I do both fairly well with both, but not at the same time. I don't know how to accompany myself, except chords on my left hand. I can sing over my melody, but I read that was not acceptable, except in church. I really should work on it. Don Mason gave a few hints on how he did it a while back, but lost the thread.

Bernie

Good luck Bernie, your audiences will notice and appreciate it emensly.

At the beginning of my career 9 out of 10 songs were instrumental, Latins, waltz, polkas, ethnic, and big band, no vocal, you had to be a good musician. How things have changed.

Some of my guitar students started forming their bands after taking lessons for three months.
John C.

"Good luck Bernie, your audiences will notice and appreciate it emensly."

Thanks Donny, but where do I start. Left hand chords, block or arpeggiated on right ? I think Don was saying to put in little riffs that would follow the song.

Start by eliminating the moldy line with your RH
and let your vocal take it's place.
LH triggers the chords and the right hand is free to comp
solo and chord arpeggiate thruout the song arrangement.
You will be juggling Three things at once.
There are no rules... do it as you see fit for the song that what makes it unique.
Start off easy with songs you don't need charts,
lyrics, etc, and just play and sing without playing the melody line.
Do it every day and after a while you will get used to doing it for sure. have fun.

Berie and others here is a few short demo songs that I have played live on the S950 with vocals to give you an idea of what I am talking about regarding singing, playing, & solo at the same time ...
hope it helps you a bit to get started..

https://app.box.com/s/as8ngfvw1tesg22cq9dn5ce5dn541zvj

Let me add this: part of being a complete musician is the ability to sing. In college besides music theory we also did sight singing ( solege) and ear training.

I hear too many players complain they had years of piano but can’t sing or play by ear. That tells me their training was incomplete. It’s not too late. Music is a life long study. There’s always something new to learn or improve.

Wise words Paul it's not Rocket science..in fact its alot of fun!

https://app.box.com/s/as8ngfvw1tesg22cq9dn5ce5dn541zvj

Donny one of the points I was trying to make in an earlier post..

An accomplished player that plays rhythmic style in the left hand with moving bass notes and chord structure in the right hand that goes beyond a basic 1-2-5 .. A player with a much higher skill level, and to be fluent as a singer is very rare ( sure Barry Manilow)..

The arranger keyboards cover up the ability to excel as a player, but when you have relied as an instrumentalist and developed your skill, it is much harder to sing or even want to sing. Nor is it a necessity.

Just as an example, comfort zone counts... You prefer to play in the key of "C", Play your material in C# or B, does it effect your vocal?

It surly will, because you are not in your comfort zone, and the added awareness and thinking about the different key.

Now for let's say a accomplished piano player that takes much more skill, the concentration to add vocals is much harder to obtain..

Not an excuse but a fact..


PS: Here is my personal example...when our brain power is pushed to limits Also a pet peeve.. When someone insist on having a conversation with you while you are playing "live".. especially when you are backing someone else... you can not play a turn around and hold a chord, to answer a stupid question

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True to be great at both is rare but done. Simply lay back and simplify on the piano while singing and then put more into it on your solos.
Except for Jazz, Classical, and Church I can't think of any other preformance categories where singing is "Not a Necessity".
EX. Diana Krall-started out as a pretty good jazz pianist but what do people know her for, her silky vocals. Check out some of her vids on You Tube.