Singing over piano or accompanying vocalists

CeDur

Do any of you guys sing alongside playing piano? Not a long time ago I started learning how to sing on my own and I'm struggling especially when I want to play and sing simultaneously. I have to play in a much simpler way (only simple chords) and still having trouble to focus on lyrics and proper voice emission. Maybe you can share your learning path, experience or any tips?

If you have any recordings where you're playing and singing or even accomapnying other vocalists it would be great if you share 😉

EB5AGV

I do, at a relatively simple level, playing mostly chords (block or arpeggiated) and singing over that. What you usually struggle to do is sing and play the melody line same time (which is also not a good musical idea, but just for fun sometimes I try). As everything, singing and playing gets easier as you practice it 😄

I am now on a band and I find myself singing lots of times. The heat of the moment also helps!

CeDur

EB5AGV

I cannot help myself and I usually add some melody to my chords when singing. It's much easier not to do so when someone else is singing!

David B

Thanks for sharing David. Does this song belong to 'CCM' genre? I've just recently learnt that such genre exists - we don't have anything like that in my country.

Pete14

Is humming considered singing? If so, then yes, I do sing along.

David B

It usually takes too much concentration when I'm learning an arrangement to sing along while I'm playing. I have several audio and video recordings of added vocals. Here is one example I uploaded around 4 years ago. A Randy Newman song with a few of my own added verses.

https://youtu.be/0Uq2Mh0VnwE

I do see myself singing along while playing songs that have become more ingrained in the muscle memory. With guitar I can't play the melody so I sing it, and with piano I can't sing and play the melody so I just do the latter.

God Bless,
David

David B

Here is a guitar/vocal song where I recorded both parts at the same time. Guitar is easy to sing along with because I'm just grabbing a hand full of chords with a strumming or arpeggio pattern. Piano (for me) involves way more brain energy and doesn't leave much left to concentrate on anything else.

life-is-an-adventure-1-102522-718-am.mp3

God Bless,
David

David B

CeDur Thanks for sharing David. Does this song belong to 'CCM' genre? I've just recently learnt that such genre exists - we don't have anything like that in my country.

The first song was written by Randy Newman and he definitely doesn't identify as a Christian. That's why I added some verses. 🙂

The second song (Life is an Adventure) was written by a colleague of mine Pastor Doug Batchelor, so it's really not mainstream in the sense that you'd hear it on the radio, but it is a contemporary Christian song.

https://www.amazingfacts.org/media-library/media/e/20402/t/life-is-an-adventure---theme-song

God Bless,
David

Theophilus Carter

Here's a couple of me playing and singing:

https://youtu.be/47B2bvG6Y5U

https://youtu.be/Czn3r_ihMc8

I don't have any brilliant tips for it. I just learn the piano part until I can play it cold, then start adding the singing. It's just like putting two hands together: learn each separately, put them together, start slow, work your way up to tempo, etc. The hardest part for me is remembering lyrics (something I'm bad at, piano or not), so I work on that away from the piano a lot too.

Theophilus Carter

Wow, I killed the thread … 😆

CeDur

Not at all! I was planning to post my example to show how behind you I am with my singing, but waiting for the weekend. I'll be home alone for the next 3 days so nobody will "judge" how bad it is 😃