Singing & Questions for singers

A Primal Nut

Seems to be a lot less threads and information on the internet in general about learning to sing compared with learning instruments. Most people I know who sing in bands, I get the impression they just did it one day and were almost good at it straight away. Not many seemed to have gotten lessons. Very few of my favourite rock singers got lessons as well. So, I'm just wondering what advice the singers on here can give. Did you just start singing one day and realise you were good at it? Or did you start off bad and put loads of effort in until you got good, similiar to the way you might learn guitar or drums? Or did you get lessons?

I know a lot of the stuff online concerns breathing, posture, etc but a lot of that stuff seems to be geared towards endurance and reaching high notes, but any advice for beginners who aren't used to singing in general and weren't blessed with the voice of an angel? I'm not looking to be anything amazing but would be nice to be able to belt out a few tunes in a pub.

quicklickpaddy

Almost anyone can learn to hit notes and all that takes is practice.

I think what you're talking about is having a good voice. Some people sound sh*t cool when they sing and some people... Don't. I'm in the latter category but I still like to think I can hit the notes! And it doesn't stop me singing at all. I guess confidence is a massive thing here too.

A Primal Nut

quicklickpaddy wrote: »

Almost anyone can learn to hit notes and all that takes is practice.

I think what you're talking about is having a good voice. Some people sound sh*t cool when they sing and some people... Don't. I'm in the latter category but I still like to think I can hit the notes! And it doesn't stop me singing at all. I guess confidence is a massive thing here too.

Yeah I agree with this...I guess its about trying to get strength in your voice. I've searched a lot for a more technical explanation but haven't found it. The lessons tends to focus on range, endurance, note accuracy, but not how to actually sound good!

quicklickpaddy

To be honest, that's not something you can learn. It's like your actual voice. There's no point learning to sound like someone else.

In terms of sounding good the best thing you can do is find what kinda song suits your voice, sing a load of those and build confidence. And don't hold back. If you're singing and don't sing as loud/clear as you can it'll just sound weak!

wet-paint

Your vocal tone and colour is managed quite carefully in singing lessons. Everything from the placement and shape of your tongue to how much of a yawning feeling you make with your neck to where in your mouth you put the sound.

Breath support is one of the core principles of singing too, even if you see it as something only the professionals take note of.

Have you any specific things you're interested in, or do you just want to find out more about singing lessons?

ElvisChrist6

There's one bit of advice, which helped me a LOT, just sort of found out....
If you sing along to things, do you sing higher, lower, midrange? Or if all, which does it sound best in? I wanted to sing lower, but it just didn't sound right, wasn't nearly strong enough, and one day I just figured out and resolved to the fact that it just sounded a lot better if I sang sorta high-midrange. Even though I wanted to do it lower, I just did it like that, for ages, but after a while, my voice got much stronger, with lots of practise-I was pretty useless before, and then once I got that, I could go even higher, but as well, I learned after a while how to put some force into the lower register, so it actually sounded good! I sang in the range I was strongest with, as small as that range was, until I strengthened up enough to go beyond that range while it still works. Whether it sounds good or not, that's up to your voice, some people have softer voices, some rougher, and some might not have the kind of voice they want straight away, but you can get to where you want a lot of the time after a lot of practise. One of my favourite singers is Jim Morrison, I love how he screams and he just has such power, but he can also be very gentle and flowing, but when they formed the Doors, he couldn't sing a note, and had absolutely NO power in his voice whatsoever, he was dreadful! In fact, I think Robby Krieger used to sing most of the songs at very early gigs, even. But, through playing and playing and playing, and doing it again and again, he got so much power in his voice!

Edit: Of course, you also need to get to the stage where you can hit the right notes, sing in key and stay in key, that's more important and is the first thing that should be taken into account! Unless you're tone-deaf, this is very easily achievable with practise, although a lot of people get this naturally! That's one thing I can do well, stay in key, but I'd still like to build up my voice to something I could enjoy. I'm not quite there yet! There are other things, like where you sing from and all that, but I dunno about any of that!

The Volt

Singing lessons and more specifically, modern singing lessons seem to be extremely rare. I've tried watching some videos online but they're no good really.

Zombienosh

Practice, lots of it, sing all the time, warm up....properly, get some exercises to do. and any chance you get, record yourself and listen back to it. really listen. pay attention to everything you say and how you say it. also practice breathing techniques.

The Volt

What about things like safely adding gain to your voice?

Zombienosh

Voltwad wrote: »

What about things like safely adding gain to your voice?

how do you mean gain? If you mean volume? that should come with practice using diaphragm or if you mean grit/huskyness I always would have put that down to timbre and a naturally occuring thing. or if you mean screaming?...

The Volt

I mean the latter, like roughing it up for rock singing.

Onesimus

I started off sounding between a cat and a dog on a choke chain. But as time progressed I found my voice and it strengthened due to all the practice.

Lessons may be a good idea, but not if you havnt an absolute note in your head. It would be a waste of money and I've seen to many dodgy teachers given these type of students lessons, taking their money even though they knew they were rubbish and telling them that they are good or will be someeedddaaaayyy.

So first thing to do when you start singing is to be honest with yourself. If your bad at it and find it hard telling your self you are bad at it, I find looking in a mirror and saying it three times a day helps. Otherwise good luck with your singing adventure.

Onesimus