I suspect the difficulty in speaking and playing at the same time might have to do with the fact that the same area of the brain deals with fine motor control of the vocal apparatus AND the fingers. That's why us righties outnumber the lefties. Broca's area and all that - left hemisphere.

Malcolm I used to play the fiddle a long, long time ago, and I think the whole thing about hearing it may be a matter of getting used to hearing it coming from a different place. We're only talking a matter of inches. Now, I'm a wee bit deaf in my right ear, so who knows - maybe your hearing is a little low in the left and you in particular need to get it closer.

ciarili