Singing and Playing Guitar / Bass at the Same Time

[KBelanger]

Love the game. HMX really did a good job on the little details.

We've been playing on expert vocals, bass and guitar. Bass and guitar players singing backup vocals.

I've had a really hard time playing and singing at the same time. Either my guitar score suffers when I try to concentrate a bit more on the vocals or I'm hitting nothing on vocals if I sing "by ear". Either way, I'm getting roughly 35% on the backup vocals part - our overall vocals score is around 95%-100% consistently though (we have an awesome singer and she's a huge Beatles fan).

Do you guys have any tips on getting better at voxtar? Do you keep focused on the vocals or the note highway? Glance up once in a while?

[pianoman3284]

I usually look at the guitar/bass track. I know most of the songs' lyrics, but occasionally I'll peek at the vocal track (for instance, I had no idea some of the backing vocals on "Paperback Writer" were in French). The only advice I have is to keep listening to the songs to get them in your head and if you're having trouble finding the harmony, use the trainer. Practice, practice, practice!

[johnnysniper147]

Ive been playing vocals/backing vocals and bass together on expert. im doing pretty good, I usually just concentrate on the bass chart because i know the vocals to all beatles songs pretty well, but some of the harder Harmonies i might glance up to make sure im right.

and ive another main singer aswel whos pretty good (but cant sing any ringo songs for some reason and always fails lol)

[MaxRenn82]

I play guitar and sing (both expert) and you just eventually find a groove and it gets easier. You'll start to notice you're not really even paying attention to the notes or words. Like you're in a zone.

And yeah, practice, practice, practice.

[XXXela]

I have most of the beatles songs memorized, and those I haven't memorized I've heard enough to know most of the lyrics, so it's not a problem for me. I just focus on the note highway and sing what I know by heart.

But, in RB2 when singing voxtar if I don't know the song, I look at my note highway, memorize the next few notes real quick, then focus on the vocals. I check back every once in a while, but mainly watch the note highway out of the corner of my eye.

[Opus Penguin]

I know most of the songs by heart so just focus on the board. However I am very new to RB so play on the easy level for both ... at least for now.

[jcunning_1974]

Is it possible to play guitar/bass and then do just the backup vocals or are the only vocal options lead and lead with harmonies?

[tcole6]

I haven't tried it yet on B:RB, but in real life () it just takes practice. I see people telling you to concentrate on the Bass chart, however my experience says that you need to get proficient with the Bass line first (to the point you almost don't need to look at it) and then sing away.

You'll find that it's not intonation that causes the problem, more the melody lines aren't the same. Keeping two 'rhythms' in your head at once is what needs to get mastered.

Geddy Lee still spends 2-4 months before each tour getting his bass/vocal timings together....

[niphty]

I have to say, to hit the harmonies, practice them up fully, then just play guitar in the song as normal while singing the parts you've practiced on vocals. You'll start to notice that you're singing based on when you're playing, rather than on watching the lyric track.
I've also found that setting the vocals to static really helped me do both. Maybe the lead you work with won't like it, but it's much easier to see how long till you've got a line, and when you can activate the Beatlemania, IMO.

[KBelanger]

I have most of the beatles songs memorized, and those I haven't memorized I've heard enough to know most of the lyrics, so it's not a problem for me. I just focus on the note highway and sing what I know by heart.

But, in RB2 when singing voxtar if I don't know the song, I look at my note highway, memorize the next few notes real quick, then focus on the vocals. I check back every once in a while, but mainly watch the note highway out of the corner of my eye.

Thanks guys. It's good advice. I too know most of the Beatles' songs but the tough part is matching pitch and most of the times, the backup vocals are on a different pitch than the main vocal part and to make matters worse, some songs have different lyrics and pitch change from the main part.

At the end though, you are all correct: practice will go a long way. What I might do is just sing the backup vocals parts to see how they differ from the main part and memorize them by song.