Do You Sing Backing Vocals?

[wulf]

Yes. A lot of it comes down to confidence and the best way to build that is to jump in the shallow end - find stuff that isn't too hard and an enviroment where people don't get too spiky about your mistakes..

My ability to sing and play bass (for what it is - I'm still no Sting or Geddy Lee) started when I moved to a new church. I regularly played in the band at the previous one but there wasn't a tradition of instrumentalists (apart from perhaps the person leading, if they were a guitarist) singing at the same time. It was different at the new place - they stuck a mic in front of me, encouraged me to have a go and didn't cringe too much when I did. I've since become quite confident in that kind of setting and can sing, play, and direct the band without qualms... and they still haven't taken the mic away.

More recently, I have been involved in a number of bands outside the church setting. For a long time I didn't sing at all but gradually started adding some simple harmonies to songs where the bassline wasn't too demanding. The vocalist is in no danger of me taking over his job but the rest of the guys have been encouraging and I now sing backing vocals on a fair number of our songs.

I now feel that I won't have a confidence problem singing at least backing vox in future bands although I don't know if I'm quite ready to take centre stage with it. I think it adds a lot to the music to be able to support the main vocal and I'm glad to have been able to develop my ability to offer that skill.

Wulf

[queenofthedepths]

[quote name='cheddatom' post='91538' date='Nov 20 2007, 03:17 PM']I don't want to take this off topic, but I think you have the wrong idea about muscle memory. I had a discussion about it on another message board, and it turns out there's a very informative Wiki about it somewhere.[/quote]

Playing a bass line without having to think about it, leaving you free to concentrate on the vocals... is that not what muscle memory is about?

I used to sing lead and backing in my first band, although we weren't very good and I've pretty much avoided singing live since then - I suppose I'm a half-decent vocalist coz I used to sing before I played bass

[Deep Thought]

I do backing vocals and sing lead vocals for several of the songs we do. At first I was reluctant to sing lead as I didn't want to tread on our singer's toes, but it turns out some of the stuff we do suits my voice better than hers so I do them. I also sing the stuff I've written as I'm no good at writing for anybody else. I really like to do it, although I'm much more careful about what I sing these days-years ago I would attempt anything, but I often sounded crap as I was singing stuff that was outside my range. I sound OK as long as I'm not trying to go too high-it's a thing that a lot of people don't realise-most of us can't just sing any song. We did a gig a while back and the boys from my old band came along. One of them told me 'Your voice has improved!' Maybe it's just practice but I'm sure a lot of it is that I don't try to sing stuff that's beyond my capabilities any more. As for playing and singing, depends what you're playing. I've found that sometimes busier bass lines are easier to sing over than sparser ones with more gaps, which it's hard to get the timing on. Also on more complex ones it's very much a case of practice-I find that with more complex ones if I think too hard about what I'm playing I get lost-it has to be automatic. There are songs I've never been able to play and sing (REM's Losing My Religion for one) but it's probably because I've not tried hard enough-there have been others I couldn't play whilst singing which I finally got through continuous practice.

[King of Loss]

I sing and play most of the time. I tend not to think about the bassline much, just focus on the vocals, and the fingers usually do the rest of the work. Some of it is fairly complicated (odd time sigs etc) but it is never al over the place syncopation etc.....

Singing is great.

[SJA]

backing vocals and occasional lead vocals.

I find it quite enjoyable.

singing gets more appreciation by the audience than just playing bass.


the only thing i don't like is if in an original band the others give me parts to sing- and then nitpick over whether I'm singing them right.

[Jase]

Totally impossible for me. I love watching bass players who can though....brilliant

[Phaedrus]

[quote name='tauzero' post='91424' date='Nov 20 2007, 12:52 PM']I find that playing guitar (even fingerpicking) and singing is easier than playing bass and singing.[/quote]

+1 100%.

This is so true for me.

I think it's cos strumming acoustic guitar is much more rhythmic than plucking notes on a bass or something like that. Or at least most strumming carries a continuous repeated ryhthm, whereas plucking bass notes might more often be off-beat / on-beat, sustained / stopped, etc.


Mark

[cheddatom]

[quote name='queenofthedepths' post='91700' date='Nov 20 2007, 07:03 PM']Playing a bass line without having to think about it, leaving you free to concentrate on the vocals... is that not what muscle memory is about?[/quote]

Muscle memory is your muscles remembering/gettings used to how to perform certain actions, which makes your playing techniques easier and smoother and quicker etc. Your muscles can't remember how to play a song, you've just learn it off by heart to the point of being able to play it without thinking about it, which is something in your brain, rather than your muscles.

[clauster]

I like to sing backing vox
















But the rest of my band have confiscated my mic

[Pugz]

I have recently taken up singing backing vocals and occasionally singing lead and i'm really enjoying it now. I found that previously the only times I would sing would be to myself and they would be very quiet. Now that I'm singing properly I find that singing with confidence really makes a 100% of the difference. Having the confidence to project your voice singing loud and clear will result in better vocals. If you go half arsed at it your vocals won't be anywhere near as good, or in pitch. It really takes just having the confidence to push out your voice to make the difference.

I really believe that everyone can sing and in pitch, its just a difference of how confidently one goes about it. Singing lessons will help anyone a great deal. Learning how to project your voice, using proper breathing technique, warm ups and how to place your voice. Most people will tend to singing from their throat, whereas if you using vocal placing techniques you can sing from the front of your mouth and you can save your voice from being sore after singing for extended periods.

