Members Guitar God Posted December 10, 2010 Members Share Posted December 10, 2010 How do you sing harmony? I really want to do some songs that have harmony. Like Rascal Flatt's - I'll Be Home For Christmas"Extreme - More Than Words Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Shadowdusk Posted December 10, 2010 Members Share Posted December 10, 2010 Well, how is your pitch ? That's the main thing to consider when doing harmony. 2nd - do you have an instrument? It will be much easier for you to play the notes and study how they ring together than just trying to sing along. There are a ton of different harmonies but the most common ones are singing an octave above / below, and I guess 3rds. If you want I can link you a site that has a ton of songs with harmony broken down in bits so you can hear each of the singing lines separately which should help you begin to understand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Guitar God Posted December 10, 2010 Author Members Share Posted December 10, 2010 I have a pretty good pitch, and I'm accusaly a regular in the guitar forums. So if that answers your question, yes I have a instrument, I am looking at some youtube videos on harmony I found some good ones I will work on the lessons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Shadowdusk Posted December 10, 2010 Members Share Posted December 10, 2010 IMO, beach boys OWN vocal harmony, you can really learn a lot from them if you take some time to dissect their songs - http://beach-boys.aure.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Guitar God Posted December 10, 2010 Author Members Share Posted December 10, 2010 yes, The beach boys are masters at harmony, I will take a look at that link. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MikeyParent Posted December 10, 2010 Members Share Posted December 10, 2010 IMO, beach boys OWN vocal harmony, you can really learn a lot from them if you take some time to dissect their songs - http://beach-boys.aure.com/ The Eagles are better IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Masklin Posted December 10, 2010 Members Share Posted December 10, 2010 How to sing harmony? How to sing lead? Well, open your mouth and make pleasing sounds. Unless there is some great secret about singing harmony that I don't know of, it's just regular singing with perhaps more focus on volume control and of course making sure you know what notes to sing. Choirs aren't complicated, and that's 99 % harmony singing. Perhaps you should join a choir. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members OverdrivenEL34s Posted December 10, 2010 Members Share Posted December 10, 2010 beatles, heart and alice in chains speaking of heart[video=youtube;0e2S-KrvJlo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e2S-KrvJlo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Shadowdusk Posted December 10, 2010 Members Share Posted December 10, 2010 How to sing harmony?How to sing lead?Well, open your mouth and make pleasing sounds.Unless there is some great secret about singing harmony that I don't know of, it's just regular singing with perhaps more focus on volume control and of course making sure you know what notes to sing.Choirs aren't complicated, and that's 99 % harmony singing. Perhaps you should join a choir. Well I don't think he knows which notes to sing, that's why he's asking. It's not innate to everyone ya'know. When you hear a single voice, most peoples first instinct is to sing along on the same pitch or an octave higher / lower, whatever's comfortable, but there's so much more to it depending on how many voices there are and what kind of an effect you wanna get. There can be some quite complex chord voicings mind you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WaterMoc Posted December 10, 2010 Members Share Posted December 10, 2010 LISTEN. I assume you're listening to harmony-rich music. Listen closely and isolate the harmony parts in your mind. You have to do that with any instrument. Analyze how they follow along in parallel with the melody or divert. Usually the harmony is going along with the melody and changing where it changes, only a 3d or 5th (or other) above or below, or grabbing a 7th here and there. Octaves are not all that common, unless you're doing a bass part and there's no where else to go. If you ever sing unison you have to be exactly like the lead or it sounds awful. The worst harmony is when someone just grabs one note until forced to change...follow the structure of the melody. The best parts singers watch the lead like a hawk and follow what they're doing closely. The best way to learn harmony in a specific genre is to work with great harmony singers and copy them. I worked with a bunch of great country players, not singing at all, but when they left and I had to take over parts, it all just started coming out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Masklin Posted December 11, 2010 Members Share Posted December 11, 2010 There can be some quite complex chord voicings mind you. How is this relevant? As complexity increases, you practise more and that's that. To figure out what notes to sing if you don't have access to the written music, you must sharpen your ears and listen for melodies that are not the lead. This is not easy and it will take a lot of time. In some songs it's hard, in some it's easy. Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DukeOfBoom Posted December 11, 2010 Members Share Posted December 11, 2010 pop voicings are typically not complex, but are generally parallel thirds or fourths. You can fake it with thirds for sure. just harmonize it on the gee-tar, and then sing along to the harmonized guitar line till you got it under wraps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JonChorba Posted December 14, 2010 Members Share Posted December 14, 2010 This is just a little expansion to what Jimboy was saying. A good exercise is to practice singing scales over each note in the chord. So if you play and hold a C major chord on the piano or guitar, sing a 5 tone scale starting with C (so the notes would be C, D, E, F, G and then back down). play and hold the C major chord and now sing a 5 tone scale but starting on the 3rd, E (E, F, G, A, B). Then do the same but with the 5th, G (G, A, B, C, D). It's a good beginner harmony exercise and it will get your ear used to hearing the notes inside the chords. