Technique's to hit LOW notes?

Are there any technique's you use that help you hit LOW notes?

+1 The key to hitting low notes is to go very easy. Stay soft, don't push.

well, im not a very good singer at all... haha, but i figure i should offer whatever input i have. maybe itll be helpful? who knows.

anyways, relaxing is very key. if you think about it, the lowest notes come from when the throat/vocal chords are relaxed the most (i.e. vibrating completely, not zipped up, whatever you want to call it).

also, it might help to get used to getting the low notes by thinking about it "slowly". everything about low is slow, in essence. slow vibrations. if youre singing a part, and its low down for you, try singing it slower, and gradually learning to speed it up. i cant speak from a vocal standpoint, but from a scientific perspective... the basal ganglia in the brain "memorizes" motor movement, so the more you do something the better youll get at it, and be able to recall how to do it.

i guess that last bit was unnecessary... but yeah.

I find I have to really go slow, relax, just be really gentle into the note…sometimes it comes easier than others. Some days it just doesn’t happen and that’s ok. On the days it’s not working, if I try and push a little, it sounds funny, like a gruff bear, and I find I push my chin down onto my neck/chest, which also looks very silly. Lol.

The low notes like the highs, need to be lighter. the resonance comes from the chest area, so you have to imagine your voice traveling through there. The last thing you want to do is lower your chin! LOL Maybe the opposite, from straight to raised a bit...

Yeah, I know. lol. I only do that as a very last resort when I’m just having fun singing for myself at home, and the note’s just not getting there. lol

What's low and how low do you need to go?

Many singers, when singing very low use vocal fry. Once can also engage the ventricular folds along with the vocal folds ala central Asian throat singers and Tibetan monks. This can greatly lower the range, but also changes the tone quite a bit.

Lowering the larynx and extending the jaw/lips can lengthen the instrument whci of course can help. Lowering the jaw CAN be of use if the jaw is also moved forward as this creates additional resonant space in the lower pharynx. If you pivot the jaw, rather than moving it down/forward or diagonally, then you tend to diminish this space (perhaps what romvert is referring to). Play with it.

Hope this helps,

Low to me is when I'm trying to sing a note I don't usually sing, 90% of the time, either because it's not really a full / working part of my range and it's always been difficult (like the lowest note in that MMM MMM MMM song by the Crash Test Dummies. The lowest note in the chorus that he does. I have NEVER been able to get that one!!!! Ever since I was 14 I've been trying, occasionally on and off. Can't do it. lol) or because the songs I mainly sing just don't use it.

Then there are the moderately low notes that appear in songs I do sing and like, but that I can only get some of the time, like the lowest notes in Marianne Faithfull's song Sliding Through Life on Charm. I can sometimes do that, but not always. It seems quite random but I'm sure there are physical reasons for it.

When I was a teenager and was singing very low notes, I'd feel this rumble deep in my chest, and the voice would come out very differently to how I sounded otherwise. I lost that when I was in my early 20s and was able to actually sing those notes using my "normal" voice. I guess that's good, eh? lol

relax and lots and lots of air. Breathing is really critical hear for good tone and solid notes.

I'd agree with straightening up the instrument to gain space, but I don't agree with pushing the jaw forward, which causes tension in regular singing (not throat singing).

Actually, like I said before, the very bottom, just like the very top, require less air than normal, as you need a definite balance anyway. Let's not try to steer her in the wrong direction...