♪ Figured you would never try ♪
♪ You always said you wouldn't mind ♪
Hey guys, I'm Alex from Ringo Deathstarr,
and I wanted to talk to you guys about my top three tips
for singing and playing bass at the same time.
This is something I get asked about a lot, and honestly,
it's something I still struggle with,
even after 20 plus years of playing bass and singing,
every once in a while a song comes up,
that is just really difficult for me.
So these are the tips that I find helpful
and I hope that you will find them helpful too.
So my first tip is just to, this sounds really obvious,
but just learn the bass part,
like make it so that it's completely muscle memory.
Cause once your muscle memory takes over,
then you can start to free up that brain space to figure
out how you're going to fit vocals into your whole mix.
And you don't have to be thinking like searching the bass
for that next note, which takes of a lot of brain space.
I'll just be like thinking, oh,
where the heck am I supposed to go next?
And then it's really hard to think
about singing on top of that.
But if you have the bass line down pat,
you don't have to think about it.
You're kind of on autopilot.
Then it makes it a lot easier
for you to start thinking about vocals.
The next step I have for you guys,
is to take it slow and map it out.
And what I mean by that is,
is that I will sometimes even break it down by syllable
and figure out exactly what I'm doing on the bass,
with my fretting, and my either,
finger picking or plucking hand,
right when syllables come in.
For our song, Heavy Metal Suicide, the bass line is...
(playing bass notes)
The vocal part is...
♪ Figured you would never try ♪
So if you're like, okay,
how the heck am I gonna fit this vocal onto this bass line?
Slow it way down and figure out,
when does the first word or syllable come in?
♪ Figure ♪
So for this song, there's actually part of the riff
that happens before the first word even comes in.
♪ Figure ♪
So now I know I don't start,
until I hit (plays bass note) this note.
And it triggers me to say...
♪ Fig-ure ♪
So you could play and go...
♪ Figure you would never try ♪
"Never" hits the same one.
So it kind of, you can help find these patterns
in the vocals and in the bass parts,
every time I do this...
♪ Figure never ♪
So, hopefully that's helpful for you.
I've had to go through so many songs this way
and literally figure out okay,
when that syllable is coming in, what is happening.
And once you kind of figure out, and map that out,
it really does set these triggers in your mind,
so that when you're playing, you'll be doing something,
and you'll be like, oh, I know that when I do this,
this is the word that kind of corresponds with this action.
And soon enough, the more you practice it'll just
kind of set in and just become second nature for you.
My third and final step for you guys,
is just to be nice to yourselves.
This stuff is really hard and if it wasn't,
then we would all just be Geddy Lee
up on stage shredding and singing,
but I'm still working on it even after 20 plus years.
So don't beat yourself up.
This is something that I actually really struggle with,
especially because some songs come easier
than other songs, when something is hard
for me to do, I am like, ugh, why can't I do this?
Why can't I figure it out?
And I will get into this head space,
where I'm really frustrated and I don't wanna play my bass,
because it's just reminding me of how frustrated I am,
and how, you know, maybe I feel like a failure.
I can't get this, what's wrong with me?
And perpetuating that is not good for you.
And it certainly doesn't make me
want to pick up my bass and practice,
and not practicing is not gonna help me get better. (laughs)
I think you just need to be nice to yourself,
and at least, I have to try and do this.
Tell myself that it's gonna take some time.
There's no real rush.
You'll get it when you get it.
And that's totally fine to learn at your own pace.
It's great.
You're learning at all, which is amazing,
taking the time to even figure this out,
which is already really awesome.
So just be nice to yourself,
because when you start going down that spiral,
you're not gonna wanna pick up your bass and practice.
So, if you are in this zone where you're like, it's okay,
I'm messing up, but I'm gonna get it.
Then you're more than likely gonna be like, you know,
eager to pick up your bass and keep trying.
So, and that's really the most important thing you can do.
Practice is really key.
So I hope this is really helpful for you guys.
If you are struggling with singing
and playing and have more questions, I would be more
than happy to answer anything that you guys have to ask.
And if you need someone to celebrate with you
when you finally get one down,
just let me know.
I would love to celebrate with you and see your vids
of y'all singing and playing at the same time.
So I hope this is really helpful.
And I will talk to you guys soon.