Singing with 'grit'

I know there is proper technique for singing harshly or with 'grit' as some people call it. I've been trying to figure out the proper technique for several years with no luck. I've read endless forums on the web, watched the videos like Zen of Screaming, checked every YouTube video, and nothing seems to make an sense... or to be legit. What I've gathered so far is, mask or head resonance is the primary thing to make it happen properly along with, proper diaphragmatic support, and if it hurts you're doing it wrong. I've been taking classical lessons for a while so I'm well aware when not to do something because its hurting me. Basically I'm asking if anyone knows of any good resources to learn this technique. And I'm not looking for some 15 year old kid on YouTube with his shirt off screaming to Lamb of God, claiming this is how its done. I'm looking for something well done, probably professionally, and I don't mind paying for it if I have too.

To be more specific, I'm looking for a distorted tone of voice - not a scream. A few examples would be Chad Kroeger, Adam Gontier, David Grohl, etc...

Thanks,

Don't know how useful this will be, but you can check out my youtube clips on the subject. As requested, these clips are about singing with grit, not screaming.

And lord knows, at 44, you won't catch me with my shirt off on YouTube.

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I'm not a voice teacher, so take this stuff with a grain of salt.

Also, there's nothing like one-on-one personal instruction from someone who really knows how to work with rock singers, so if you can find the right someone to help you in person, I can't recommend it enough.

I simply can't add rasp w/o hurting myself. When in a Dio/Jeff Scott Soto timbre, I can do a little grit at the end of notes. And I can do the Stevie Wonder growl. But I just have no usable rawk grit for the most part.

I always wanted to sound like David Coverdale, but I ended up more like Lou Gramm.

Thanks for the advice thus far.

SevenString I've seen your videos before and they are honestly good, because you're honest, know what you're talking about, and admit that you're not a vocal coach. As opposed to others I've heard telling people to eat salty chips before you sing or drink hard liquor to get a grunge voice. The sad part is those people were serious about getting the proper sound too.

micwalt, I feel like I'm pretty much in the same boat.

EyeLike, do what works for you and realize that it's going to take away from the lifespan of your voice. Singing with grit, or however you want to phrase it, is not how the vocal chords were meant to be used. When you hit 50 you'll notice a degeneration of your voice, and the worse you've treated it the faster it'll go. I speak from two generations of experience.

EyeLike, do what works for you and realize that it's going to take away from the lifespan of your voice. Singing with grit, or however you want to phrase it, is not how the vocal chords were meant to be used. When you hit 50 you'll notice a degeneration of your voice, and the worse you've treated it the faster it'll go. I speak from two generations of experience.

HEY MANG

I'm far from an expert in the field (no generations of experience), but I can't imagine it's too hard on your voice if you use the false folds to add some harmonics/grit.

Maybe you or the singers you've encountered have been using some combination of false folds and slamming together the regular folds. I'm not sure how hard it would be to sort out something like that.

HEY MANG I'm far from an expert in the field (no generations of experience), but I can't imagine it's too hard on your voice if you use the false folds to add some harmonics/grit. Maybe you or the singers you've encountered have been using some combination of false folds and slamming together the regular folds. I'm not sure how hard it would be to sort out something like that.

Get back to me when you're pushing 50 and have been gigging for 25 years and let me know how that's going for you.

Well, I'm in my mid-40s, but close enough.

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What is he, like 69 now?

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Yeah, pro singers with full-time vocal coaches and strict throat regimens just shoot my opinion all to hell, don't they?

:rolleyes:

Yeah, pro singers with full-time vocal coaches and strict throat regimens just shoot my opinion all to hell, don't they? :rolleyes:

I'm just pointing out examples where the "fried-by-50" thing isn't ALWAYS true.

Sure, I know of plenty of rock singers who shot their voices all to hell, and where singing with a raspy style probably didn't help. But I wonder how many of those also either sang with poor technique, or had other factors contributing to a loss of capability?

I know of singers who NEVER sang using a raspy technique, yet still had lost their voices by their 40s or 50s.

But I'm sure we can agree that if a singer IS going to sing with a raspy style, he or she should be VERY VERY careful to do it in a relaxed way that is NOT going to do damage, short-term or long-term.

If it hurts, feels in any way uncomfortable, or causes any loss of ability, even in the course of a single evening or a song or two, DON'T DO IT!!!

Even a short-term loss of ability can be an indicator that you are on your way to long term damage.

A "healthy" rasp technique is one where you have the same abilities (and clean range) AFTER you use the rasp as you did before, with NO residual pain, discomfort, or change in your overall voice.

For instance, I can sing an hour of Priest, Metallica, Dio, etc, then turn around and sing a set of Sinatra style jazz standards, with no break in between. My clean range and "sweetness" never goes away, just because I spent time in my "metal zone".

To me, this is an indicator of "healthy" rasp, if there really is such a thing.

No pain, no loss of function, no noticeable overall effect on my voice at all.

But these are just my (non voice teacher) opinions. Since our moderator, Al Koehn, has taught some pretty heavy-hitters in the rock and metal world, maybe he'll have some input on the subject.

Many singers' voices changed radically when they got to a certain age...

- Marianne Faithfull

- Ann Wilson

Just as 2 examples...

Both I consider still have great voices, but they are SO different from the voices of their youth. Ann I think is more an example of how using your voice when you're younger changes it when you're older. Marianne I think, her voice was gonna change anyway no matter what.

Grace Slick's voice changed too, but not that noticeably. I find these days if she sings, she sounds more like how she talks, whereas in the "old days" she had a different, smoother, stronger-sounding voice.

I would also love to know how to sing with grit, but I think basically, if you do this on any sort of regular basis, it is going to hurt your voice eventually if not sooner.

Theres a trick death metal vocalists use to get a good growl, and it might work for grit. I can put grit in naturally, so :/

Try smoking a whole packet of fags before hand, should give you the cancer tipped edge you need