Uses of Brian’s Chord Licks While Singing

[Shane M]

I’m assuming that Brian doesn’t sing so plays all the notes of his compositions on guitar. He stated
in one lesson that his preference was to not get caught up in Chet Atkins/Tommy Emmanuel territory with
complicated things very difficult to play. My questions is, I’m assuming if you sing, chord licks would be
useful as intros/endings, fills during vocal pauses, solos. The rest while singing would be strumming or
something very simple. The other option is to do what Brian does and just play the song through on guitar.
Does anyone else find that attempting to play chord licks while singing interferes with the melody? Maybe if you play
exactly what you sing, otherwise I get lost. Any ideas or advice?

[John H]

As long as you are not overwhelming the audience with manic and tumultuous playing, mixing vocals with rhythm and licks a is acceptable. Jimi Hendrix, Albert King and BB King were masters at this type of “call and response,” using vocals against simple and repetitive licks. There is always room for both but you have to exercise restraint and taste.

John

[Richard W]

If you are accompanying yourself while singing, then the number one priority is to keep a steady groove going. Most singers stick to playing the basic groove rhythm while they are actually singing. As John notes, many singers do play licks between vocals.

But there’s a big difference between playing solo and being able to pull this off and playing with a band behind you. In the former situation, it is much more challenging to not lose the groove of your song when you throw in your fills. The best bet is to keep them really simple and short to start and really focus on coming in strongly and cleanly on your rhythm after your fill licks. Practicing this with a metronome will be very helpful in keeping you honest. It definitely takes practice.

Playing any kind of fancy licks or single note stuff while you are actually singing is quite difficult, at least for me.

[Shane M]

Apparently Brian doesn’t sing and has stated that playing the whole song (rhythm, melody etc)
on guitar is more challenging. If he did there would have to be more strumming or very
simple licks during the vocals I guess. There seems to be 2 camps on this, the Chet Atkins
and Emmanuel type playing and easier and simpler picking with or without vocals, which I prefer.
What makes Brian my favorite teacher. I tried to learn an actual Chet Atkins song once and
I couldn’t play it much less remember it. The more steady basic stuff I can do.

[sunjamr]

Even if I could sing, I would only be able to strum simple chords while singing. I always consider this song by John Mayer to be the ultimate in vocal/guitar complexity. I would barely be able to play the guitar part, much less sing along:

Sunjamr Steve

[Duffy P]

One way to make it work is to nail down what the lick is and then practice it so it becomes as dialed in as strumming. Then you can fit the lick in while you sing. There are a few songs where I do something like this. Typically, however, it’s not such a great idea to have two complicated lines going on at once. If the fill lick interferes with hearing the song melody, then it might be better to get rid of it, or simplify it.

[Michael L]

One of my favorite singing guitarist is Darrell Scott. https://www.youtube.com/@DarrellScottOfficial
His solo guitar playing while singing is very well done.

[Author]

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