It's funny, in a way - I'm at that same point right now. Only, I'm trying to play syncopated rhythms with my right hand (Chet Atkins style). For the life of me, I'm not able to play alternating bass notes with my thumb while I have my other three fingers doing their own thing. I'll get it, but it'll take time.
Last year, I had the same problem as you where it felt like one side of my brain would cancel out when I started to sing while playing. Either my singing would start to get messed up while I kept playing normally, or my guitar playing would get messed up while I sang.
After getting 5 songs under my belt that I could sing along with while playing, new songs after that became much easier. I started off with John Mayer's "Your Body is a Wonderland", btw.
It's tough work, but you'll get it if you keep trying. Sometimes you might want to throw the guitar on the floor - if so, just give it a break for a while and come back to it, screw up, try, try again. It'll *click* for you eventually.
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