[MacDaddy]

I've blown a couple of auditions for some quality bands by not having backing vocals
I can hold a tune, or play. Putting them together is something I need to work on. Much, much work...

[jakenewmanbass]

Yes I sing BVs although I don't consider myself to be a very good singer (others think I'm too hard on myself) It's just that I have very high standards, I listen to the likes of the Eagles, Steely Dan, Michael McDonald, Stevie, James Taylor etc and think now thats BVs
I think in general the Americans have got them down much better than us Brits, It's an honourable profession over there wheras I think there are those over here that think if you are a backing singer you can't cut it as lead. The opposite is true in my experience, good backing vocalists are often more versatile and capable.
I had the great good fortune of working with Ike Willis and Bobby Martin (I'm on albums with them both) both singers (lead and backing) with Frank Zappa, those guys just blew me away with their vocals. I even had to sing with Ike (I was shitting myself) but he was very encouraging and very kind.
Do it, people love it if you try.
Jake

Edited February 25, 2008 by jakesbass

[wotnwhy]

i love having a little sing along

sometimes lead, usually backing.

[Dr.Dave]

I currently sing lead vocal in about a third of the set and backing vocals on the rest.

I've always thought a bass player , and any other musician , should support the song first and foremost. A song , to me , is melody and lyrics. If you're singing I think you get a good feel about where to place fills etc to support the song better - just as important is when not to.

It can be very hard trying to sing and play a recognised bassline that often seems at odds with it. One I've had bother with is ZZ Top's 'Cheap Sunglasses' that we now play in both bands.
I practised hitting the Bflat that was giving me trouble by highlighting the words in the lyrics that I sing over those Bflats with a highlighter pen - then hiting the Bflat and stressing the word at the same time - after a while it sunk in and it's quite natural now.

Good for any musician to sing the song they're playing anyway while they're practising- I always did.

And remember - if you practise bass for an hour a day , but never practise singing at all - why would you expect to be as good a singer as you are a bass player??

[3V17C]

hmmmm - must admit backing vocals (or lack thereof) did cause me to miss out on a very nice gig once a few years ago which is more than a little annoying!

in my current band i do a couple of BVs though have to admit I'm a little concerned about my possible new Van Halen tribute project because listening to the songs, theres alot of very good vocal harmonies going on and actually a few twiddly bass parts! i can learn the singing/playing at the same time thing but i can't learn to get a good voice!! backing tracks may be the way forward!!!


peace

c

[Thunder Fingers]

I realy want to.. I realy, realy want to. but then there is taking time to actually do it, and i have a sneeky feeling that i wasn't born with a great singing voice. I do hit the notes though, thats no problem, as long as i sing within my range.

[warwickhunt]

I do backing vocals and it does get easier with practice. Even now after 25+ years of doing it, I do occasionally lapse into singing the main vocal line rather than a harmony but it's better than nothing and fills out the sound. Try doing dead easy stuff first and for heavens sake try and make sure that you can hear what you are doing. It is an absolute bugbear of mine that lead vocalists can expect you to sing a harmony and yet whinge like babies when you suggest that you want to hear yourself in a shared monitor mix. I realise theirs is the important bit but you have a right to not destroy your credibility or voice by straining to push your voice because you can't hear it.

[SwordRaven]

[quote name='Phaedrus' post='91304' date='Nov 20 2007, 10:05 AM']Careful though: our guitarist likes to sing whenever he feels like it, and not always in tune.[/quote]

Ours does that and he's SUPPOSED to be doing the backing vocals... so inconsistent!

I tried to do some backing vocals in the band but had the same problem as a lot of people are saying, once I opened my trap my fingers stopped working its something I'd like to learn though.

[peteb]

Not having BVs has always held me back and has cost me a couple of decent gigs along the way. It’s not that I can’t sing and play at the same time – just that I can’t sing very well!

If I was starting again I would definitely have more singing lessons, ear training, etc

Fortunately I now play with a drummer who has very good harmonies, which kinda lets me off the hook a bit – I only ‘sing’ a couple of very simple parts

Funnily enough, I’ve never had any trouble talking and playing at the same time – we do it all the time (laughing at fluffed intros, girl in the audience, etc). The only trouble is that the guitarist can talk ok to us when he’s playing but seems to have a problem with listening to anyone else

Mind you, he’s like that when he’s not playing as well….

[karlbbb]

I'll join the "can't sing for toffee" group. I'd love to be able to do backing or lead vocals, but singing is the only thing that's evaded me. Ah well eh?

[alexclaber]

To those that sing backing harmonies, do you prefer to work out a harmony for yourself or be given something to sing?

Am wondering how to help out my guitarist - I'm singing lead though I'm not really a singer...

Alex

[paul, the]

I used to harmonize during jam sessions. I think my pitch is right, my head tells me the pitch is right. Everyone tells me my pitch isn't right.

[PorkPouch]

I can't sing, hum or whistle.

Or play bass.

[Johngh]

I can sing, and I can play bass. The trick is doing both together, some songs I can do it, others I can't.
In terms of singing a harmony, I tend to find my own that I can sing OK while holding down the bass part.

[mike257]

I'm not much of a singer anyway, so i'm barely qualified to comment... but when they evacuate a wide enough area for me to have a go, I find it near impossible with a bass round my neck. If i'm playing guitar, it's a whole lot easier, but I struggle to keep my focus on the rhythm of my bass parts whilst singing any kind of melody.

I don't like the sound of this practicing lark though, it sounds a bit like hard work