I can only sing "good" when I'm singing along to a song.

[babyjohn]

Hello folk new member here....anyways

I notice when I'm singing along to a song I sing quite attractive. I have gotten a lot of complaints that I sing really good when I'm like singing along in the car and stuff of that sorts.

But when I sing Karaoke I just struggle. I don't know if I'm singing in the wrong key or something but I know something's wrong. There is only like 1-2 songs I can sing acapella that I sound good. But whenever I go to like a sports bar or something try and sing a Karaoke song I just can't. I don't know how to sing it....

 

Even when singing along in a choir or something I can't sing from the book I need to hear the voice of the others and I can immediately start to sing correctly.

 

So what's the problem here...??? Any tips on how to be the spotlight singer???

 

Maybe I'm just destined to be a backup singer

 

 

Thank you.

[1001gear]

Singing is difficult period. You don't even have keys or frets to look at. If you want help, you need to post examples of how horrible you are so the the guys can break it down.

[ido1957]

You need to do some ear training so you can identify pitches, Google it if you need info.

[highmtn]

Another variable that may be throwing you a curve ball when you karaoke is that most karaoke setups have every song in several different keys.

 

If you don't know what Key the original song is in by the original artist, the karaoke DJ may load up a version of the song that is too high or too low for you to sing. In that case you will crash and burn when the song starts, and suffer all the way to the end. It's the worst. You just want the song to end, but it goes on and on...

 

If you can, find out in what key you sing the songs you want to sing. That way you can say "Lady in Red in the Key of A" and they can pull up a version of it that works for you. Otherwise, unless you bring your own karaoke tracks with you (which is the best way to go) you are at the mercy of luck... and luck can be good luck or bad...

 

Bob

[PhilMoufarrege]

The way pitch is developed is by learning to sing acapella. If you only sing with the crutch of a melody behind you then you will not be able to sing without it. I struggled with this for YEARS. No one told me the answer was a simple as this:

 

Start by playing the first line of the song. Hit pause. Now try to sing it back. Play it again and compare your pitch. Hit Pause. Sing it again. Move along to the next phrase.

 

You want to get to the point where you can sing the entire song and stay on pitch completely acapella just from hitting the first note as a reference.

 

THis is how the bulk of your training should be done in order to truly build pitch and improvisational skill.

 

I will say it again...DON'T simply "sing along to songs", play the phrase, listen to it. Then try to sing it back acapella!!!

[chadherrella]

you need to learn to match tones with instruments. you can match with the human voice, now you need to familiarize yourself with piano guitar and other instruments.

 

theres an ios app called right note...it trains your ear with the piano...go to the pitch section and press start. it will play a note and give you time to match the tone or note. it will tell you if you matched the note correctly...keep doing this and you will get more familiar with how instruments sound and how to match their tones or notes. remember the notes you got right and how you did it.

 

if it is difficult at first you can ask someone who can match notes correctly to sing after the piano note...remember how the piano sounded, match your friends voice and remember what you did.

 

 

 

[Iceyfire]

Im going to take a guess here and say it is probably pitch. I used to be the same and I was really confused.

 

Basically the pitch of a song is very hard to determine to the untrained ears. When you sang along to the songs you were most likely singing an entire octave lower but when you sing along it doesnt really make as much a difference.

However in karaoke with the intruments being on the original pitch, it sounds off when you sing an octave lower than intended. Naturally you then realise and try to sing an octave higher and so struggle with the high notes.

 

The other possibility could just be in karaokes or wherever, the songs are played a few keys off to the original and this could be confusing as well as it makes finding the tune quite difficult at the start.

[Sing Better In 3 Days]

A lot of these comments are spot on. Some of the karaoke MIDI tracks are awful and do not blend well with the human voice, which makes it easy to be thrown off. Another idea is the idea of singing independently. When you are singing with someone else, you know that they "have your back." You can also sneak in after you hear the artist sing and correct very quickly. So, quickly that you might not even realize that you are doing it. Practice singing without the artist, or a cappella and you will see great results.

 

Another tip, memorize the song. Trying to follow and line up the words across the screen with your voice is distracting and breaks up the enjoyment and smoothness of your singing. If you memorize the song, you won't have to look at the words and you can open your voice up, relax, and enjoy your singing.