Trying to sing better

R

RyanEmerson

New member
Learning how to sing

Hey, I'm an 18-year-old rocker in a garage band, and I'm lookin' into tips of how to sing. I used to sing very well, and was top of the list in the school chorus back in middle-school, but then in high school I stopped altogether. A few years ago, my father (a great guitarist and god vocalist) gave me a Fender Start for my birthday, and I've come along way.I can't read music, but I play by ear very well, and can pick a tune or two.

But vocally, I need wok.

I've gotten good at imitating a lot of good singers, to verying degrees of success, but when I'm not singing along with a
CD, such as playing live, I tend to slightly go off key, and even if I stay in tune, the melody seems to get altered a bit. Now I realize a lot of it's practice, but are the nany suggestions about how I can improve, and fast?

What are some of the basics I may be overlooking?

Also, do people really have natural "ranges," or is it just how hard you work on it? You see, I can sing tenor fairly well, but I want to be able to do more of the high-pitched stuff as well. New Found Glory is the perfect example. Is that stuff simply not "in my range" or doesa it require more practice. When singing along to this stuff, I can reach 9 out of every 10 notes, but on that one note, I will crack. But even the ones I can reach don't seem to work, even of the pitch is perfect! It's like I'm trying to hard to reach the note, that I lose the emotion of the notes, which is, in my opinion, the most important.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.
 
Yeah, people definately have a natural range. You could extend that range to some degree with exercises and warming up (think stretching), but you're not going to make any kind of major leap.

What you need is essentially to learn the basics. Just like playing the guitar, there is a proper form to singing. Singing on key is somewhat intuitive and somewhat learned. Do you practice scales on a guitar? Well you should pratice scales with your voice if you are serious about improvement. You will get it used to hitting the rights notes and being able to transition between them. Sing notes along with a tuned instrument like a guitar or piano to warm up. I took voice lessons once and at the beginning of every class we would all stand around in a big gay circle and sing scales along with piano - saying things like (doo bee doo bee doo bee doo).

You can actually pick up decent books that will explain techniques and exercises (singing for Dummies is one of them), or you could always take actual voice lessons. If you're starting college I'd be willing to bet Voice Lessons are offered as a regular class in the music department. YOu can take it right after calculus.

For me, I made some major improvements with my singing technique by singing into a condensor microphone with the feed coming into headphones, so that I heard what was actually coming out of my mouth, as opposed to what was resonating through my head. You can listen to yourself more objectively, and concentrate on creating a good sound.

have fun
 
what i've noticed is that people are slightly off key when they hold back or overzealously belting out a tune. i'm on key with the cd too but get me in front of people playing and i sound like a possum just beaten by the LAPD. well maybe not that bad but its a little intimidating knowing i cant sing the way i want to. try this.....find hour blocks of time where no one is in the house and sing to yourself without the cd. if you can record yourself then this is better. try singing the way you normally would. now try singing with a little more energy (energy meaning singing it a little louder than before). now put the headphones on and play the song with the headphones and sing it. notice how your voice sounds different each time and tweak your vocal performance from there. drink room temp water and dont smoke atleast 2-3 hours before and since you were in chorus, you know how to warm up your voice. singing may be an artform but maybe its time to look at it from a scientific point of view
 
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