Advice For A Beginner

I've become the primary vocalist in my band pretty much by default. I spent several years in choir, though I was never particularly good. I know next to nothing of singing notes but can be consistent and that probably works for our style of music.

Beyond this, assuming I know nothing, any general advice anyone can give me would be great.

Read through the many comprehensive threads and posts on singing techniques on this forum (not just recent ones). We have an amazing group of posters who really know their stuff. Much of the info you seek can be found by reading their (and my) advice, info and techniques. This will take some time, but if you are as interested in improving as you say you are, this is a great place to start learning.

Al

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

I do plan on digging through this forum when I have the time but is there a list of any particularly good threads? There isn't much for stickies here.

Start with breath support and register awareness; lessons would be the ultimate, but in absence of them you can buy methods and sum up your own conclusions. My feeling in general is to not take any written course out there as the word of God; there are some strange misunderstandings and idiosyncracies out there. And like Al said, do a lot of research and reading along the way: it makes it easier to weed out the bad info.

I would just say, always remember that singing is primarily about discovering your own voice, how it works, what works for it and what doesn't etc. So, read a lot of stuff, learn as much as possible, especially initially, then try what you read, if it doesn't work for you, it's WRONG, no matter who said it, so discard it.

This is the best advice. I had some vocal damage about 10 years ago. It changed my voice forever. I had to completely toss a lot of my old methods of singing and adopt new ones. Everyone is different.