Sing What You Play

In one of my previous articles, I discussed how important it is to develop a jazz vocabulary so that you actually start sounding like a jazz player instead of just playing up and down scales.  I mentioned the importance of learning licks and phrases.  But even if you know some licks, it can still be difficult to improvise in a natural and melodic way.  That’s why I highly advocate singing what you play. It’s an excellent way to improve your solos.

So how does singing make you improvise better?

When you sing what you play, your solos will take on more of a vocal quality—you will tend to hold individual notes longer, you’ll probably play repeated notes more often, and the melodies that you play will be tend to be less complex.  These are good things, especially for players who over-play.

Most importantly, you will increase your use of silence and improve your phrasing.  Clearly, if you’re singing what you play, you’re going to run out of breath at some point.  Jazz guitar players are notorious for playing too many notes—never stopping to give themselves(or the audience) a break.  Horn players, on the other hand, use silence throughout their solos because they have to pause and take a breath.  The result is that horn players’ solos tend to sound more natural and conversational.  So, by forcing yourself to sing what you play, you’ll be able to incorporate some of this horn-like phrasing into your playing.

Singing also helps you to create a closer connection between the notes you hear in your head and those on the guitar. This improves your ear and listening skills.  Finally, you’ll find yourself playing in ways that you would not normally play. Great for keeping yourself from getting stuck in a rut.

By the way, all great improvisers do this in some form or another.  Some sing out loud while they’re playing, like George Benson, some hum or sing in their head but they are all singing in some way— believe me. I have a number of jazz records where you can hear ON THE RECORDING the inadvertent grunts and singing of jazz pianists and guitarists as they improvise.

Now if you’re new to this concept, it may feel a little weird to be singing out loud.  Especially, if you’re not used to it. But the truth is that it doesn’t matter whether you can sing well or not.  The goal is to use singing to improve your phrasing and to help you improvise more naturally. In my experience, the results have been VERY positive.

Take a look at the following video which I previously posted in my  Using Licks and Phrases in Your Solos article:

If you look at my mouth, you’ll notice that it’s moving. It almost looks like I’m talking to the guitar. But I’m singing and playing melodies as they occur to me in real time.  (I muted my lapel mic because I’m sure people would be more interested in hearing my guitar playing that my singing).

Here’s how to use it in your playing:

Hopefully, I’ve sold you on the idea of at least giving this a try. Understand that you don’t have to actually sing out loud. But I encourage you do so. Of course, there will be times when doing this would not be appropriate. But if you want to use the technique, you DO have to sing at least in your head as you play EVERY note during practice or improvisation—even with boring technical exercises. Don’t just listen to the note as you play it or worse just mindlessly move your fingers on the fretboard without really paying attention at all.  You have to force yourself to sing every time either in your head or out loud in order to build this mind/guitar connection. If you lose focus or get tired, then just take a break. But don’t underestimate the power of this technique. It WILL transform your playing.

Now obviously you’ll sing some wrong notes especially at first.  That’s ok. Just keep going and try to match your singing to the notes that you play. Over time you’ll intuitively know what a given note will sound like before you play it.

The easiest way to incorporate this while improving your improvisation skills is to record yourself playing a vamp CMaj7 chord, for example.  Then, just improvise while playing little melodies using the C Major scale.  The melodies don’t have to be complicated. They be as little as 1 or 2 notes. But focus on singing what you’re playing as you’re playing it. Trust me, this works wonders if you’ll commit to doing it consistently.

Until next time,

Leon