by If you’ve ever tried to sing and play bass at the same time, you’ll know it can be challenging. In fact, us bass players often have a more difficult time than other musicians who play and sing.
For example, you see guitarists – even drummers – doing it all the time. Bass players – not so much…
So how can we do the same thing? How can we sing beautifully and lay down a solid groove at the same time? Is it possible to do both? Or is singing and playing bass simultaneously some magical skill that some people are just born with?
That’s what a Become A Bassist email subscriber Sammi wanted to know when she emailed me. In this lesson, I answer her question, and give some ways that you can make it easy to play bass and sing at the same time – automatically.
In this lesson, I’ll show you the trick to doing this and making it sound good.
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Why is learning how to sing and play bass at the same time tricky?
Playing bass and singing at the same time can be quite difficult – almost unnatural for some people. But why is this? Surely, it should be the same as playing rhythm guitar, right?
Even some drummers seem to have a fairly easy time of it – and they have to do that whole 4-limb-coordination thing…
Well let’s think about this from the perspective of a rhythm guitarist and drummer. Obviously, there are exceptions, but most of the time, a rhythm guitarist or a drummer won’t be playing a recognizable melody, right?
A drummer will be playing some kind of drum beat, but they only have one melody to deal with – the one they’re singing. Guitarists are usually much the same – they’ll be playing chords, but again, they don’t usually have a melody that they have to play on guitar.
And the ones that do play actual melodies, don’t usually play them at the same time as they’re singing. Look at a guy like Jimi Hendrix. He would play a ton of lead guitar melodies, but when it came to actually singing, he’d usually be playing chords for himself. Most of the time, he only had to deal with one melody at a time.
Bass players on the other hand, if we’re singing, we have to deal with two melodies at the same time – all the time. We have the melody that we want to sing, and the bass line that goes along with it. That bass line is a melody!
Playing bass can be tricky enough by itself – we have to think about the notes, the rhythms, the groove – are we locking in with the drums? Are our notes a good length to create a nice pocket?
And then we have to add in another layer of complexity with the vocal melody. We have to sing in tune, in time, with a good sound, remember lyrics and communicate the meaning of the song. You can get tired just thinking about it.
Remember – It’s A Skill
You can learn to sing and play bass at the same time. It isn’t some mystical power that is bestowed upon some people like telekinesis or double-jointedness. Like I said in the lesson, it’s a skill, and skills can be learned.
If you follow the steps in the lesson, you should have a much easier time of learning how to sing and play bass at the same time. Whether you’re singing lead in a band or singing backup at your church, knowing how to both sing AND play makes you a more valuable and more rounded musician.
If you really want to develop this skill, be sure to download the free 7-step guide to singing and playing bass at the same time.
It will walk you through 7 songs that start off fairly easy and end up being quite challenging. If you can get through all of them, then you’ll have no trouble in tackling 90-95% of all songs that you could possibly want to sing and play.
Simply put your name and email address in the box below and it’ll be sent straight to you.
Good luck with the lesson and happy playing!
Cheers,
Hi Luke,
My name is Ingrid and I live in Sweden. I am 71 years old and its never too late to learn lol
Thanks for The 7-step Guide to singing and playing bass!
I play ukulele and sing- I got 5 ukuleles different sizes- Now I have bought an U-bass too.
I want to learn to add bass to my singing. With this guide you have inspired me to practise 🙂 I am really looking forward to this!
Greetings
Ingrid
Hey Ingrid! I love your attitude! You’re totally right – it’s never too late, and you’re never too old to learn! In fact, there’s a big chunk of the BAB students who are either just starting out later in life or played when they were younger, then had 20-30 years away from bass playing, but are coming back now!
Also – I’m glad you’re liking the 7-Step Guide. I’d love to hear how you go with it – let me know! You can use the same kind of strategies when you’re playing ukulele as well as your new U-Bass. Those things are sweet by the way!
Thanks for the comment!
Luke
Wow that’s incredible! I’m 24 and can’t sing yet!
Time and practice Cedy – You’ll get there! Let me know if you have any questions about anything. I’d be more than happy to help out.
Luke
Thanks Luke just what I needed cheers Rocco keep up the good work much appreciated cheers
Glad you liked it Rocco! And not to worry – I’ll be keeping up the work!
Cheers,
Luke
Hi Luke, I’m so excited to have found your video on singing and playing on youtube. I have been a singer for about 30 years and bass player for the last 12. I love both. My goal has been to bring the two together. I love your advice and I’ve been googling this subject for the past 2 years. It’s not so common of a subject but super important to me. Thanks so much!
I’m anxious to read your guide that I just signed up to get!
Cheryl
Hey Cheryl,
I’m so glad the lesson made sense to you – that’s great news. And thanks for signing up – let me know what you think of the guide, and if you have any questions about anything in there, feel free to send me an email. I’d be more than happy to help you out and answer any questions you might have!
Thanks again,
Luke
Thanks for this, I have been wanting to learn this skill. I am looking forward to learning those songs. We can’t all be Ezperanza Spalding, but for someone who is even thinking about playing in bands, being a singing bass player is a big plus.
Absolutely Paul! It makes you so much more valuable as a musician. I’ve gotten some semi-serious pay increases when a bandleader found out I could do some backing vocals. It’s a great skill to have!
“U” makes it so very clear.
Hello Luke,
You are a fountain of knowledge. You are like a walking and talking bass encyclopedia.
Your bass sound is magnificent.
May I inquire on the specs of your bass amp and pickups?
Thank you very much for what you are doing.
Thanks Pablo. In all my videos, I’m just running my bass directly into the recording desk and EQing everything flat. I’m not sure about the pickups on the bass in this video – I think they are just the stock ones that came on the bass. These days though, I’m playing a 4-string Spector with the stock EMGs.
Hey man, 37, been playing since I was 15. Started trying to sing lead part time over the last year, getting a little better, but looking forward to your lessons!
My friend I have signed up for the lesson too. But I wish to say something I play the double bass fairly good but I am having a huge problem with harmonics while singing like they called overtones? Something like that sorry I am not native in English. With consonance of the melodies you know the intervals I am hearing a thing that it’s not captured at all on recordings. I guess it’s the same with other instruments while playing chords etc but the harmonics of the instruments cover it on the recordings. I don’t know how else to put it. My brain plays an additional melody to the one I am playing on bass and to the one I am singing and there is a huge luck of harmony on the recording afterwards.
Hi Luke, either I’m spamming you a lot or something must be wrong. In these “get free pdf” forms should I expect to get a confirmation email automatically or should I be a bit more patient? I have been enjoying your videos. Very clear and straight to the point. Thank you!
Hi Luke,
I’d love to work on the combination of singing and playing the bass. The bass is quite new for me.
Your video helped a lot already.
Now I am curious about the next steps.
Thank you very much for your lessons,
Lilith
Hi Luke. I love your encouragement and guidance. I honestly had begun to feel like for me it was one or the other at a time. I’m gonna learn to do both! Thank you 🙏
Stanley