Do you play bass AND sing???

[LemonCello]

I'd be interested to know how many of us sing as well as play bass. Particularly interested in front men....the Phil Lynott's of this world. I can sing fine when strumming chords on my six string. It gets more interesting when you have a bassline that has no 'pattern' to it. I.E. you cant switch-off and do your vocal.

LC

[LemonCello]

[quote name='LemonCello' post='1050494' date='Dec 7 2010, 01:31 PM']I'd be interested to know how many of us sing as well as play bass. Particularly interested in front men....the Phil Lynott's of this world. I can sing fine when strumming chords on my six string. It gets more interesting when you have a bassline that has no 'pattern' to it. I.E. you cant switch-off and do your vocal.

LC[/quote]

That'll be front men AND Women of course!

[ThomBassmonkey]

I do a bit of backing while I play, nothing spectacular though, more just joining in with the audience participation bits, but through a mic.

[Wil]

Yeah. I sing backup in almost every song in our set, and I love it. Most of my lines are pretty simple anyway so it's no great problem, whenever I happen to be doing anything rhythmically complex it can take a bit of practice though!

[Dom in Dorset]

I've taken a share of lead vocal in two bands, one at the moment.
I find that working on a new song I have to concentrate on getting the bass right and singing as and when I can, the full vocal only comes when I've got the bass part sorted.

[geoffbyrne]

I do the odd (very!) lead vocal while playing bass - I can play a boogie bass & sing "Just Seventeen", but it's pretty much my party trick. I can do about 3 more, but f I'm going to do some serious lead vocals, I'll switch to 6 string & give the bass to the other guitarist.

G.

[dr1]

yes I do...

[cetera]

Yep, I sing lead in some songs and backing vocals in others while playing bass

[crez5150]

But of course..... Though I look look I'm floating an air biscuit here...

[Adrenochrome]

Yeah! I sing lead on The Trooper with my main band, and often do for odd songs at Jam nights, and I also sung about half the set for a scratch-band trio that I put together. I'm not a great singer but I'm confident and happy to do it, as long as I have a bass (or maybe g*****r) to hide behind

Most bass parts (in covers bands) are easy so I think singing (backing or lead) is something we should all do as much as possible.

[yorick]

I sing lead on some songs with a couple of my bands.

[Hobbayne]

Yea, i sing lead on about 12 numbers and backing vox on everything else. Funny thing is, i can only seem to sing uptempo numbers ballads send me completely off key!!

[Dom in Dorset]

If proof were needed:

The man next to me is wearing a waste paper basket! He usualy tries to up-stage me, no chance now I've got the twin neck.

[farmer61]

Yep sure do, I sing about a 1/4 of our set do backing vox and am defacto front person cause I've got the biggest gob!

[Michaelg]

i do harmonies as well as play bass

[mrtcat]

I've got a lot of respect for those who sing and play and even more for those who front a band. I do simple backing vox on half a dozen songs in out set and am told I have a good singing voice. Anything more complicated than that is a real struggle for me as the first thing to fall apart is my playing. I know our band would benefit if I could do more. If anyone has any tips I'd love to hear them.

[gicut58]

I used to do about half the set in my last band but just bv's now.
I still do the odd (very odd) song at local jam/open mics, but I don't mind, I'm usually happy trying to work a decent harmony
to the main melody line.
G

[Bassassin]

Certainly do. I've done BVs in every band I've been in, and was in a couple of bands a few years ago where I shared lead vocal duties with the guitarist. These days I sing harmonies in every song, and have a lead vocal part on a couple of choruses.

Some of my bass parts are quite involved, and I really don't like to compromise them, so working out how to sing & play some of the songs can be a challenge, but for me the key is understanding how the two different rhythms fit together - because they always do. Different melodies are not so much of an issue, certainly if you know the bass line well enough for it to be muscle-memory.

Jon.

[RockfordStone]

i do this, but i feel restricted as a lead singer as ive always found it hard to do complex and interesting basslines and complex and interesting vocals at the same time

[Cat Burrito]

From Rick Danko to Paul McCartney there have been some amazing bassists who happen to sing well too. I have done backing in the past but my voice is a passable 3rd harmony at best. In my current band we have 3 lead singers with one of them being the main singer. So I just concentrate on the bass. I find singing and playing fairly easy but singing is definitely more of a struggle for me. Quite rightly I set high standards as bad vocals can really ruin an otherwise great band

[LawrenceH]

I have massive respect for anyone who can sing and play bass at the same time - I really struggle with it, I've managed on about two songs ever I think, though I have much less of a problem if I'm playing keys. It's the rhythm that does me, though I've not tried much on 'straighter' pop stuff. I really don't know how Larry and Bootsy do it!

[bobbytodd]

i can only sing if the words are the same speed as my right hand(sounds daft)

[HMX]

I would love to. But that means learning the sing in the first place too

I can barely speak to someone when I'm playing bass.

[munkonthehill]

I love singing and playing the bass. However im sure nobody else would agree with my ability hahahaha.

I sing 1 song in my band and do backing in most songs. Its a great feeling behind the mic however I hate singing with no bass!! I feel naked.

[blamelouis]

I do and if i ever get anywhere near this i will have peaked !!!