Advise me on how to develop a style people want to hear.

[NoirAbattoir]

I can sing in key. My vocal style sounds like ass. Please advise.

[The Rossness]

dude, seriously... Don't sing because you want others to like you. Sing whatever you want and if people like you its- great/ and if someone doesn't like you, than flip them the bird.

[mark7171]

sing like creed

[NoirAbattoir]

 

dude, seriously... Don't sing because you want others to like you. Sing whatever you want and if people like you its- great/ and if someone doesn't like you, than flip them the bird.

 

 

No, come on, I'm serious. My vocal style sucks ass. Maybe I should try and imitate another singer? Not the asshole from Creed, though.

[SevenString]

This is a very, very subjective subject, as is your statement, "sounds like ass".

 

On this subject, I would not try to give advice at all, based only on what you have posted. That's like the story of the blind men and the elephant, if you know that story.

 

If you post some clips of what you are currently sounding like, then maybe someone can help you with further, more meaningful advice.

 

Then again, knowing Harmony Central forums, posting clips may only buy you some harsh, rude, unhelpful commentary. Your call.

[NoirAbattoir]

You can hear my clips here. One of the problems may be that I've spent the last year singing post-punk covers.

 

www.myspace.com/thecolorsoundkids

[orbm1]

I do not have the most pleasant voice out there, but I sing with heart and I noticed that I get compliments all the time... even more than the people that can really sing....

 

so..... Sing with heart, mean what you sing.... and do not imitate....

 

imho

 

Omar

[cherri]

I agree with Omar, sincerity goes a long way.

[search now]

imo You are looking at it the way wrong way. You dont want a contrived fake thing. Find your voice. You are thinking like an actor.

[Bryan316]

This is like asking, "what's my favorite food?" I'd answer, "The meal I'm eating next!"

 

Sing the way you enjoy singing, and have fun doing it. At first I was grunting it out like James Hetfield, nowadays I'm all over the map depending on the song. Matt Barlow, Tobias Sammett, Russell Allen, Rob Halford, totally depends. But the one thing absolutely consistent about my singing is.... I'm ALWAYS ridiculous and goofy! I'm hamming it up on stage no matter what, I'm giving funny HOOAH's between lines, I'm teasing the crowd and antagonizing the front row, I'm always moving.

 

Interact with the crowd. ENTERTAIN them. Sing the parts stale and stagnant, stand still on stage, and you won't have fun and you won't capture the audience's attention.

 

 

There's something to be said about being a spazz on stage...

[Bobby D]

Finding your own sound and style can be a difficult journey.

 

When I first started taking lessons with Al, he spoke to me about learning to visualize what I wanted to sound like.

 

Obviously, I am never gonna sound like Brian Johnson from AC/DC....nor am I gonna have Steve Perry's range.

 

But the concepts that Al presented to me are the kinds of things that stick with you for years, and you really start understanding them later...sometimes much later

 

For me, it was mostly being able to sing a variety of material in cover bands, and also sing my own original music.

 

I'm starting to get pretty decent at being "me". But it's taken a lot of work and a lot of gigs to get here.

 

I think it's important to visualize how you want to sound, to be able to formulate it in your mind's eye -- and believe that you can do it. Don't overestimate your abilities. but with proper training and technique, I think many singers can sing the notes they need to.

 

then it comes down to intention and creativity.

[VengefulTikiGod]

Before everyone calls me a sellout--I suppose there's nothing wrong with, just for the sake of learning what's out there, trying out a few of the styles and inflections of various singers you like. Don't flatly rip off or imitate singers' styles of course, but don't be afraid to listen and borrow influences from various singers to help you begin to piece together your own style. I've drawn influence from singers like Paul McCartney and Van Morrison, and it's really helped give me more vocal character. Granted I don't sound like either now, but just listening to the way they do approach songs dynamically or in terms of inflection has given me a lot of good ideas.

[Al Koehn]

At the risk of being slammed to the mat on this, I quote the old quote: "there's nothing new under the sun". There are only new ways of putting old stuff together. Great comedians will tell you that they have spent years collecting funny lines, concepts and jokes from other sources, and that very little of what they do in their routines is completely new. What is unique about their humor is the way they use this collected material. In other words, they have built an arsenal of funny stuff, and they call it up and put it together in constantly changing new ways to make new routines or fit the occasion. This is their "originality."

