Can you learn to sing or do you have to be born with it?

[Miter Gauge]

I would trade 51% of my guitar playing skills to be able to sing awesomely. I would sing my wife and kids songs of love and appreciation. I would sing to my coworkers. I would sing in the shower... louder.

I assure you, if you have any since of tone at all (and you wouldn't be playing guitar if you didn't) you can learn to sing. It takes time and practice (just like any instrument) but you CAN learn.

[beatpoet]

So I think that if you work at it, you can learn to sing. Some people are born good at it, but if you work towards it, I believe you can be just as good.

 

 

Singing live most nights is definitely good for improving projection and your general vocal "fitness" for sure, but working with good producers certainly can't be underestimated.

[Cibyl]

I think it takes a little bit of both -- in born, natural talent and some or a lot of training depending on the style you sing.

I've seen/heard people that have had vocal lessons sing and sound good, but you can tell there's kind of a robotic thing going on. Then I've heard naturally talented people sing that asses off but lack control.

[ke2]

The tonality of the voice is subjective, just like amplifiers. I'm trying to learn to sing.

First the half-joke:
Why are you bothering doing the second after making the first statement?

Then the serious. I have two boys, and I sing to them all the time. Even when they want me to stop. Too bad your dad wasn't more supportive, I actually thought most Irish sang more than the general Norwegian.

Singing voice might be a subjective matter, but when you talk about singing with melody, there's a certain timbre that most people find pleasing. And that can't be learned. IMO, that is. Your entire body is an instrument, with the limitations and advantages your physique gives you. If you have a crooked septum, it might be enough to never let you reach your full potential. Still, many people with less than "perfect" voices become very successful, while others with better voices in a technical matter, never make it.

[charveldan]

You either got it or you don't. Same with guitar.

[DeadNight Warrior]

You are either born with a usable voice or not. Learning how to manipulate it properly comes with practice, but whether or not you have the instrument in the first place is all about genetics.

In a sense, yes. But your natural talking voice isn't necessarily the best you're going to get out of your voice. For one, we're mostly pretty lazy with how we use our voices. Singing is more than just a bit of vocal cord activity. It uses resonances that you'd probably never use in talking unless you happened to be Brian Blessed. The singing voice can indeed be quite different from the talking voice.

Unless you've actually got some kind of problem with your vocal facilities, technique, tonal control, range, etc., can all be taught. Maybe it'll come easier to some than others, but it's all just muscles and whatnot that need to be trained.


There are people who really just can't sing. Those are the same people that probably just shouldn't have anything to do with playing music. Or even just listening to it, in case it then encourages them to take part in it. The kind of people who just seem to have no ear at all, and can't seem to develop one.

[seahorse]

I've got this thing going on where it's like my voice is in the wrong octave. I'm either too low or too high. Sometimes I can sing the chorus perfect but the verses are too low. It's not a pitch problem, I can hear that pretty good and I can tell instantly when my voice strays off. It's frustrating to hear other people singing from a place that I can't make my voice come from. On some songs I can make it come together; I just have to hunt and pick the right ones.

[turnip]

Jeeze, I wish I could sing. I can't... and I can hear that my pitch is off, but I can't make my voice hit the right notes. Frustrating.

[GibsonVMan]

I learned. I can get away with it now. Sig. It;s just from frustration with dealing with singers and drummers and kinda had to.

 

 

{censored} ..You guys need a shirt that says "SMELL ME!!"...CAUSE YOU GUYS ARE THE {censored}!!!

[IbanezJon]

I think most anyone can learn to carry a tune and hit the right notes. You're kinda born with the sound of your voice though, so either yours is good or its not.

 

 

This, can't believe it wasn't mentioned sooner.

[PaoloJM]

First the half-joke: Why are you bothering doing the second after making the first statement? Then the serious. I have two boys, and I sing to them all the time. Even when they want me to stop. Too bad your dad wasn't more supportive, I actually thought most Irish sang more than the general Norwegian. Singing voice might be a subjective matter, but when you talk about singing with melody, there's a certain timbre that most people find pleasing. And that can't be learned. IMO, that is. Your entire body is an instrument, with the limitations and advantages your physique gives you. If you have a crooked septum, it might be enough to never let you reach your full potential. Still, many people with less than "perfect" voices become very successful, while others with better voices in a technical matter, never make it.

