How to learn to sing

[sunvalleylaw]

I have not sung much on my own (they make me sing a little bit in our acoustic jam) but did in an acapello 4 part group in college. There, we were taught to listen for pitch by plugging one ear with a finger. Does that help one hear one's self? I guess it would help one to hear pitch, but not tone so much. Any thoughts?

I am enjoying the posts, as I would love to sing more.

[deeaa*]

Plugging the ear by any means helps you hear the sound through your own skull/jaw bones, which _may_ help you hear the pitch better. Depends on the style&such. It doesn't help as much if you sing high&heavy style, better with lower vocals.

[Tone2TheBone]

I'm a fair singer at best. I just wish I could sing and play at the same time. Not that I'm that great a player either, just not good at multi-tasking I guess....

Same here. I can sing and harmonize pretty well but I cannot sing and play at the same time. My brain is not wired for that. With practice I probably could though I guess.

[thearabianmage]

I've been trying to learn to sing for 4 years now and after practicing and researching techniques and speaking to (incredibly hot) vocalists at the Institute, who can bloody wail!, everyone emphasises warm-ups to the Nth degree.

Warm-ups, then breathing techniques (intake, output, control), then posture/position. There are a million other things people say, but from my own experience, these are three big'uns. . .

This is a great thread, by the way. Loads of awesome advice!

[sunvalleylaw]

Ok, warm ups, breath techniques and posture, and just singing. Maybe recording one's self. Sounds good.

What about picking songs in your range? I can stay with Eddy Vedder on his mellower stuff before he starts howling. Though I play lots of Neil Young, I cannot reach his range and have to sing an octave down. Back when I sang four part, I could sing bass parts or baritone, but usually was assigned bass. It is overall more natural, though I have to reach for the really low notes. In baritone, I have to reach for the high end of that range.

[deeaa*]

Warmups work well - I never do those but they would be great. Breathing is important - at least not doing it all wrong is :-)

Howling is a good word...muchos easier to get high when you howl as opposed to trying to sing. Baby bawling all the way...makes it easier.

By all means find songs that are good for your range. From your description I'd assume songs like 'Born on the Bayoy' in C would be work...of Pearl Jam, try 'Elderly Woman'...Beatles: Hide Your Love Away...you'll find good ones. Grateful Dead's country rock songs are suitable too for 'mid' voices.

I'm naturally a bass, but I find myself singing female high voices even now and then...it comes with just lots of use.

[thearabianmage]

What about picking songs in your range?

Picking songs in your range note-wise is a good idea, although you can always transpose a tune if it's too high or too low

But you should always try and expand your palette - practice many songs, in many different styles.

[deeaa*]

BTW Neil Young's Heart of Gold is a good tune not too high.

Mind you, usually when you *think* it's too high it isn't. Neil's voice is just very tinny and sounds high - but it really isn't. Chances are, you sing it like you're trying to _sound_ as high as he does, and actually singing way higher.

Voices differ. If you sing many a tune at the correct pitch...it may sounds lower than the original just because your voice is much more bassy.

[street music]

I'm enjoying this thread, I too want to start singing more and I just feel that voice is much worse than my guitar playing , which is really just strumming along . I have several songs that I love to sing along too but just haven't recored my self. I use to sing in grade school and church but I just seem to stay back away from the mic when I'm playing with others.

[deeaa*]

One more thing came to mind: do NOT sing off-key. I can't think of anything more detrimental for voice than singing off-key.

What I mean by that is that if you sing without being assured of the voice, quite tentatively and maybe even wavering a bit, you're bound to be stressing the voice and 'singing too much'.

So start with really simple melodies, or just one note or two, long legatos. Play for instance just open G and A and sing to that just wooo...oooo...or something. Pick two notes you know well and aren't too high.

But BE SURE of the note. Be so sure you can set aside the guitar and wait a while and then be able to belt out the same woo-oo in exact pitch. And when you're sure of the note and it isn't too high, you CAN really belt it out. Imagine you're not singing, you're yelling at some young punk trying to steal your car or something :-) 'Heeey Youu!' but exactly in tune.

Unless you're really constantly producing sound the wrong way, this kind of natural-pitch yelling should happen easily and when you learn the notes and can hit them with exact accuracy and conviction, you could do that all day and not strain your voice.

Only and ONLY when you can do that no problem and make a sound loud enough for neighbors to hear, it's time to go onward to more notes - play simple patterns and find out how far up or low you can go and STILL retain the very same voice level and conviction. The very second you hit a note that's even slightly harder to sing with conviction, fall back. I suggest playing for instance whole notes in 9 notes rotation, start from G first, 9 whole notes up, I usually just sing 'this sounds stupid' divided on those nine, next start the same from G#, then A, and so on. Now if the A riff suddenly gets hard to sing revert back to G# and do that a few more times.

At best I used to be able to sing from dropped D on low E to something like 8th fret on high E string like that and no falsetto yet, but these days I struggle to go so low, something like F is lowest I can sing OK.

