Another singing bassist friend (Keido Toby Rider) posted something about singing and playing bass simultaneously recently, and as it’s a subject dear to my heart, I’ve been thinking it over. My first “real” musical inspiration was Paul McCartney, so I’ve pretty much been a “singing bassist” my whole life. Outside of jazz, my non-singing bass influences are few. Geezer Butler. Steve Harris. John Paul Jones. Most of the rest sing a lot.
So here’s my take on it. For ME, singing and playing bass is the ultimate meditative activity. It is absolutely and completely about being mindful. Of the lyrics and your parts, certainly. But more than that, mindful of the MUSIC. Particularly the beat. Voice and bass from ME require a solid pocket of the right depth for the cargo at hand. Right?
At its trickiest, the singing is more serpentine than anything else. It weaves and winds around the groove you’re creating [and don’t get confused here. The BEAT is created by the drummer, who is the master of time. The GROOVE is created by the bass player, who is the master of space. Thus endeth the lesson.]. That CAN make things hard, unless you’re the kind of bass player who doesn’t need to look at their hands. Work on that. Definitely. It’s essential. You CAN look but watch out, because you REALLY need to be watching a whole lot of other things. Like the lyrics to a crazy ass request that you’re reading from your iPhone cause it came in written on a twenty. In other words, you really HAVE to be comfortable playing the bass for this to work.
Of course, sometimes it’s easier, if the bass line is easier. But you have to be careful that “easy’ doesn’t mean ‘mediocre”. You know where that line is. And you know what happens when you cross it. Word to the wise, etc.
Bottom line for the bottom line: lock with the damned drums. And don’t ever let go. Even in your mind. LOL.
But that of course just one end of the stick, the fingers end. Now to the torch end: the voice.
Of course, it helps to actually BE a singer. There are a lot of folks out there who really ought to know better than to approach a microphone without thinking about it. Seriously. NOT to be discouraging. Of course, everybody CAN sing. That’s what they say. But like Mick Jagger once quipped (and I’m certainly if not paraphrasing then interpretive dancing), if there was a school for rock and roll singers, nobody would be themselves. Or any good. LOL. Not sure whether the sarcasm there was from me or Mick. I’ll take the blame and let Mick have the merit.
So. If you’re a singer or not, this will probably work. YMMV. I ain’t evaluating your bass playing OR your singing. That’s not my circus. You ain’t my monkey, Mickey.
Of course it helps to know the song. The words. To have a reasonably good relationship with the melody. And you will need to practice the singing separately, just like you practice the playing. Until you get them BOTH right. You know, left hand right hand both together. Olde schule music lessons.
Practice without holding a microphone. Without having the microphone right against your lips. Because as a singing bass player that’s NOT going to happen. You’re going to have to be expressive without your hands. Some folks just can’t do that, can they?
Not gonna teach you how to sing. There’s lots of other places for that.
Next time, we’ll start THINKING about putting one and one together and getting three.
19 SEP 2026
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