Q. I have been playing guitar for 7 years now, and i was wondering if there are any tips or ways to make it easier, i always get knocked of strum pattern or rhythm.
A. That's a hard question to answer well.
Most of it is like the others say. You must be able to play guitar well enough that it is done without conscious effort. I like the advice to perfect both parts separately.
However, it may be possible that you will never be able to.
Some people just have the knack of doing it. Some don't.
I used to play folk guitar and sing with a church group when I was little back in the late 60's early 70's.
The songs were simple 3 or 4 chord rhythms and weren't complicated. So I could do it easily.
However, for more complicated rock songs or whatever, where there is fairly complicated guitar parts, it's really hard to actually sing along and play.
I've been a lead guitarist and I've been a lead vocalist in performing rock bands, with Grammy award winning musicians,but had a hard time doing both. Stuff like Smoke on the Water, Rocky Mountain way, Hey Joe, I can sing fine. Even Layla by Clapton. But after that I have your problem. I get lost on one or the other. It's hard to separate the parts of your brain you need.
Like playing the piano. The left hand does stuff totally different from the right hand. I can't do it. I can play keyboards, but not piano.
Some great guitarists I know can't even tap a simple rhythm on the drums or even clap there hands in time to music.
Some guys can play fantastic stuff on guitar and sing and some can't.
I can't and I've been doing it for 40 years. I play guitar well or sing well, but not both.
So practice until you know each part as well as you can and hopefully your "muscle memory" with take over guitar and you can just sing and not worry about the guitar. Hopefully you can develop that technique.
But don't feel bad if you can't. It takes a special talent.
I wish you good luck.
Is it hard to learn accordion?
Q. I've been considering learning accordion. It looks like a fun instrument and a lot of my favorite musicians are accordionists. If I do learn it will probably be self-taught (I can't pay for lessons), and it helps, I have experience with piano, ukulele, and singing. Thanks.
My dad has a friend who has an accordion that he doesn't play, and I have a possibility of getting it. He found it for fairly cheap at a garage sale hosted some old people.
A. The keyboard is easy, it's just a piano. The hard part is the button side. It's used for chords and the "oom-pah" rhythm.
The one button with a bump or mark on it is a C. One of the adjacent buttons in the next row plays a C chord (CEG). The pattern is the same for all the other notes. The next button up plays the chord, the next one plays the minor chord, then the 7th chord, then the minor 7th.
Most of the skill you need to play accordion is needed for the chord buttons.
How to play piano from lead sheets?
Q. My piano teacher gave me a few lead sheets a while ago, and I've been trying to figure out how to play them. I understand the chord structures, but how are you supposed to know what rhythm to play in? The only notes on the sheet are the vocals and the saxophone, but there's no written rhythm for the piano...do I have to be creative and make it up, or do is there a proper way to play it?
A. Part of learning to play from lead sheets is learning those accompaniment patterns! If you make this a regular part of your piano studies, you will build up a repertoire of patterns and styles to do with different kinds of songs. For a simple start, you can play the bass note of the chord in your left hand, and in your right hand, play the chord in quarter notes. So, for a song in 4/4, you'd play the chord 4 times per measure.
Then get creative and try out different patterns. You could also search on YouTube for recordings of the song to get ideas, and try to emulate things that you hear.
I think it's terrific that you're doing this and that your teacher gave you lead sheets! Learning to play accompaniment is such a great skill and it's too bad that more teachers don't include it in their lesson plans.
There is a great teacher online named Duane Shinn who is an expert at this - and he has a free course with 101 chord lessons. You can also just click around his site and watch free videos where he demonstrates some chord patterns - he's really a pro. Great inspiration for where learning to play this way can take you!
http://www.playpiano.com/101-tips/FreeLessons.htm
Hope that's helpful! Even if it's challenging at first, don't give up! It's a great thing not to be able to be creative and play from lead sheets.
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Title : How to sing and play guitar at the same time?
Description : Q. I have been playing guitar for 7 years now, and i was wondering if there are any tips or ways to make it easier, i always get knocked of...