Being human is pretty cool. I’m able to make and use tools, I’ve got opposable thumbs, and I’m able to contemplate my own existence. Although being human is totally awesome most of the time, there are some drawbacks. One of which is that I can only concentrate on one thing at a time. Now, don’t get me wrong, I know that the concentration thing is great for taking math tests and escaping from 500 pound gorillas, but when I first started trying to play guitar and sing at the same time, I’ll be darned if it didn’t take away a bit of the magic.

If you are human like me and you want to learn to sing and play your guitar at the same time, you will have to use repetition in order to attain the muscle memory necessary to achieve the task. Believe it or not, it’s just like walking and chewing bubble gum. In other words, once you’ve done something enough times, you no longer have to use your concentration to do that task. You can walk and chew gum at the same time because you’ve been doing both of those things since you were very small. You’ve got it mastered. You no longer have to think about it. Playing guitar and singing at the same time is just like that.

If you are having a hard time playing and singing try this: First, learn the part you want to play on the guitar or bass or drum or whatever instrument you want to play it on, and then memorize it. Play it more. Repeat. Play it until you can tell someone your address out loud while playing it. If you can talk to someone while you’re playing the instrumental part, you are ready to start singing along. Memorize the lyrics. Know what beat each line starts and ends on. Repeat.

If it sounds like a lot of work, you’re right. Teaching yourself to do new stuff is difficult. Especially when it involves the movement of small body parts like fingers and vocal chords. It can be fun, though, if you want. If you start out with easy songs that you like to listen to and work up to the more difficult stuff, you just may enjoy the work.

While at this point in time it doesn’t seem like it will be too far off before we’re able to plug in to the matrix to learn new skills, the truth is that us humans are not able to do so currently. It turns out that if we want to learn how to sing and play, we’ve got to sing and play. A lot. The key words being “want” and “a lot.” If you want it, you will do it a lot and it won’t seem like work. Have some fun. After all, you don’t work music, you play music.