 

The answer your first question/half joke:

The two aren't related. I'm trying to learn to sing on pitch, with good timing and good breathing technique so that I can support what voice I have. That's something that I currently cannot do.

 

 

To me singing and playing guitar are quite similar.

The tonality is down to the instrument, in a guitarists case that can be exchanged.

A guitarist with great technique, who puts real character into their playing, will always wow their audience, even when playing their beat up squire through their gorilla amp.

Equally, a guitarist with poor technique, little control of their instrument or no character/charisma will not impress anyone, even with their '59 Les Paul* and '68 Plexi* (insert whatever great sounding instrument you like here).

 

For that reason I think that the most important elements of singing are also learnt, and you can still be a great singer even if you weren't gifted with a great sounding instrument.

[Slaymoar]

If you are not naturally good at signing, you won't turn into Celine Dion, Janis Joplin, Micheal Jackson, Nat King, Frank Sinatra etc.. even if you practice all your {censored}ing life for hours at a time. But you will become way better than you were when you started, which if you sucked reaaallly bad, now you'll probably just "not suck as much".

 

If you are naturally neutral in the vox department, and can carry a tune with a bit of tremolo, then singing lessons will take you up a notch and you can totally pull off some decent karaoke, band covers and as long as you have the balls for it you can front a band. A lot of artists today are basically in or just above this category, but have other things to compensate such as stage presence and big personalities.

 

If you are naturally awesome with your voice, singing lessons will only be to polish your technique so you can reach your full potential. You can pretty much do anything you want vocally, but you definitely need to add charisma and stage presence to succeed as a performing artist.

 

-D

[cap'n'crunch]

[DeadNight Warrior]

Jeeze, I wish I could sing. I can't... and I can hear that my pitch is off, but I can't make my voice hit the right notes. Frustrating.

If you can hear it, it's just a matter of practice, and training your voice to hit the note you're hearing in your head.

[Slaymoar]

 

If you can hear it, it's just a matter of practice, and training your voice to hit the note you're hearing in your head.

 

 

There are voice exercises for that. Its sort of like hand-eye coordination, but instead it is ear-voice coordination. Anything can be trained.

[b_f_c_99]

Ya know, there is a singers forum on here, might want to check that out.

[Slaymoar]

 

Ya know, there is a singers forum on here, might want to check that out.

 

 

Yeah but AF is way better.

[DeadNight Warrior]

There are voice exercises for that. Its sort of like hand-eye coordination, but instead it is ear-voice coordination. Anything can be trained.

 

Yeah exactly. It's just a matter of matching the two up. If you can hear that you're off and you just can't get your voice to hit the pitch you want on cue, at least you can hear it. When you can't even hear that you're off, then you might be one of those lost causes.

 

But yeah, even basic stuff you come up with yourself can help. Sit there with a guitar, pick a note range you're comfortable with and just go through intervals. Hit your 1st note, sing it, hit your 2nd note, sing it, repeat. Would make sense to start with the easy intervals that you'd be really familiar with, like thirds, fourths, and fifths, before making your way on to the more odd things, or going for intervals more than an octave away. When you get better at that, you can start maybe playing three or four notes in a row and then trying to nail all of them. Then maybe just play the first note for your reference, then sing whatever intervals, then play 'em on guitar and see how well you did. That, or just going through scales, arpeggios, etc.

 

Basically the goal is to be able to sing whatever note you hear in your head. It's not necessarily an easy feat, and you'll hear experienced singers still sliding their way up to notes to get around it. With practice, you'll get to learn how your vocal bits are arranged to hit the notes. Kinda like when you start playing guitar you have to constantly look at the neck, but after a while you can move around on the neck without having to look. You move your hand without looking or playing a transitional note, but you still know where your hand is along the neck.