Short instructional monologue by Lauren Bateman giving practical advice for beginners on how to sing while playing guitar: practice strumming patterns until they are automatic, test by walking or conversing while strumming, and simplify patterns if you begin to mess up before adding vocals.
So many students have trouble with singing and playing guitar at the same time because they try to do it too fast. What do I mean? Most people are just getting started with the guitar, which means their strumming hand is not on autopilot. When you want to sing and play something at the same time, you can't be thinking about your strumming pattern at all. What I recommend doing is trying to stand up and walk around the room while you play your strumming pattern, or just try to have a conversation with someone while you're playing the strumming pattern. If you can do that without messing up, then you can go right ahead and sing the song. But if you do start messing up, simplify the pattern until the more difficult patterns become automatic.