 

Every great artist is influenced by others They collect and file into the subconscious bits and pieces, ideas and techniques they learned from others. Ask a guitar or bass player and they will often freely tell you their influences and often even show you where they "stole" from Hendrix, Steve Vai or Paul McCartney. Too many singers take pride in insisting that everything they do stylistically is totally their own original idea. It just aint so. This doesn't mean that we lift whole finished phrases, lyrics, riffs and progressions and claim them as our own. But it does mean that we should constantly be aware of what's being done by others, and begin to integrate the things we like into our own style in our own unique way. This certainly doesn't condone duplicating another's style. But drawing on the creativity of others and consciously or unconsciously using what has already been done in totally new ways is today's "originality".

 

So, just as the comedian constantly collects and files things which have already been said and done, so the singer needs to listen and collect. The cool way Steven Tyler pronounces certain vowels; the feeling of Stevie Wonder's riffing, the way Christina Aguilera fuses the blues with pop, the ballsy attitude of Reba - and on and on. Cover material is your teacher. Don't ignore it.

 

Al

[Mark Wein]

So, just as the comedian constantly collects and files things which have already been said and done, so the singer needs to listen and collect. The cool way Steven Tyler pronounces certain vowels; the feeling of Stevie Wonder's riffing, the way Christina Aguilera fuses the blues with pop, the ballsy attitude of Reba - and on and on. Cover material is your teacher. Don't ignore it. Al

 

I agree with this to a certain extent...I teach guitarists to solo and write music by learning what I consider to be great examples of the subject matter. The danger is when a developing musician fixates on one thing and beats it to death.

 

Its like making a soup. the ingredients that make a soup each has a distinctive taste...chicken tastes like chicken (), garlic tastes like garlic, carrots taste like carrots and so on. If we just boiled a bunch of carrots we would have a dish of overcooked carrots.

 

If we take a bunch of well chosen ingredients and let them simmer for a while they will eventually together become something greater...chicken soup!

 

 

Seriously....you can learn important lessons from the greats but its your experience using those lessons and your diligence in collecting as many of those lessons as possible that will shape your own unique and interesting voice, whether its singing or improvising or composing music...

[orbm1]

When I said about do not imitate I mean it....

 

but, that being said.... imitating is the only way of learning..... I mean, when you teach guitar, vocals, piano, etc... you ask your student to "imitate" or "duplicate what you do, certain techinique, certain scale, certain phrase.......

 

But the danger as Mark Wein mention, the risk of imitating is that you do one thing over & over to death.....and sometimes you do not "develop" your own style.... TRUE, there is not much left to do in regards of music, but there is always something that you can do a little different that will stop you from total imitation....and that is when you create your own style....

 

So I would think..... IMITATE, LEARN, and DEVELOP!!!!

 

and fo not forget: HAVE FUN!!!!!(btw, the most important thing)

 

Omar

[Mark Wein]

and fo not forget: HAVE FUN!!!!!(btw, the most important thing)

 

Oh yeah..I forgot the most important part, too!

[hugbot]

 

imo You are looking at it the way wrong way. You dont want a contrived fake thing. Find your voice. You are thinking like an actor.

 

 

I dont think theres anything neccisarilly wrong that way. Some people visualise singing one way, others another.

[NoirAbattoir]

 

At the risk of being slammed to the mat on this, I quote the old quote: "there's nothing new under the sun". There are only new ways of putting old stuff together. Great comedians will tell you that they have spent years collecting funny lines, concepts and jokes from other sources, and that very little of what they do in their routines is completely new. What is unique about their humor is the way they use this collected material. In other words, they have built an arsenal of funny stuff, and they call it up and put it together in constantly changing new ways to make new routines or fit the occasion. This is their "originality." Every great artist is influenced by others They collect and file into the subconscious bits and pieces, ideas and techniques they learned from others. Ask a guitar or bass player and they will often freely tell you their influences and often even show you where they "stole" from Hendrix, Steve Vai or Paul McCartney. Too many singers take pride in insisting that everything they do stylistically is totally their own original idea. It just aint so. This doesn't mean that we lift whole finished phrases, lyrics, riffs and progressions and claim them as our own. But it does mean that we should constantly be aware of what's being done by others, and begin to integrate the things we like into our own style in our own unique way. This certainly doesn't condone duplicating another's style. But drawing on the creativity of others and consciously or unconsciously using what has already been done in totally new ways is today's "originality". So, just as the comedian constantly collects and files things which have already been said and done, so the singer needs to listen and collect. The cool way Steven Tyler pronounces certain vowels; the feeling of Stevie Wonder's riffing, the way Christina Aguilera fuses the blues with pop, the ballsy attitude of Reba - and on and on. Cover material is your teacher. Don't ignore it. Al

 

 

 

This is kinda what I was thinking of trying to do.