Well not a trick really, but here's something I do to help me tie the melody side to the bass side.

I'm relatively new to the stick; 1.5 yrs, so I don't have much material right now but the songs I know have been put together by learning both parts and then just playing the bass part alone to get the motor going. When I'm comfy with the pattern I SING the melody part over top the bass part before trying to put the two together. After I'm comfy singing the melody over the bass part I will try and mimic my voice with my right hand. Initially I was having a hard time co-ordinating my hands, but I think this method helps me to speed up the learning process.
I learned "scarbourough fair" (thanks greg) this way and am currently working on Dave Tiptons "Just the way you are".
It takes me months to put a tune together and months more to get it sounding relatively clean, but I don't have deadlines.......

Does anyone else use the "sing/hum" method when learning new stuff? I would be interested to hear....

Cheers,
Kev

Thanks, sounds like a good approach.

Hey Kev,

Whatever works for you is the best way. I'm exactly the opposite. I've always been a stronger melody (right hand) player on keyboards, so I tend to play that first and then add bass. I like the sing along approach though.. Very innovative.

Jimi

That sounds like something worth trying.

Thanks for sharing it, Kev.

I guess I use this method as a difficulty "barometer" so to speak. If I can sing the melody overtop the bass part, chances are high that I will be able to pull off both parts simultaneously.

cheers,
kev

Not exactly while playing, but for many years now I usually hum the melody or sing the song while I'm following the percussion or bass with my hands. Lately I've been trying to change this to follow the melody with the right hand and the bass with the left, even if I don't know the notes, just to hammer any finger on time with the parts, while I'm driving or working etc.

Also while I work I sometimes type to the beat of the bass or drums, type each key when a drum is hit or a bass note is played.

Hi Kevin,

Not just when learning, but also when performing, and especially when improvising. There's no better way to focus your mind on your hand, and thereby put your mind in charge, rather than your hand.

When not singing it's easy to let your hand do "what it knows" and play too much out of habit.

Kevin you are 100% correct in what you are doing. you should be able to sing everything you play (unless it's really fast)

Singing and moving are the two essential elements of music.

Brett

Singing the melody is a key teaching technique for learning sitar. Somehow singing
helps the mind translate to the movements of the hand. Usuallly the teacher will sing
a melody, which in indian music includes the atonal bending of the strings and the
the student tries to mimic it...



But can you play everything you sing? Check out Ravi Shankar teaching Anoushka
with indian scat singing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igDsu5QW ... re=related

+1 on singalong!

I've always done it... in fact even before I started playing instruments I "heard" the melodies I wanted to play in my imagination and I guess that is the same mental approach as if singing the melody. What it boils down to is that you need to stay away from the trap of learning an instrument by the motor skills, because that initial approach can only lead so far. Being sure you are able to sing the melodies you play is a way to ensure that your playing are based on the music rather than on the particular instrument's physical construction.

Why don't you try also to lean it the natural way? I personally find it much faster to develop the multitasking if not trying to learn an existing piece of music as the first project but rather building up the ability slowly from the bottom. Try an exercise like playing a simple chord arpeggio with your left hand on the bass side and then improvise melodies, or a complementary arpeggio, with the right hand on the melody side. Pay attention to what happens when you lose the feel of where the downbeat is; that's when your brain dropped out of multitasking mode Get back to the task and try to stay "in the zone" a little longer this time. I think that will develop the needed "split-vision" brain mode faster and it will spill off into your work with learning written pieces.