Can you tell me if there is vocal potential? (Desperado - Eagles)

[PipoLouro]

Hey guys!

 

First time posting here. Hope you guys can listen to my cover and tell me honestly if there is potential.

I've been taking lessons for about 3 months. I wasn't practicing a lot but I got the singing success 360 for practicing in the car (it's mostly where I practice). Things got much better but I think it really has to do with me now believing it's possible haha.

anyways, I would love to one day have a band a play gigs at bars as the singer. I play guitar but singing is what makes me the happiest.

I recorded this in 2 tries so there are a lot of little pitch things I know.. it doesn't start so well but I think finishes a little better. I may have been belting more than I should so I don't know... the singer from the Eagles doesn't belt at all or has a much lighter voice than I do.

 

Anyways.. any help would be appreciated! Thank you!

 

https://www.smule.com/p/1165671032_2939746802

[kickingtone]

Definitely sounded in tune, to me. I don't know the original song, so I don't know how faithful you were to it.

 

And I'm not going to check, because it really isn't my kind of music. But you executed it well enough to make it interesting and presentable.

 

Advice? Yeah, go for it, man.

 

How relaxed did you feel? I could definitely hear your breath support engaging, and I did wonder whether it was sufficient (not for sound quality, but for vocal health -- your breath seemed to me to be more anchored at the chest or diaphragm, than at the pelvic floor, but I can't say that it is an easy thing to tell from listening to a recording, or that it isn't simply a question of style.)

[davie]

Hi and welcome to the forum,

 

I had a few listens to your clip. I thought it was pretty good. There's definitely potential here. Not a huge fan of the Singing Success program, in my opinion it doesn't always work well for everyone. If I could advise something, work more on the breath support to try to get a more even breath flow.

[PipoLouro]

Definitely sounded in tune, to me. I don't know the original song, so I don't know how faithful you were to it.

 

And I'm not going to check, because it really isn't my kind of music. But you executed it well enough to make it interesting and presentable.

 

Advice? Yeah, go for it, man.

 

How relaxed did you feel? I could definitely hear your breath support engaging, and I did wonder whether it was sufficient (not for sound quality, but for vocal health -- your breath seemed to me to be more anchored at the chest or diaphragm, than at the pelvic floor, but I can't say that it is an easy thing to tell from listening to a recording, or that it isn't simply a question of style.)

 

Hey thank you very much for listening! I was walking around singing that, I was certainly not 100% relaxed because those higher notes seemed "hardish" to me and I probably went overboard a little bit. And about the breath support, it is not the best. It's something that confuses me a bit, not sure how to know I'm doing it right and how to practice it 😪. I wonder if you have any tips?

 

[PipoLouro]

Hi and welcome to the forum,

 

I had a few listens to your clip. I thought it was pretty good. There's definitely potential here. Not a huge fan of the Singing Success program, in my opinion it doesn't always work well for everyone. If I could advise something, work more on the breath support to try to get a more even breath flow.

 

Yeah you're very right about the breath support. Kickingtone also said the same thing. And singing success hasn't addressed that a lot.

care to expand on why it doesn't work for people? I really like how he takes the time to explain the exercises, gives the demos and has a lot of exercises but It is certainly lacking on the breathing thing. Sometimes i get exercises that i can't go through the scale without breathing again and I don't really know how to do it.

 

One other thing. I try to breath from the nose because it seems to dry your throat less. But it's much easier to get more air from the mouth. But also a lot of people say it has nothing to do with the amount of breat . That too much air could actually not help.. anyway . Confusing!

[1001gear]

Guessing that success these days is not limited to The Met and Broadway and that there are no rules for recorded music.

[PipoLouro]

What? 🤔🤔🤔

[davie]

 

Yeah you're very right about the breath support. Kickingtone also said the same thing. And singing success hasn't addressed that a lot.

care to expand on why it doesn't work for people? I really like how he takes the time to explain the exercises, gives the demos and has a lot of exercises but It is certainly lacking on the breathing thing. Sometimes i get exercises that i can't go through the scale without breathing again and I don't really know how to do it.

