Play to Sing, Sing to Play!!

Is it Pancho, or Poncho?

Yesterday’s teaser asked the question, “Do you sing along with your playing or play along with your singing?” - and the correct answer is a resounding “Yes!!” Just playing requires some muscle memory in your fretting hand and strumming/picking hand. If you’re just starting out, there are at least a couple of things to remember or think about when you’re playing a song using a chord chart or tab, or playing along with Chordify (see last week’s post for more information if these terms are unfamiliar) - things like what chord is coming up next? Which beat in relation to the lyrics do I change chords on? Am I keeping my strumming hand strumming as I change chords? Am I keeping tempo?

Add in singing and it’s another thing your brain has to coordinate between voice and hands! It’s a challenge, but very rewarding! Let me tackle some of the questions above and then we’ll get to why singing along can actually help, rather than just being another thing to deal with.

“What chord is coming up next?” is already another one of those things - it means your eyes go to the chord chart to anticipate, while your ears, fretting and strumming hand are dealing with where in the song you’re playing at that moment. One possible answer is to just practice playing the chord changes first as they occur without regard to the timing or lyrics. For instance, it’s fairly common for songs to have only 3 or 4 chords in total, and different lines of the song may repeat chord progressions in the same order, but change on alternating lines, or from the verse to the chorus, then change completely on the bridge, then back for the final verse/chorus or just a final chorus and outro. Whew!! I’d suggest playing the chords for each section (verse, chorus, bridge, usually) separately without regard for lyrics or timing. For example, the song today’s Bonus Round refers to has the following chord progressions, by line, in the verses:

G

D

C

G D

C

G C

Em C D

C Em

So, 8 lines in the verse, the first 3 have only one chord for the line, so you can just strum that for the whole line, line 4 has 2 chords, so you’ll have a chord change, line 5 is only one chord, and lines 6, 7, and 8 are 2 chords, 3 chords, and 2 chords, respectively. Since you don’t know the lyrics yet (unless you’ve already guessed from the subtitle to this post), you can play the single chord lines for say, 8 beats total (that would give you two bars or measures in 4/4 time - we’ll talk about time signatures later), play the other lines for 4 beats per chord, changing chords once for lines 4, 6, and 8, and twice for line 7. Keep in mind you’ll start the line on a chord which may be different from the previous line (so that’s a chord change) and then once more for 2 chord lines and twice more for the 3 line with 3 chords. Notice how the pattern of the verse becomes established - single chords for lines 1,2,3, and 5. Two chords for lines 4,6, and 8; 3 chords for line 7. The songwriter is creating chord progressions that support the melody and meter of the lyrics of the verse, and will establish a different pattern for the chorus , and bridge (if there is one), so the sections of the song will repeat in differentiated ways. Lots to talk about when we get to songwriting in future posts, but look for these sorts of things as you play different songs.

Next, “Which beat in relation to the lyrics do I change chords on?” - this can be tricky - songwriters may change the chord on beat 1, but not start singing the line until beat 2 - I write a lot of my songs this way, it establishes a beginning melody for that line, and sounds kinda cool. Generally, the chord symbol is placed directly above the syllable in the lyric the songwriter uses to change the melody (or reinforces a part of the melodic line - as in the 2 and 3 chord lines in the example above). That will give you a cue, but listening to the correct version of the original song or cover of the original you’re playing is critical.

“Am I keeping my strumming hand strumming as I change chords?” As we saw in the Sean Daniel YouTube video in an earlier post, keeping your strumming hand strumming is really important to playing. Even if you don’t exactly complete the chord change within a beat or two, keep strumming, don’t stop, it will sound better than stopping and starting, and a strum or two with no fretting at all may sound pretty cool when you do hit the chord change. Keep the beat, the “1 2 3 4” in your head, slow at first. As you master the chord changes as above, without lyric or timing of the song you’ll eventually play, just chord changes on the beat and in a progression will give your playing hands muscle memory.

“Am I keeping tempo?” This question is for when you’re playing along with the chord chart or Chordify, but I’m including it because as you get to that point, it’s very common to speed up as you play. Chordify is a little easier because you can watch exactly where the chord changes within the song, and also hear it on the video. If you’re playing with a chord chart, you’re in complete control of the tempo (speed), and it’s common, especially when you first start out, to start slow and just unconsciously speed up as you play. Resist the urge, (difficult because it’s sorta subliminal) and consider playing with a metronome or “click”. It’s best if you have one that plays a different sound on beat 1 (if you have a choice of settings, use “polyphonic” or 1st beat different sound). I have an electronic metronome that flashes on the beat (different color for beat 1) that I use when the click starts making me crazy - whatever works to keep you on the beat!!

So how does singing along help you play along, or the other way around? I find that singing actually reinforces my playing because even though it adds an extra layer, I usually play off of a chord chart and I can watch lyrics and upcoming chord changes at the same time. By now, I have enough muscle memory from practicing that chord changes just sort of happen (mostly) by rote, though warm ups in the form of just playing the chord progression (as above in the example) help a lot!

So, a long post today, hope you found it useful, let me know what you think, any questions and Bonus Round answers/guesses in the comments - I’ll answer in future posts!

Bonus Round: Yesterday’s song, “The Other End (Of The Telescope)”, was written by the marvelous Aimee Mann (previously of the great 80s band ‘Til Tuesday, now independent singer/songwriter/recording artist AND actor!!!) and the brilliant Elvis Costello (written under his non-stage name Declan MacManus) and performed by each (I had only ever heard the ‘Til Tuesday version - my bad!) separately on their own albums. It’s a truly interesting song from a songwriting perspective that we’ll talk about in a future post.

Today’s Bonus Round is suggested in the subtitle to this post. A true classic of the genre, written by a songwriting genius, covered by practically everybody!! Comment with your guess/answer as to the title and we’ll talk a bit about the songwriter next week.

Cheers, and keep playing!!

Michael Acoustic