How can I stay in tune?

P

Paralife

New member
I'm a beginer in singing.
Self taught and I started on Friday night (2 days ago)
I really cannot stay in tune!
Does any one have tips?! I'm trying my best to learn how to sing at least one song for the onicon this octuber 30th!
I'll try to post a recording of me singing as soon as I get on my computer (I'm on my itouch)
 
Just like most everything else, it takes practice. Micro muscle memory and all that kind of stuff. You have to develop your vocal chords just like you would for any other activity, like sports or billiards or whatever.... Just keep doing it.

Listen to yourself with a critical ear. If you can record yourself while singing a you like then listen back and identify where you aren't on pitch, then make adjustments. Do that everyday. Listen to what comes out your mouth and not what you hear in your head.

Controlled breathing also helps to stay on pitch. You can find some voice lessons on Youtube that might help.

peace,
 
Chili said:
Just like most everything else, it takes practice. Micro muscle memory and all that kind of stuff. You have to develop your vocal chords just like you would for any other activity, like sports or billiards or whatever.... Just keep doing it.

Listen to yourself with a critical ear. If you can record yourself while singing a you like then listen back and identify where you aren't on pitch, then make adjustments. Do that everyday. Listen to what comes out your mouth and not what you hear in your head.

Controlled breathing also helps to stay on pitch. You can find some voice lessons on Youtube that might help.

peace,
Click to expand...


Thanks you C:
yesterday I sung for entierly the whole day and today I was trying to sig but nothing at all came in tune D: about 80% was in tune yesterday but now like.... 0% is in tune DX
does it have something to me with me singing too much yesterday?

Also where do you sing? In home? At a friends house?
For me I cannot sing anywhere expect on Saturday and 5 mins on the way as I walk home from bus drop off area D:
my mom doesn't let me sing at home because she says I suck
 
Record yourself, listen for where you are going wrong. Practice getting thos bit right. record yourself again and see what's worng now. practice getting that right and so on till you are getting things as right as possible.

Also remember to keep the passion about the song. No one wnats to listen to a robotic performance and close but with passion beats spot on with no life every time IMO
 
Comparison to guitar:

When you first pick it up and begin to learn, you can't tune it 100% correctly. Your ear isn't trained. Luckily, it's something that can be worked on. As you play and play and play, you notice the little differences more. Same with vocals.

Keep singing, and you'll get better. Training really helps. As Chili said (PS: How ya doin Chili :D), it's like any sport. Nobody starts perfect.

Good luck ;)
 
Paralife said:
Thanks you C:
yesterday I sung for entierly the whole day and today I was trying to sig but nothing at all came in tune D: about 80% was in tune yesterday but now like.... 0% is in tune DX
does it have something to me with me singing too much yesterday?
Click to expand...

Yes. If you were singing the "whole day", then you definately strained your vocal chords.

All you should be doing is some good warm ups and then practicing whatever songs you are looking to perform, there is no benefit to "singing all day" if you are trying to improve your singing voice.
 
FunkDaddy said:
Yes. If you were singing the "whole day", then you definately strained your vocal chords.

All you should be doing is some good warm ups and then practicing whatever songs you are looking to perform, there is no benefit to "singing all day" if you are trying to improve your singing voice.
Click to expand...

C; actually I was not trying to improve y singing voice by singing all day, it was more of a - I cat seem to getthe tune right so I try over and oover again ^^"
how long do you think a beginner should generally sing in one day?
As now it is the week days and I only have 5 mins to sing before my mom gets home from work and when I get off the bus. I am not alowed to sing at home because my mom says says I sing like crap T_T sooo discouraging mom -_-"
 
I like to pass this along, as I was taught, it stuck and seems to be true;
He said 'Think it- and sound it.'
This has translated in my experience as -When you know the pitch (the notes) you can sing them.
Often we can hear the melody' and notes in our head, but haven't yet zeroed in on them.
No doubt in the process of pining these notes down we can be tuning in the physical part of it. But a pure example of it would be thinking of a single pitch, and drop in on it dead on. With out the mental prep, we might ramp up or around it.
(No I'm no great singer by any stretch. :)
 
Paralife said:
I am not alowed to sing at home because my mom says says I sing like crap T_T sooo discouraging mom -_-"
Click to expand...