 

One other thing. I try to breath from the nose because it seems to dry your throat less. But it's much easier to get more air from the mouth. But also a lot of people say it has nothing to do with the amount of breat . That too much air could actually not help.. anyway . Confusing!

 

I don't consider SS and other techniques based on speech level singing all that healthy for the voice. I think a lot of the exercises used focus too much on manipulating the throat to achieve specific outcomes. And like you mention, lack of principles regarding breath support. In order to build a strong voice with a solid foundation for singing, a singer needs to have proper breath support. Breath support allows a singer to hold back breath pressure and to gradually fuel an even and steady flow of breath to sing. If a singer feels like they're running out of breath too quickly, it's because they're either letting out too much breath or they're not breathing in deep enough.

 

And about breathing through the mouth vs nose. Either way is fine, nose breathing will prevent you from getting dry, but breathing through the mouth is good for a quicker inhalation when there is less time to take a breath. I think most efficient way to breathe is to simultaneously inhale through both the mouth and nose at the same time.

 

Hope this helps

[kickingtone]

The more of a classical technique the singer has, the easier I find it to assess the breath support. This is because the aim of the technique is to be relaxed AND sound relaxed. In other genres, particularly hard rock, the aim is often to be relaxed, BUT sound completely the opposite -- many listeners would be looking for rasp, distortion and signs of a stressful or tortured existence, lol -- life as a fight (or maybe I just don't get it). The more towards the hard rock end a singer is, the more difficult it is to distinguish what is and what isn't intentional in terms of good or bad breath support technique.

 

The only breath support technique I can claim some understanding of is "appoggio" from the classical Bel Canto tradition. It can be an excellent underpining of contemporary singing, too. Proof that you are getting it right comes mainly from a sense of relaxation in the throat, mouth, jaw, upper body and diaphragm. All the anchorage of the breath is taken on the pelvic floor and in the trunk, with the diaphragm "floating" like a trampoline, as a suspension system. It is more than just "diaphragmatic breathing". It involves an opposition (or contrary/sandwich movement/pressure) of diaphragm vs trunk/lower abs.

 

A sure sign that a singer has inadequate breath support would be something like the inability to hold a note for, say, ten seconds, or to do a siren (slide smoothly from one note to another) in ten second (as a standalone exercise).

 

You have to be careful when listening to contemporary singers who base their technique on good principles, but then disguise the sound (usually because they don't want it sounding "clean" for whatever reason). It is more difficult to assess what they are doing, and care has to be taken if you try to emulate it. Bear in mind that they may actually have proper technique which they are disguising. I find listening to classical singers an easier starting point, even for contemporary singing.

[FelipeCarvalho]

There is always potential. SS has some drawbacks but you should see what you can do with it first before changing, there is no point on trading techniques before you control what you are studying. Then you build up a toolbox you can use to sing with.

 

On this particular song, I believe your voice has a nice tone to it, some points were not very secure and it is possible to hear you struggle on the middle notes on the beginning.

Take a listen to how you sing the line:

 

"Don't you draw the Queen of Diamonds, boy"

 

In special from *draw* onwards. Notice how your voice sounds a little rounder as if all vowels sound a bit more like vowel UH and the overall quality gets a bit held back.

 

Experiment with it and see if you can get a hang of how to set into that coordination, then try to extend it to the whole song, it will fit very nicely on Eagles and will probably make the other notes more stable, it will also get you to the lighter quality you hear from him and avoid getting into belting (which is also ok to do btw).

 

I would suggest singing that same phrase a few times to make use of what is already working, then sustaining that word "draw" and sliding down in pitch trying to retain the exact same idea, to see how it sounds lower. Then you sing the other phrases from this same position. This should match pretty closely the idea of *mix* you have on Singing Success.

 

Overall for 3 months of lessons it's quite good bro, not an easy song. Keep it up!!

[1001gear]

What? 🤔🤔🤔

 

Your singing doesn't have to project anymore. If you listen around it doesn't even have to sound good. What you should do is develop what you like about it. Follow your heart - although many get by without that as well.