Singingbassist.com brings you interviews with notable singing-bassists, reasons promoting the practice of performing as a singing-bassist, and methods and tips on going from guitar-strumming songwriter to band-leading singing-bassist.

Back in the day, after learning a few things on the guitar and having played on a bass-guitar a few times, I started to realize how much more difficult it was to play bass and sing, than it is to sing and strum a guitar. I always asked, “How do they do that?”. Most hearsay told me “in-born talent”, and most articles told me “hard work and practice”. I was dissatisfied with both responses and have set out to delineate a real method for bassists who want to sing while playing, and for songwriters who want to sing and perform on the bass-guitar.

I am a singer-songwriter, originally. However, recordings are nothing special anymore. Any kid can make a recording on his computer, and being a true musician entails not only recording but primarily performing. So, at the beginning of ones career, producing superlative music recordings is rather fruitless, if they are not accompanied by superlative music performances. Superlative music performances cost a lot, unless the band is compact. Making superlative music performances with a compact band requires that the songwriter masters the vocals as well as one of the instruments.

Ergo, singing-bassist = “consummate songwriter”.

There are numerous tutorials on playing bass-guitar, and even more guides and tutorials on singing, but there is no single reference work on singing while playing the bass guitar. Until Now.

Here is some sample resonance which this project has earned:

• “Practicing blindfolded sounds like a great idea….I like the idea of practicing with a metronome, and slow before fast.” -T. Koontz, Pittsburgh, Pa.
• “I’m … interested to looking at your final video to find out….about why its interesting to talk about playing bass and singing!“ -Chris Ballew, Singing-Basitarist of the Presidents of the United States of America, during our interview.
• “Its a really great thing you’re doing, I really wish you all the best,…..until you contacted me, nobody’s really ever asked me about singing and playing at the same time.” -R. Langdon, Singing-Bassist of Spacehog, at the beginning of our first interview.
• “Will, thank you for giving me the nudge to make this book and the continued nudging when I felt I wasn’t going anywhere with it. Every author needs a guy like you. I’m very proud of it. And look at that cover! Roxana did a great job. The color, the style. I don’t know if I’m just biased, but I think that cover just jumps out at you. It’s simple in its approach and design, but totally effective. I love it! I just love it. And I get emotional when I think about it too much.“- Dennis Alstrand, Contributor and Author
• “I just want to say I absolutely love the website. I’m a bass player for my original band No One Says Eureka and a cover band Sons of Sanford. I’ve been writing songs of my own for about a year and recently I’ve been practicing singing and playing bass at the same time. So needless to say, I’m very happy I stumbled on to your website. The interviews are great and I hope someday I will be successful enough to be considered as an interviewee. And I’m a fan of a lot of the bands you have on the page, so thanks again for creating it!” – C.B.

Singingbassist.com interviews successful Singing Bassists on the topics of their songwriting, practice and rehearsal techniques, equipment, and performance strategies, all with the aim of finding out why and how do they sing and play bass at the same time?

I have been playing the guitar since the age of four.  I’ve played bass since the age of fifteen and have been intrigued by singing bassists in the pop-rock world for a few years. On the more official side, I enjoy a membership in the International Society of Bassists, and due to my songwriting exploits, I am a member of the Cooperative Society of Music Authors and Publishers in Switzerland – SUISA.

Happy Singing and Shredding!

Will Anderson The Singing Bassist singingbassist@gmail.com http://www.singingbassist.com https://www.facebook.com/SingingBassist