Damn, that sucks man. If my mom had been like that when I lived at home I would have never been able to play guitar like I do today. Glad you're not a drummer! But I really feel for you. I'm not trying to bash your mom, but a parent unsupportive of a child's hobbies just doesn't seem right. How old are you? Try making a compromise with her. Like, you won't sing past 7:00. If you're in Jr. High or Highschool join choir. You gotta have time to practice.
 
Bristol Posse said:
Also remember to keep the passion about the song. No one wnats to listen to a robotic performance and close but with passion beats spot on with no life every time IMO
Click to expand...

While that is true, you'll want to work on doing it "right" before you do it passionately. Learn the rules for how to sing classically well as much as you can; then you can bend and break those rules for the sake of a better performance.

One of the biggest things with singing is breath control, as Chili mentioned. (But no one's elaborated yet, so I'll do that here.)

If you don't have enough air, your vocals won't sound good. You'll run out of breath halfway through lines; notes will be flat; etc. etc. It's like if you're playing an electric guitar, and the power to your amplifier cuts out halfway through each riff. It's just not going to work!
You want to do most of your breathing from your diaphragm. When you inhale, you want your gut to expand, not your chest. Breathing with your chest gets you small bursts of air very quickly, while breathing with your stomach nets a larger amount of air but a little more slowly. With singing, you want sustained air pressure for a long period of time, so breathing from your gut is the way to go.
Breathe in with your stomach, and then push the air back out with your stomach as you sing. Your core (abs and other lower torso) is in general a much stronger part of your body than your throat. The more work your gut can do, the less your throat will be strained.
 
Dark Imagery said:
Damn, that sucks man. If my mom had been like that when I lived at home I would have never been able to play guitar like I do today. Glad you're not a drummer! But I really feel for you. I'm not trying to bash your mom, but a parent unsupportive of a child's hobbies just doesn't seem right. How old are you? Try making a compromise with her. Like, you won't sing past 7:00. If you're in Jr. High or Highschool join choir. You gotta have time to practice.
Click to expand...

if I was a drummer my mom wouldve already kicked me out XD
sometimes I sing to annoy her, but she gets really pissed off so can't do much about that -_-"
I probally can't compromis with her because she is Asian and she is a mom.
Asian + mom = deadly weapon
in anycase I know a compromise won't work with her so I do sing every day for around 30 mins when she is outside taking a walk or something and sometimes she goes to the mall for hours and I just start singin C:
my mom is really unsupportove to what I like :|
I also draw, make scultptures <- really artsy person and she always throws away my art stuff... And that's how I make a living -u-" I sell my stuff online to get some pocket money for clothes and stuff :D
(btw most of you dot know but I'm female) any ways, i'm also into Lolita fashion and visual kei so that might get some insight of why my mom doesn't like what I sing... Like.... Loud Japanese rock... Pretty much I sing what ever other than country, blues, hard metal rock ect -u-" hard metal is too loud even for me XD
I think I kinda got off topic but what ever :> I already typed it -u-"
 
VomitHatSteve said:
While that is true, you'll want to work on doing it "right" before you do it passionately. Learn the rules for how to sing classically well as much as you can; then you can bend and break those rules for the sake of a better performance.

One of the biggest things with singing is breath control, as Chili mentioned. (But no one's elaborated yet, so I'll do that here.)

If you don't have enough air, your vocals won't sound good. You'll run out of breath halfway through lines; notes will be flat; etc. etc. It's like if you're playing an electric guitar, and the power to your amplifier cuts out halfway through each riff. It's just not going to work!
You want to do most of your breathing from your diaphragm. When you inhale, you want your gut to expand, not your chest. Breathing with your chest gets you small bursts of air very quickly, while breathing with your stomach nets a larger amount of air but a little more slowly. With singing, you want sustained air pressure for a long period of time, so breathing from your gut is the way to go.
Breathe in with your stomach, and then push the air back out with your stomach as you sing. Your core (abs and other lower torso) is in general a much stronger part of your body than your throat. The more work your gut can do, the less your throat will be strained.
Click to expand...

