Want To Sing Along Well

[housered]

I don't know if I am tone deaf but I am told that I don't sing in key.

 

I am not a vocalist. I am just talking about sining along to songs that I play for myself, family and friends.

 

No big aspirations here, I just want to sing in key as I play.

 

So, here is the big question that I am sure has no simple answers:

 

"How best do I learn to sing?"

 

Thanks!

[Jersey Jack]

Boy, if I knew the answer to that one...!

 

That's A BIG QUESTION, fer sure!

 

Okay, since not knowing the answer has never before stopped me from answering, here's my 10-step program:

 

1. Record yourself. When you listen back, see if you can tell whether or not you're on pitch. If you can't tell, stop here--those rare folks who are truly tone-deaf are not capable of learning how to sing. There aren't many like this, but if you really can't tell, I'm afraid that seals it.

 

2. If you're off-key, but you can recognize when you're off-key, you're in business. Now try to speak your song--work with your pronunciation, phrasing, etc, but don't sing. Just speak.

 

3. Once you're comfortable speaking the song, try speaking the song in pitch--okay, you're actually singing at this point, but you should be using your regular speaking voice. Don't stylize things or blow air. Simply speak in pitch. Nice and easy; don't try too hard.

 

4. Get lessons. If you can't afford lessons, read. Roger Love's books are pretty good.

 

5-10. Practice.

[Bajazz]

Tone-deafness is not permanent. It's just lack of training. Being a vocal teacher myself and hearing from other teachers I've never heard of a person who couldn't learn to sing on pitch.

I agree with vocal lessons.

A good training for learning to sing on pitch is trying to match random notes played on a instrument and the other way around. Just keep on doing it.

 

And another important thing: BE PREPARED TO PRACTICE FOR HOURS DAILY IN THE START. It's a thing that is easy overlooked today. Everything is supposed to be a instant joy these days, the ones 'getting it' are those who are patient and put in the work.

 

Good luck!!

[housered]

Thanks for the advice. After thinking about it, I kind of doubt that I am tone deaf because I can hear it when I play a guitar that is out of tune.

 

I will record myself.

 

I am wondering though, is there software that I can use that has a tuner attached to a microphone. I am thinking that the computer plays a pitch and then I learn to match it by watching the needle. Maybe that isn't the best way to learn.

 

Any recommendations for teachers in the Bay Area, CA?

 

Thanks!

[Bajazz]

There is a strange effect I've seen again and again. Singers who sing out of melody, but in pitch!! They often have OK technique, expression, sound and rythm. They often sing kinda in key, but chooses to sing consequently a 3rd, 4th etc below or above the melody line. And sometimes a second above or below and I've heard other variations. Phrasing is fine, and many believe they sing very good and the correct melody till someone tells them.

 

This is NOT the same as tone deaf, which are when you don't vary the pitch at all and speak/sing in one monotoneous tone/note.

 

Do you by any chance have a Playstation (2 or 3)? In that case get a SingStar game and start working with it. Start with "Easy". When you reach 90% you increase the difficulty. When you are in 90%+ at "Hard" you have a very good pitch!!

[WowieZowie]

 

Do you by any chance have a Playstation (2 or 3)? In that case get a SingStar game and start working with it. Start with "Easy". When you reach 90% you increase the difficulty. When you are in 90%+ at "Hard" you have a very good pitch!!

 

 

Hey, I have never played this game. Does it help you sing? I have a ps2. What does it help with? Can you describe the gameplay a little bit for us. This may be a tool that I am not aware of.

 

Thanks

[Jersey Jack]

You can use a standard guitar tuner to work on pitch--but do remember that the human voice will always waiver, so don't expect the needle to stand still at 12 o'clock. As long as your pitch hovers around 12:00, you're fine.

 

To Bejazz: You may be right, but I had always heard that there is a very, very small population that is truly tone-deaf. By this I mean people who really cannot tell on a recording if they are singing the correct notes--or, as housered mentioned, cannot tell if a guitar is out of tune or not. This is most certainly hearsay, however, so I'm willing to concede the point.

[Bajazz]

 

Hey, I have never played this game. Does it help you sing? I have a ps2. What does it help with? Can you describe the gameplay a little bit for us. This may be a tool that I am not aware of. Thanks

SingStar is a Karaoke game that require a connected microphone. (You can buy game w/or without mic's) The plot is to sing the melody of the song, and it's shown on the screen as bars in different positions (the higher up the bar is: the higher note and long bars are long notes) Basically it is a logical notation system that everybody can understand.

 

Now here comes the really cool thing: your pitch is measured, and is also shown paralell to the original melody, so you can see if you are singing sharp or flat or on pitch. Singing the melody perfect gives you a 100% score.

 

This is basically the same as using a tuner to hit the pitch as axcelson suggest, but a lot more fun. You also learn songs and melodies while it's a very good tool for getting great phrasing. I know it have helped me a lot and recently I found that vocal teachers and high schools use it as a tool for vocal excercise.

 

Do a google search on "singstar" or better: Go buy it! I guarantee great results in short time

[strat2]

You can use a standard guitar tuner to work on pitch--but do remember that the human voice will always waiver, so don't expect the needle to stand still at 12 o'clock. As long as your pitch hovers around 12:00, you're fine. To Bejazz: You may be right, but I had always heard that there is a very, very small population that is truly tone-deaf. By this I mean people who really cannot tell on a recording if they are singing the correct notes--or, as housered mentioned, cannot tell if a guitar is out of tune or not. This is most certainly hearsay, however, so I'm willing to concede the point.

 

Correct Ax:wave:, Tone deafness is a condition, practice will do nothing for, there are a lot of people that find it fashionable to suggest they might be tone deaf , but that's another topic.

 

I would suggest to the op if he is a guitar player, that if he is even half heartedly interested in teh 'sing along' aspect of vocalizing, he start by picking out the notes of the melody on his guitar that he wants to sing, or take the melody off the sheet music and sing to exactly match those notes.

If it looks like he can recognize the note/s than it's no more at that point than a matter of where he decides to take it.

 

By the way I know exactly what notes I'm going for (all of them) before I walk away from a tune and tell myself I have it down, it's a bit of work , but at least I'm not guessing.

I like to know the original melody perfectly, than if I think I'm good enough after that is accomplished, I'll experiment with my own rendition, but I'm kidding myself if I don't at least learn from the 'masters' first, and carry on from there.......