Hey Bill, Bob here, the hardest thing about singing while playing is that you lose your place and forget the words. I choked up while singing a Johnny Cash gospel song in church and it was pretty embarrassing. A music stand is a real help. If you got the chords and notes down pat, the main thing is to have a copy of the lyrics ready. You can find lyrics on the net real easy, then just copy and paste onto Word Pad or Microsoft Office whatever, pick a nice big type font like 24 to 48 size and then print the words out onto a sheet of paper cuz hand written shit will mess you up when the time comes.
Playing guitar is alot like typing. You never really start to cook until you break the habit of looking at your fingers. Your finger tips have these things called nerve clusters and you should learn to let them do their job and play by feel. Lately, I have been learning to play Bass and it is sorta like writing with Jumbo Crayons because everything is on a bigger scale, but I am finding it to be alot easier than when I first tryed learning guitar. I only look down when my pinky has to hit a fret, cuz it's so much smaller than the other fingers.
I remember me and some friends used to use an ironing board for lyrics. We would tape them facing either way and that way, all of us could walk over and glance at them while playing and still be on the same page so to speak, plus it made a real handy place to set our beer on as well without messing up any equipment, and the best part was that it was adjustable.