Wow! Thanks for the tips! That really helps alot! Eh heh -u-" guess that's why my throat is uneccesarily strained -u-"
 
Is there a school choir or vocal chorus you can join? Or a church choir? That's an easy way to get vocal coaching for free.
 
Oh, if you're in high school or college, take music theory for sure. They will probably teach you how to sight-sing. It's a good skill to learn.
 
Put into practice all that the advice you read today. It will most certainly help.

Just a tip which might help: When recording don't let the music in your headphones become so loud that you don't hear yourself well. Some singers go flat or sharp when they can't hear themselves in the headphones.

If all the advice given from myself and others isn't working for you, I would recommend a good vocal coach and also encourage you to consider taking some lessons on ear training.

Best wishes,

Lloyd
 
Staying in Tune

Wow!!

well everything is a matter of degrees, i.e. how extreme in tune can you get? for me, its a lifetime of work

it you are a beginner, know this..the Gold en Rule of Singing...KNOW the effect that you wANT,,,before you make it...like typing...hear in your head, yourself singing it,,,before hand

A N D!!!!.....what you hear of your voice, is not what is being recorded, until you get over that 1/4 tone hurdle you will swirl around in muck...so, start recording and play back...learn to listen with your right ear...and jump between the track and your live vocal feed back all out of the right ear until what you record is in tune...


..then , once you have that ability, down...learn to carry your notes on the breath...without ,,,their is no melodic phrasing that you crave

..and "singing all day"..yeah...been there done that...its a cycle of insanity...the voice should be used about 3 1/2 hour sessions at a time thru out the day...the ear gets lazy...remember singing is all about listening...first

FIRST...get the key, the modulation of the key in your bones, your humm, before you attack the phrase

and most importantly

learn to make each note a blend of head and chest voice...all the way up and down the register

okay..that's what I learned in .../xxx years..hahahahha
 
Listen to yourself with a critical ear. If you can record yourself singing, then listen and to identify where they are not on the ground, then make the necessary changes. Do it every day. Listen to what comes out of your mouth, not what you hear in your head. controlled breathing also helps to stay grounded. You can find some singing lessons on YouTube, that might help.
 
Do you have a keyboard, piano or guitar around? If not you can use one of the free online keyboards. Play a C note and try to harmonize with it then sing an E then a G. Once you can harmonize with these notes try mixing the order up a bit CEG, CGE, EGC ect.. Once you have this down try DFA, EGB, FAC, GBD, ACE and BDF following the same process. Do this once or twice a day, you should see a good amount of progrees within the first week alone.
 
I've had problems not singing in tune but drifting out of tune on notes. What my coach had me start doing was not singing so loud but more controlled. Steady even breath. She had me focus on sound placement so that I'd feel the vibration in the mask (around the nose and upper lip). We'd been working on this for months then it finally clicked in my brain. What I found happening is that I was shifting the placement around my soft palette and this was causing the air flow to change and thus cause the drifting. Lots of practice holding a single straight pitch (match a key on a piano) with no vibrato. Add the vibrato when you can do that consistently. Use the open "Ah" vowel. I find that if I can get that placed right ever other one falls into place.

Also another thing, don't worry about consonants when you sing. It's the vowels that are important. Transition your tongue shape for the next vowel when you do a consonant. Be ready for the next vowel when you hit the consonant. A late vowel will cause you to be flat. Diphthongs are another story. Hold the initial vowel and it will resolve itself when you go to the next consonant.
 
Get a hardware piece that does autotune.

Split your vocal, and run one signal though a delay into the autotune.

Listen to both signals as you sing, and use the autotune signal as reference to match you pitch.

Record only the signal without the autotune.

Win.
 
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