Originally Posted by: haghj500Start with the simplest song you can play and sing out loud as you play. You're not just asking your body to sing as you play, your mind is trying to keep track of other rhythms as you play.

It’s like sitting in a chair and rubbing your belly with one hand while patting your head with the other. Then deciding I'm going to swing one leg and stomp the other while rubbing my belly and patting my head. Adding singing is like adding your legs, in time it can be done, but it will take time.

It would help a lot if you didn't have to think as you change chords; it would give your brain more time to process the other thoughts. So start simple and add as you can.

At this point it really doesn't matter if you’re playing a real song while singing real words to that song. You need to get your mind use to doing the things at the same time. So play an Am7 to a Dm7 over and over and make up words as you go and sing out loud. Once you are more use to doing it, start playing a simple real song with real words. I picked those two chords thinking you play them more often than an open G and an open D. If I'm wrong, start with whatever two or three chords you can make the fastest without thinking.

Thanks. I'll try it out right away, and hopefully see some progress. The chords you suggested are a bit off, compared to what I normally play most of. I usually use the open-position Major Chords (A, C, D, E and G), the Amin, Dmin and Emin, the 6th string and 5th string Power Chords, as well as some Sus2 and Sus4 chords. For some reason, those just feel most natural for me. I don't quite know the Am7 and Dm7 chord-shapes in my sleep, but if they're anything like dim7 chords, I fear they're gonna take a long time to learn to play comfortably :)

I think at the moment, the chords I have most ease with playing brainlessly would be A Major, D Major and G Major or A Minor, C Major and E Minor (not sure why, since it's a less typical chord progression than A, D, E...). I suppose starting with either of those two progressions would give me the most mileage, am I right? Just play something with those Chords and try singing some words over them?