Serious pitch issues

[mparsons]

Hello,

 

I'm trying to learn how to sing. I've been playing guitar for a few years, and I've studied a good bit of theory. I've got a good background with harsh vocals, so my breath support and actual technique is fairly good, and my range is pretty wide. My main problem is that I can't hit notes. And I have a hard time hearing whether or not I'm higher or flatter than a note.

 

Everyone I talk to about this says they just "know" when they're on pitch, but I can't really tell, at all. Sometimes I'm on, sometimes I'm an interval off but in key, and a lot of the times I'm no where even close.

 

I feel like there's a breakthrough I need to make before I can really improve, or get started for that matter, but I have no idea what I should do to get there. Any suggestions?

 

Thanks!

[Bajazz]

This is just like anything: Practice makes perfect! The details will come in time. After a few hundred hours of singing along to CD's you'll start to get closer and closer.

 

I would say that the most important thing when you start to learn something is to try to find the joy in it, so you don't start worrying about not making it. It's all about mileage. The first months is not important to be perfectionist, have fun!

[mparsons]

What should I practice? I know that perfect practice makes perfect, but I don't know what "perfect practice" is and I would hate to get any bad habits.

[rini]

stick your fingers in your ears. not joking. you hear yourself better that way. practice soulfedge (do re me, etc.). practice tone matching on a keyboard (or your instrument of choice).

[Dthraco]

If you know your range, make a CD that has a pentatonic scale that starts at the bottom and goes to the top. Then sing along with that CD with each of the major vowel sounds. Do this over and over and over.

 

You will be doing two things:

1. Training your ear to recognise particular pitches

2. Training your vocal chords on where to go for particular pitches.

 

I started singing 2 years ago after playing guitar for 18 years. My ear was already developed and that makes hitting the correct pitch easier because you know what it is. But I still had (have) to practice to train the vocal chords how to do it right.

[Bajazz]

I'd say you should sing-a-long to songs you like until you start getting a feeling that you are singing the melody. Put 10-20 favorite songs on a mp3 player and sing-along whenever you can. Do this for a few hundred hours. If you have 4 hours a day for a few months, you'll have a good basis.

 

Now, this is really important: You need a solid foundation before you can start to work on techniques and understand what you are doing with your voice. And please don't start your vocal training with boring scales.

 

A child that want's to be a runner have been running for many hundred hours before he is given technical training. You don't give a 1 year old child lessons in how to correctly move his feet.

[Dthraco]

You're so right. He should just start picking up bad habits right away. And singing to favorite songs when you can't really hear yourself is super helpful advice. Why learn what specific notes sound like and how they relate to each other in a scale when you can murder ENTIRE songs wihtout getting better?

[SevenString]

You're so right. He should just start picking up bad habits right away. And singing to favorite songs when you can't really hear yourself is super helpful advice. Why learn what specific notes sound like and how they relate to each other in a scale when you can murder ENTIRE songs wihtout getting better?

 

 

:lol:

[ChordGirl]

 

stick your fingers in your ears. not joking. you hear yourself better that way. practice soulfedge (do re me, etc.). practice tone matching on a keyboard (or your instrument of choice).

 

 

Good idea.

 

I've had my share of pitch issues, too. Although I play guitar, I ended up buying a cheap keyboard simply because guitar intervals are not as accurate as keyboard intervals, and I think it was confusing my ear a bit. I believe it helped me immensely to play through the chromatic pitches (many, many times slowly) on the keyboard and listen closely to exactly where they fall. I rely heavily on my ears to match the pitch to the music and self-correct accordingly as I'm singing a song. Hearing the pitches in your head is key.

[mparsons]

Good idea. I've had my share of pitch issues, too. Although I play guitar, I ended up buying a cheap keyboard simply because guitar intervals are not as accurate as keyboard intervals, and I think it was confusing my ear a bit. I believe it helped me immensely to play through the chromatic pitches (many, many times slowly) on the keyboard and listen closely to exactly where they fall. I rely heavily on my ears to match the pitch to the music and self-correct accordingly as I'm singing a song. Hearing the pitches in your head is key.

 

Thanks! That's exactly what I'm trying to get accomplished. I guess I've got a new use for my keyboard