How to sing and play with your guitar

Summary

Mix and match activities to create a fun lesson in which students will practice singing and playing the guitar at the same time. Integrate Solfeg.io in teaching the basics of guitar playing and singing.

💻 Materials:

• Solfeg.io web app best used with Chrome browser
• Projector or computer and access to WIFI
• Guitars
• Mobile devices with the Solfeg.io mobile app installed (optional)

🎲 Activities included:

• Learning the G, D & C chords
• Playing the G, D & C chords in the song
• Learning to sign the song “Chasing Cars”
• Learning to combine playing and singing the song “Chasing Cars”

Introduction to the song

🕐 Time: 5 min

🎯 Objectives:

• Get familiar with the chosen song and its vocal and instrumental parts
• Describe the characteristics of a song

🎶 Recommended Song:

🎲 Activity:

• Project the song on the screen Click on “Guitar” under “Tools” - “Visuals” so that the guitar chord diagrams are visible.
• Listen to a part of the song.
• Shortly discuss the song with the class.

How would you describe the vocal part of the song?

What is the song about?

What chords are there in this song? Do you know how to play them on the guitar?

Play the G chord

🕐 Time: 10 min

🎯 Objectives:

• Learn to play the G chord on the guitar

🎶 Song:

🎲 Activity:

• Click on 'G' under 'Tools' - 'Chords' so that the Solfeg.io fretboard showing the G chord is visible.
• To play the G chord, students should place the 3rd finger on the 1st string, 3rd fret. Then add the 1st finger on the 5th string, 2nd fret. Lastly - add the second finger on the 6th string, 3rd fret. Then strum all six strings downwards with their right thumb.
• Let them practice the chord and get familiar with it!
• Play the verse or the chorus of the song and listen to it with your students.
• Tell the students that they will now have to try to play the G chord in this song.
• The rules are simple - as soon as the G chord passes the red line - play it! Other chords should be omitted now.
• Press play and let them practice the chord and get familiar with it! You can also press the loop button in the controls so that the intro section would repeat multiple times.

Next chord - D

🕐 Time: 5 min

🎯 Objectives:

• Learn to play the D chord on the guitar

🎶 Song:

🎲 Activity:

• Click on 'D' under 'Tools' - 'Chords' so that the Solfeg.io fretboard showing the D chord is visible.
• Tell your students to play the D chord on their ukuleles with their left hand. To play that chord, students should place the 2nd finger on the 1st string, 2nd fret. Then add the 3rd finger on the 2nd string, 3rd fret. Lastly, add the 1st finger on the 3rd string, 2nd fret. Strum only four strings downwards, starting with the third thickest string.
• Let them practice the chord and get familiar with it!

Combine G & D chord

🕐 Time: 10 min

🎯 Objectives:

• Learn to play the G & D chord on the guitar

🎶 Song:

🎲 Activity:

• Tell students that they will have to play the G and D chords in this song.
• Look at the song and play G and D chords when they pass the red line
• Leave out the C chord for now.
• Slow the song down by pressing “﹣” on the left side of the “Play” button. You can press it up to 4 times to choose the preferred speed.
• Play the verse or the chorus of the song and let them practice the chords and get familiar with it! You can also press the loop button in the controls so that the section would repeat multiple times:
• When students are comfortable with the speed, repeat the exercise at a faster speed until the original speed of the song is reached.

Play the last chord - C

🕐 Time: 5 min

🎯 Objectives:

• Learn to play the C chord on the guitar

🎶 Song:

🎲 Activity:

• Click on 'C' under 'Tools' - 'Chords' so that the Solfeg.io fretboard showing the C chord is visible.
• To play the C chord, students should place their 1st finger on the 2nd string, 1st fret. Then add 2nd finger on the 4th string, 2nd fret. Lastly - add 3rd finger on 5th string, 3rd fret. Strum only five strings downwards, starting with the second thickest string.
• Let them practice the chord and get familiar with it!

