Vocal Training? Possible?

[BandGeek]

Hi everyone , i'll get straight to the point. I have a weak voice when it comes to high parts. How do u guys train your vocals to be... stronger ? sing higher pitch ? Any good tip is appreciated.
*ps: i know.. practise..*

[bdbdbuck]

Dude, with a voice like mine, no amount of practice is goin to help. It don't hurt to lay off the bong hits a little. Not that I would ever do a thing like that...........



bd

[Strtj]

I've found it's helped me a lot to relax when singing. Every time I tried to hit a high note I would tense up and strangle it. Now I try to relax instead and it has made a difference.

You did answer your own question though. These types of things can only come to you through practice. It amazes me to listen to tapes from a few years ago and realise just how much my voice has improved... and my guitar playing :-)

[Jagular]

Yes, practice. Investing in vocal lessons isn’t a terrible idea either. A vocal coach can give you good exercises to help. I also heard once (I don’t know how true it is) that if you are trying to expand your range, you should work both lower & higher registers as exercising your chords in both directions is beneficial for the high register.

I may consider some refresher vocal lessons some day soon. But I think I’ll get some guitar lessons first. I never had any, and since I haven’t played for awhile the old chops have deteriorated quite a bit I’m finding (not that they were ever awesome to start with). Piano lessons would be nice too. Hmmmm…where to find the time & money

[mikeh]

Vocal training can certainly help increase vocal range to some degree (it may not give you an octave - but it may add a couple of steps. In particular a vocal coach can teach you proper breath control and various ways to relax your throat.

I took a few months of vocal lesson after singing rock & roll for many, many years (with no lessons).

Within a couple of months I added a few notes to the top of my range and learned to transition into my falsetto voice more smoothly (both of these improvements are significant given how old I am).

[Layla Nahar]

LESSONS LESSONS LESSONS

and

PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE

I do about at least 20 minutes of vocal excercises a day,
Then I sing (that is I work on a song or set of songs
working on pitch, power, articulation etc ...
for another 20 or so)

[Cyrokk]

As was stated before, hitting high notes involves a relaxed voice.

The natural tendency when singing in your comfort zone is to push all the air out and belt the notes, mainly because it's your favorite part of the range of your voice. You cannot do this when you hit the higher notes out of your range. Although you should try to keep your diaphram firm as when singing any note (this helps the tone of your voice), you should take a delicate approach when hitting the higher notes. I tend to keep my mouth and throat open only enough to let the words and the note out, and let my throat try as naturally as possible to work in the high range. The result is that you will hit the notes, but they will not be as loud.

To sound consistent, you will need to work the mic. Move in close to the mic during the high notes (and low notes) at the limits of your range, and move the mic back when singing normally.

Cy

[zer0sig]

wow, it never occurred to me that by laying off on the belting, i could actually reach higher with my voice. after just trying it, it looks like i can reach above the high notes in bohemian rhapsody AND heart's magic man, which puts me at pretty damned close to 4 octaves. sweet! i thought i could only hit that high by breathing in while singing, which makes the highs rather scratchy. i'm still going to be belting a lot of things, but if i can just squeeze closer to the mic and hit ultra-highs, i can live with that thanks for the tip!