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I need some really basic vocal tips


saneff

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Folks, I started playing guitar again ( I am 45) this January after having given it up for 30 years when my mother sold my $15,000 Les Paul at a garage sale for $100 while I was playing golf. Anyway, I have moved really fast and can handle a guitar pretty well. I am getting better very day and my dream has always been to play live. And nothing is going to stop me from doing that.

 

I have 6 kids under the age of 14, and I lost my wife to breast cancer less than a year and a half ago. I decided that whatever dream I had that I was going to get there no matter what now. Well, as I say my dream is to get up in front of people and perform with a guitar and sing. I'm just going to do it.

 

Anyway, I tell you all that to illustrate that I am very determined. Also, with 6 young children I use this music practice time as my sanity time. Boy do I need it!

 

The problem is that I just can't sing. I am taking guitar lessons right now, and that is all I have time for. I know I need singing lessons, and in fact I have 2 daughters taking singing lessons and somehow those girls are really good singers. But their daddy is terrible. I record myself with a Zoom Q3HD and it's just awful. I mean it sounds monotone and off key and off pitch and everything.

 

So, what are a few basics that I can try to learn to allow me to sing better? Some tips? At some point I will take lessons when I get time, but I would love to start trying to learn some basic things I can do to make me sing at least a little better for now. Believe me, I am more than willing to put the time in.

 

Thanks!!

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Good instincts: Guitar is good therapy, and vocals are even better! :thu:

 

You're already doing what would be my first suggestion--record yourself. Try very hard to learn to descriminate what really needs working on from what is based on the shock of hearing your own voice "out there." The latter is meaningless and will fade away with time; the former is workable by listening to yourself and trying new vocal articulations, pronunciations, dynamics, etc.

 

Second, take the time to learn melodies. Some people (who we typically call natural singers) pick up melodies quickly, almost intuitively. Others have to learn melodies--and I mean muscle memory, not just knowing the melody in the sense that one can sing along with a recording. If you mess up a song the first 10-15 times, that's not a sign that you can't sing. You simply need to work on the song a bit more.

 

Third, try to make your vocal as close to your speaking voice as possible. There are some genres that this doesn't apply to (opera, head-voice metal, aggressive punk, to name a few) but most music responds well to what we've come to call speech-level-singing. Start from a Frank Sinatra-esque sing-speech and then adjust as necessary. (I don't mean that you have to sing old standards, merely that your voice should sound as natural as possible as you learn to sing.)

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Bro, mojo to you. I started singing at age 37 (am now 42) after having played guitar since age 10. I simply got tired of sitting in the back and wondering if I could ever do it. Also had some inspiration from the good Lord, but that is another story. I now sing lead with my family gospel/praise band, and am doing about 50 gigs a year, and have played in five states. I am not sure if "anyone can sing" but I can say that many, many people can but just never learned. Here are a few tips I learned the hardway:

 

1. Learning to sing a song takes time, just like learning to play one on an instrument. Start slowly, note for note. Keep coming back to it every few days, and you WILL see progress.

2. You can't change your vocal tone without sounding unnatural, but you can learn to correct your pitch.

3. Learn and sing songs that are within your vocal range, then slowly push the envelope to higher and lower ranges.

4. If a song you really like is out of your range, transpose it. Artists do this all the time. I am amazed how many times I hear an artist do his own song in a different key.

5. Sing a lot. It's like working any other muscle.

6. Your post said you are off key. That means you know what sounds good and what sounds bad, and this tells me you can learn how to sing. The people who are singing way off key and don't know it are hopeless. (just Google "Bad American Idol Auditions and you will know what I am talking about).

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Find a vocalist whose sound you like a lot. Then try to emulate him or her in excess. Record it and see what works and what doesn't. You will have to listen very carefully to how he or she is singing before trying this.

 

But if you mean really super-basic then we should talk about resonance and the ability to ascend and descend your register with comfort. I don't know how to teach you this. :thu:

 

All I can say is that if it doesn't feel completely comfortable in your throat/head, you're doing it wrong.

 

Good luck. :wave:

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How about getting singing lessons from your 2 daughters?

They probably know enough now to teach you the basics.

 

Also, for pitch, i use an ipod touch / ipad app.

 

It's called eTuner.

You connect a USB microphone to your ipad or ipod touch and

sing into it. It will tell you your pitch.

 

eTuner

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/etuner/id298037861?mt=8

 

eTuner is also available on the Mac App Store (for Macbooks)

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/etuner/id411843060?mt=12

 

Why would you want to also buy eTuner from the Mac App Store?

 

Because the performance is much better. There's much less of a delay

in the pitch detection. Also, I like to connect my keyboard controller to my iPad (with Pianist Pro) and connect my USB microphone to my Macbook running eTuner.

 

When i started taking voice lessons (6 months ago), I used eTuner to check my pitch.

After you're able to maintain a steady pitch (for ex, maintain a steady C note without

jumping up and down), i moved to using my keyboard.

 

I play a random key and would try to reproduce the sound. I listen to the keyboard

sound while also listening to my voice and adjust up/down as necessary. If I have

no idea if my pitch is too high or low, i use eTuner to figure out where i am.

 

Of course, singing is more than just practicing pitch. But that's what worked for me.

My pitch is a lot better now, although i still need to work on proper breathing support

and resonance.

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I'd say start taking voice lessons from a good voice teacher. That'll get you started on the right track right away, and that way, you'll skip all the guess-work on if you're doing something right or wrong, as well as any wrong advice that someone might be spreading.

