer, "Practice, practice, practice" might seem like an annoying cop out answer, but it's definitely true of singing and playing bass simultaneously. But there are ways of practicing I've figured out over the years that have really helped me do both fairly efficiently.

I'm a lead singing bassist, so the more ingrained the vocal and bass parts are to the point where they become second nature, the easier it is to do, however, I've found that my attention is constantly flip flopping between focusing on vocals or focusing on bass lines, depending on the section of the song(s). While focusing on one part, the other may be temporarily on autopilot.

I like to break down the vocals and bass lines into rhythmic patterns and see where they fall and interact with one another. Remember the old step drum machines like the Roland TR707, where you could experiment with different drum beats and patterns by simply pressing or depressing the corresponding buttons assigned to those drum sections (kick, snare, hi hat, etc)? (Okay, maybe you don't, as I'm a bit older than some of you here). Well my mind kind of works like a step drum machine. I like to break down 1/4 note beats to 1/16th notes, employing the "1-e-and-a...(2)" approach to help count the accents in my head, meaning that within every 1/4 note of a typical 4/4 scale the vast majority of popular music will have 4 beats per 1/4 note, with the first accent on the down beat of each 1/4 note:

1st measure:

1 (down beat)-e-and-a (upbeat)-
2 (down beat)-e-and-a (upbeat)-
3 (down beat)-e-and-a (upbeat)
4 (down beat)-e-and-a (upbeat)-

2nd measure: (repeat pattern, and so on)

Somewhere within those 4 beats/16th notes per 1/4 note your bass/vocal notes will fall, so analyze if they fall on the down beat or upbeat (or both). Start simple with song/vocal melody you already know. Play a simple 1/4 note bass line under it. You can even stay on the same note just to practice getting the hang of the interplay of the rhythm of the lines in conjunction with singing. Step up to 1/8 notes if desired. Now start mixing up the pattern(s), perhaps 1/4 notes on the first 2 beats and 1/8 notes on the 3rd and 4th beats. Continue experimenting with rhythms and altering the rhythmic pattern of the line, working from that same initial 1/4 note, 1/8 note, or 1/16th note foundation. Perhaps 1/8 notes on the first 2 beats followed by 1/16 notes on the 3rd and 4th beats. Continue playing around with the rhythmic pattern of the bass line, altering or removing various notes. Maybe you continue 1/16th notes for the first 3 beats and on the last beat you silence the first three 1/16th notes and only play on the last 1/16th accent of the 4th beat (upbeat - "a").
From there you can experiment with more advanced rhythmic patterns - triplets, dividing the beat into 3, 6, 5, 7, etc parts (for 3/4 or 5/8 time sigs) etc. Again, I recommend just playing the same single note at first until the feel of different rhythms and placement of notes feels natural. And don't forget to take it slowly.

This book has been my bible for 25 years. I highly recommend it:

http://www.amazon.com/Rhythmic-Training ... 0881889768

What I do is learn the bass line by itself so it becomes automatic. then I do the same with the vocal lines. Then I spend a LOT of time putting them both together
But it does help me tremendously if I can get the bass part down first to where I don't have to think about it.

Great advice...

I sing a ton of backups, and will tend to dedicate most of my brain space towards vocals when I'm singing... the bass lines do suffer, but... the reality is that, unless you're playing jazz or music that geared heavily towards musicians, nobody will even really notice in a live setting if you decide to skip a few kicks in a fairly simple chord progression in order to nail the vocal.

Where it gets difficult is when you're playing a riff or melody line that is complex, with a vocal over top. To give you an example, one of the bands I'm in recently covered "Diamond Eyes" by Shinedown. Here's the tune if you haven't heard it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hez6tDpiWDA

Check out the last 20 seconds or so. It's a pretty simple "gang vocal" ("BOOM LAY - BOOM LAY - BOOM!") over top a pretty simple riff... However, when I tried to sing and play both together, it was a clusterfuck. In this scenario, what really helps me (other than practice) is to make exaggerated head movements to keep the time... it sounds stupid, but when I turn my head into a metronome, I'm able to more easily define the accents I need on the vocals as opposed to the accents I need on my bass line. Sounds pretty stupid and doesn't make much sense, but that's the best way I can explain it.

I've never had a problem with singing and playing; good thing, as for the past 20 years I've been the bass player in a Beatles trib band. My main thing is get the bass part into your hands...muscle memory, to the point where you don't have to think about what you're playing, and don't have to look at your fingerboard. Then, singing isn't a problem.

This is very good advice and similar to something I failed to mention. Be it toe tapping or head shaking, find a way to lock your time keeping while your bass lines are falling or dropping on/off the beat. I often play muted ghost notes or some other physical method of marking time, perhaps even "air fingering" when I'm not required to actually play a note, to help aid in nailing my lines.