i find that the style or complexity of guitar i play when i'm singing forces a change in the melody that i'm singing. for instance, if i play a very simple blues shuffle, i'll sing very pretty melodies over it, rising and falling, fairly complex, but when i'm playing a much more complex blues with lead and bass at the same time, my singing style becomes less complex and more plain and linear, like a john lee hooker or bob dylan melody line. this happens even if i switch styles in the middle of the same song. i don't have any control over it, it seems, and the thing is, since i play the more complex stuff a lot more, it's not any more difficult. there just always seems to be this interplay and mingling influence that i can't avoid.
There's a reason why most lead singers are not lead guitarists and those that are don't play leads while they're singing. It's just to much for most if not all brains to handle.
Tim Madsen
Nobody cares how much you know,
until they know how much you care.
"What you keep to yourself you lose, what you give away you keep forever." -Axel Munthe
well, that's not at all helpful.
well, that's not at all helpful.
Well, you didn't really ask a question...
but unfortunately true.
However, I find that if I break anything down to it's most basic pieces I can put the two back together at full speed. Right now I'm putting finishing polish on the vocals of Everybodys talkin'. It took me a good while to play it painfully slowly and work it out but I can do it.
that's how i learned blackbird a few years ago. what i'm wondering is, why does changing how i play an accompaniament force my voice to sing different melodies?
because you've changed the associated muscle memory. Once you do that you have a basic association to work with, but no finer nuances. So you can still sing the mental song outline. It works the same in reverse. Try singing the song to a completely different tune and see what happens to your fingerpicking.
well, that's the thing. i play the bassline with my thumb and and improvised lead, so the lead is constantly changing anyway. but anyway, i guess i won't worry about it too much. i didn't get into this to work.