[pes_laul]

One thing My choir director taught me on how to improve range was to play on a piano (or guitar doesnt matter) middle C and keep going down half steps till it gets uncomfortable. Then do the same thing again but keep going higher until it gets uncomfortable. If you keep doing this it will build your range up and before you know your range will improve

[sunvalleylaw]

One thing My choir director taught me on how to improve range was to play on a piano (or guitar doesnt matter) middle C and keep going down half steps till it gets uncomfortable. Then do the same thing again but keep going higher until it gets uncomfortable. If you keep doing this it will build your range up and before you know your range will improve

Thanks Kris, that is a good one. And one can do that and make sure they are hitting the note like deeaa says. I am going to do that.

[deeaa*]

One thing My choir director taught me on how to improve range was to play on a piano (or guitar doesnt matter) middle C and keep going down half steps till it gets uncomfortable. Then do the same thing again but keep going higher until it gets uncomfortable. If you keep doing this it will build your range up and before you know your range will improve

Yep that's what I meant, only IMO it's better to sing several notes' runs, just change the starting point always a step (or half) higher.

That's because if you just keep going lower and lower or vice versa, it can be pretty exhausting. If you do the same going like 'la la la la la' and then the same a tad higher, you get to 'rest' the voice because you also sing already familiar notes in the same run, and then the highest may slip out correctly easier than constantly just straining higher.

[Katastrophe]

You know, I just figured out my range -- tenor.


























































Ten or twelve miles away.

[deeaa*]

Amazing as it may seem, I have no clue except naturally I'd be bass. How do you figure out what is your range?

[pes_laul]

Yep that's what I meant, only IMO it's better to sing several notes' runs, just change the starting point always a step (or half) higher.

That's because if you just keep going lower and lower or vice versa, it can be pretty exhausting. If you do the same going like 'la la la la la' and then the same a tad higher, you get to 'rest' the voice because you also sing already familiar notes in the same run, and then the highest may slip out correctly easier than constantly just straining higher.

Yeah Like in choir when we were doing voice test to see who were tenors, baritones etc. We would do like a Sol Mi Do dealio then go up or down a half step with it and keep going both ways.

[Audiofan]

Hi Paul!

It can be intimidating to take the plunge into singing.... You can first practice at home, singing and playing along to your favorite tunes. That's how I started.

Once you get going singing live and practicing in a band setting you will find that if you don't use the right technique or warm ups your voice will strain and suffer.

Hence, I present to you vocal health 101- an article a good friend of mine wrote...

http://en.audiofanzine.com/vocal-tec...r-singers.html

I know, it seemed easy to hear all metal singers screaming etc. but you will not believe how much voice coaching goes on there.....

Good luck!

[Brian Krashpad]

Amazing as it may seem, I have no clue except naturally I'd be bass. How do you figure out what is your range?

The way I've seen in done in musical theatre is that they get a piano or other keyboard, and pick a scale and have you sing it along with the piano. If you can get through that, they move up in upper registers with more scales until you get to where your voice breaks, and they make a note of where that is. Then they go back to where they began and go downward, again until you can't hit the note. That literally is your range, and I guess the keyboard is divided up into the various named ranges like bass, tenor, alto, soprano, etc. so they compare where your voice can't hit notes to the established named ranges, and put you in whichever you're closest to.

That's what it seemed like they were doing anyhow. I did some googling and found this comparison of ranges:


Soprano
High female voice, G3 (below middle C4) to F6 above high C6 although anywhere above high C can be included.

Coloratura
A singer, usually soprano, who sings ornamental passages in music - C4 to F6 or G6 above high C6

Lyric Soprano
Warmer middle sound - Bb3 below middle C4 to high C6 or D6

Spinto Soprano
Usually a thicker sound with more edge and volume but with the same range as a the Lyric Soprano

Dramatic Soprano
The loudest and lowest with cutting power - low Bb3 or A3, to a pushed high C6

Mezzo-Soprano
Middle female voice with dark quality, Low A3 or G3 (below middle C4) to at least high C although it is not uncommon for high A6 or Bb6 to Eb6 above high C6.

Alto or Contralto
Low Female Voice, low C3 (below middle C4) to high C6 or up to high A6.

Tenor
High Male Voice, C (an octave below middle C) up to high C or D (or above).

Countertenor
Highest male voice, also called alto, often falsetto - (see Russell Oberlin distincts True Countertenor from Falsettist YouTube clip)

Heldentenor
Poweful dramatic tenor voice

Baritone
Middle Male Voice, low G/F an octave below middle C to B, F or G above middle C (just below the Tenor high C).

Bass
Baritone - More like a bass than a baritone, lacks the low bass notes

Bass
Low Male Voice, low E (or lower) an octave below middle C to E, F G above middle C.

Basso Cantante
High bass voice suitable for solo singing

Basso Profundo
Deep bass voice encompassing about two octaves above C below the bass staff

Source: http://www.vocalist.org.uk/vocal_range_key.html

For the record I have no idea what my range is either.

[deeaa*]

Ok, so what is the guitar low E? Is that the low E as in piano as well? That is the lowest I can go with natural voice now, and I recall some singing teacher saying I am bass. Used to be able to go dropped D pretty easily but no more.

From there on, hm, I don't know really how do I find the correct C's and whatnot on the guitar...probably even less on a piano. LOL.