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rockinrobby Posted December 14, 2010 Members Share Posted December 14, 2010 It's as easy as breathing... All you have to do is sit at a piano? Play the melody? Then pick 3rds, 5ths, etc... The harmonies will jump out like a man in a rain coat. The trick is to know where to bring them in and out? And when two use 1, 2 and 3. Harmony needs to breath, like an obscene phone caller... It needs to ask you what you're wearing? And really be interested in the answer? Harmony can take an OK vocal track/song and make it "extra-ordinary..." It's power is not to be underestimated... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ripfence Posted December 14, 2010 Members Share Posted December 14, 2010 I have a pretty good pitch, and I'm accusaly a regular in the guitar forums. So if that answers your question, yes I have a instrument, I am looking at some youtube videos on harmony I found some good ones I will work on the lessons. I am just trying to learn how to sing harmony too and like you I am a guitar player. Right or wrong, what I've done is used what I've learned on guitar and applied it to singing. For example If I want to double a guitar part I'll usually play an octave or a third and sometimes a fifth and it tends to work pretty well - that said that is what I shoot for with singing harmony. I will tell you that it is very hard for me to keep my pitch from going back to the tonic when I'm singing a different interval. When recording I've been desperate enough that I've gone as far as transposing a musical passage 5 steps up so I could sing the third as the "tonic" and taking that vocal cut and using it into my original piece as a major third harmony but that is a crutch and I don't recommend it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DukeOfBoom Posted December 14, 2010 Members Share Posted December 14, 2010 tell me about it, pitch training is hard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Masklin Posted December 14, 2010 Members Share Posted December 14, 2010 It's as easy as breathing...All you have to do is sit at a piano? Play the melody? Then pick 3rds, 5ths, etc... The harmonies will jump out like a man in a rain coat. The trick is to know where to bring them in and out? And when two use 1, 2 and 3. Harmony needs to breath, like an obscene phone caller... It needs to ask you what you're wearing? And really be interested in the answer? Harmony can take an OK vocal track/song and make it "extra-ordinary..." It's power is not to be underestimated... Are you high? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ripfence Posted December 14, 2010 Members Share Posted December 14, 2010 tell me about it, pitch training is hard. I agree pitch training is challenging however I find (for me at least) is one of the more rewarding aspects of learning how to sing. My biggest challenge is working to improve my tone and breath control. That and moving smoothly between my "voices". Again, I figure all of that will improve with practice. As for harmony, I know where the note is but my problem is locking in on the part of the interval that I'm after (like the third or octave) without being tempted to let my voice go back to the root. However I approaching singing like I would any other instrument and I'm practicing everyday and working on the fundamentals. I am hoping that once I get the basics down to where they are second nature then keeping a harmonic interval will come naturally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeadNight Warrior Posted December 15, 2010 Members Share Posted December 15, 2010 Something like More Than Words isn't that hard, provided you have the range to do it, or just a higher pitched voice in general as there's nothing low at all in the harmony parts from memory. Where it's a bit of a bitch is in hearing the lines in the first place. Nuno's voice blends quite well with Whatshisface's, and they're both (again from memory) both panned dead centre, so there's no real spacial separation in the mix to help pick out harmony lines. It's also a bit more difficult because (yet again, from memory) Nuno's lines are mostly sung below Whatshisface's, which is harder IMO to keep on track with compared to harmonies above the lead vocal in pitch. Youtube clips of them doing it live might help to give a different mix of the two voices so that you can hear what Nuno is doing more clearly. Also, just singing along to it, you should be able to hear when you're not on pitch with Nuno... unless you happen to hit another note that goes nicely with what he and Whatshisface are singing anyway, in which case it might not jump out so plainly. How he plays it live and sings at the same time though, I have no idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members OverdrivenEL34s Posted December 16, 2010 Members Share Posted December 16, 2010 if its learning harmony's for a cover sometimes you can find vocals only tracks on the net which might make it easier to focus on the differnt parts. for example alice in chains[video=youtube;mouHkzhCADo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mouHkzhCADo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members YeahDoIt Posted December 16, 2010 Members Share Posted December 16, 2010 And when two use 1, 2 and 3. I do not understand "And when two use 1, 2 and 3." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DukeOfBoom Posted December 16, 2010 Members Share Posted December 16, 2010 Are you high? chalk it up to a few too many acid trips. or just spending way too much time alone. or both. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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