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I see the advice about trying to sing like one of my favorite singers. I don't think I understand that. Don't I have a natural sound that I should sing in? It seems like I would be doing what Scott Stapp does. Heck, I can sing and sound exactly like that dude and all of those other rock singers that sing in that fake attempt at Eddie vedder's voice or whatever. It just seems liek i woudl be singing in a fake voice? Do people do that? Can you even do that without sounding silly? For instance, i would say my favorite singing voice would be Darius Rucker. I can't pull that off.

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Good for you, man.:wave:

 

Sucks about the LP....but life went on, right?

 

I like what JJ said about recording yourself and gaining an understanding of your speaking voice. Can't say I agree with the emulation advise, but that's just me. I'm 59 and I stopped trying to emulate sometime around 1975 when I realized that I just couldn't sing. I started writing songs then and singing anyway....in my own voice.

 

Haven't stopped since. Gotta be who you are, man.;)

 

Sing. Just play and sing.:cool:

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Honestly.. I don't think emulating your favourite singers is a good vocal tip. You have to search for your OWN individual sound. Everyone has their own sound, you just have to know how to find it. Like what about Beach1 said, starting off with a GOOD voice teacher is the best thing you can do. They'll steer you in the right direction and make sure that you're producing your voice properly. You don't wanna wreck your voice right off the bat. Trust me I've been there, it ain't fun.

 

As for basic vocal tips, if you're singing and your throat hurts, then stop. You have to avoid pushing your 'chest voice', especially for higher notes or else you'll end up with problems.

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I sense hate levels increasing, so I'll clear a few things up.

 

The point of emulating a singer whose sound you like is not to suppress your own voice. Rather, it's a potential detour into using different resonance cavities correctly. I often use the example of Paul Young. He has a distinctive sound to his voice which has a corresponding sound in all of us, and the result is less nasality. I learned this by listening to him and Robert Plant, which is why I put emphasis on this method.

 

:wave:

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I agree about finding your own voice, and let this be a journey: let it take time and blossom. Many people (like me) are not sure how they sound best until you have experimented a lot before you find what kind of sound you like.

 

That's when copying other singers help a lot: Just like a paint artist, learn to use the different colours. Learn to use different styles, expand range, techniques, tricks, trills, vibrato, sound color etc... To put it short: There is no reason that some ways to sing is unavailable to you, some things take longer times because the way your voice have developed over the years. Habits take time, especially if they need to be altered.

 

This is how EVERY succesful guitar player learns how to get a solid foundation for years before they start to develop their signature sound.

 

For some people, like me, being a cover artist, it might be fine to be able to alter your voice after the context of the song, especially if you cover a wide range of music. I get compliments on how I'm able to cover Johnny Cash, while I do Bon Jovi the next song, and do my best to capture the essence of that song. Other songs I do in my own unique way, and the good thing is that I have the tools to do whatever I feel, and what the situation calls for.

 

The main thing I say to any aspiring singer before they start to take lessons or work seriously on their voice is to make a songlist with all the songs you like on your iPod/mp3-player. Then sing along for as many hours a day as you can for weeks. Sing when driving in your car, doing housework, sitting in front of your computer, anytime you can! It WILL be akward at first, but soon you'll find that after a while songs that seemed impossible will be easy, and others will still be impossible. AND: The difference between a WANNABE and a serious vocalist is that the wannabe will stick to what became easy for the rest of his vocal career, and the REAL VOCALIST will continue to learn the difficult songs!

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Thanks so much you guys. I feel better. For the first time, I have realized that I can most likely actually get to a point that I can sing without people passing out. I didn't know you can actually learn to sing when you start out terrible. I thought you couldn't learn to sing if you didn't have the gift naturally.

 

You guys are awesome. I feel like I have a chance.

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I thought you couldn't learn to sing if you didn't have the gift naturally.

The gift is always given to yourself by yourself! It's just that some people start to sing very early and SEEM to be born with the gift. But go to any birth section in any hospital in any country and listen to the newborn children. No one was born with the gift to sing! :)

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Or perhaps we all were.
:cool:

At least the ability to learn how to sing! But the pace at which you go forward is dependant on belief, motivation, joyful practice, drive, patience and much more. And all those factors can be optimized if we learn how to. Take for instance motivation. If you really focus on a forthcoming event where you are about to sing, and run this as a movie in your head where you sing like an angel and everyone is touched. Do this over and over, and make it birghter and better each time.This will give you a much better drive. This is what athletes do before a important race. Patience can be developed by measuring progress at a very detailed level etc...

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Thanks so much you guys. I feel better. For the first time, I have realized that I can most likely actually get to a point that I can sing without people passing out. I didn't know you can actually learn to sing when you start out terrible. I thought you couldn't learn to sing if you didn't have the gift naturally.


You guys are awesome. I feel like I have a chance.

 

 

Singing is like learning how to walk.

 

I went to a karaoke party about two weeks ago and people said I sang well. I find their comments hard to believe because I don't sound good. But maybe all this practicing is working.

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First off. I'm very sorry for your loss. I like the guys idea about getting your kids involved ....if they're interested. Check out a program called Singing Success. It's DIY vocal program designed by renowned vocal coach Brett Manning. There's on line help and emailed vocal tips weekly once you sign up. It's really a great program as it's filled with all kinds of exercises.... plus you work at your own pace. Check it out: http://www.singingsuccess.com/ I think this will work wonders for you. This helped me a lot. Good Luck. :thu:

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