Get comfortable with the chord combo

🕐 Time: 5 min

🎯 Objectives:

• Practice a chord combo at different speeds

🎶 Song:

🎲 Activity:

• Click on the beginning of the chorus on the timeline in the song player.
• Press “Play” and invite the class to play along, following the chord symbols.
• If needed, slow the song down by pressing “﹣” on the left side of the “Play” button. You can press it up to 4 times to choose the preferred speed.
• When students are comfortable with the speed, repeat the exercise at a faster speed until the original speed of the song is reached.
• You can loop a selected part of the song by pressing the “Loop” button on the right side of the “Play” button.

Vocal warm-up

🕐 Time: 5 min

🎯 Objectives:

• Warm up for singing a song

🎲 Activity:

• Hum, sliding from C4 to C5. Repeat the exercise, starting one half tone higher - from the C#4. Continue repeating the exercise, each time stepping one half tone higher until the limits of a comfortable vocal range are reached. Then keep repeating the exercise, going one half tone lower each time!
• Do a lip buzz, sliding between two notes, for example, C4 and C5. Repeat it a few times.

Play the verse

🕐 Time: 12 min

🎯 Objectives:

• Get familiar with the chord combo of the chosen song
• Play along to the chosen song at different speeds

🎶 Recommended Song:

🎲 Activity:

• Click on the beginning of the verse on the timeline of the song player.
• Slow the song down by pressing “﹣” on the left side of the “Play” button. You can press it up to 4 times to find the most suitable speed.
• Press “Play” and invite the class to strum all the chords when they appear at the red line.
• You can loop a selected part of the song by pressing the “Loop” button on the right side of the “Play” button.
• When students are comfortable with the chord changes at slower speed, click on “+” on the left side of the “Play” button to increase the tempo.

Learn the vocal part

🕐 Time: 10 min

🎯 Objectives:

• Get familiar with vocal part of the chosen song
• Sing along to the chosen song at different speeds

🎶 Recommended Song:

🎲 Activity:

• First, listen to Verse 1 and read the lyrics.
• Repeat Verse 1 and speak the lyrics out loud.
• Hum or sing the melody with syllables of choice, for example, “lah-lah”, “dah-dah” or just vowels - “ah” or “oh”.
• Sing the melody with lyrics.
• If you did all this slowly, try to repeat the verse at a faster speed until you reach the original tempo.
• Try singing Verse 1 with the vocal track muted - you can mute it under “Controls” - “Volume”.

Play and sing

🕐 Time: 5 min

🎯 Objectives:

• Practice the chords and vocal part in the song
• Practice ensemble playing skills

🎶 Recommended Song:

🎲 Activity:

• Split the class into two groups.
• Press “Play” and invite one group to sing and the other to play the chords on the guitar.
• Repeat Verse 1 and invite the groups to switch - the one that sang previously should now play the chords and vice versa!
• You can slow the song down by pressing “﹣” on the left side of the “Play” button. You can press it up to 4 times to find the most suitable speed.

Perform Verse 1

🕐 Time: 5 min

🎯 Objectives:

• Practice playing and singing at the same time

🎶 Recommended Song:

🎲 Activity:

• Slow the song down by pressing “﹣” on the left side of the “Play” button. You can press it up to 4 times to find the most suitable speed.
• Invite all students to play and sing along!
• When students are comfortable with playing and singing at a slower speed, click on “+” on the left side of the “Play” button to increase the tempo. Repeat the exercise until the original tempo is reached!

Reflection

🕐 Time: 3 min

🎯 Objectives:

• Reflect on the learning process

🎲 Activity:

Ask these questions to the class and have a short discussion

• Was it challenging to play and sing along?

Homework assignment

🕐 Time: 3 min

🎯 Objectives:

• Practice playing and singing the whole song
• Consolidate the concepts learned in the lesson

🎲 Activity:

Challenge students to go beyond the lesson by…

• Learning to sing and play other parts of the song
• Learning the lyrics and chords by heart
• Learning another song from the suggestion list