Can I sing? Give me a break

[Dutchtowner]

I tend to agree with the OP.

Too bad the voice is so closely connected to our egos that we feel the need to be accepted as singers.

To me it's a bit absurd to come to a forum to ask someone else if you can sing, that covers way too much territory to properly assess through one recorded link. If you want feedback on a particular aspect of your voice, that might be worthwhile to pursue.

I prefer the feedback mentioned by a previous poster. You'll get feedback if listeners really like you and probably none if they don't.

Why waste energy asking if you can sing? It's a little like asking someone "can I screw?"

Just do it, you'll know.

 

[Richard Monroe]

I tend to agree with the OP.

Too bad the voice is so closely connected to our egos that we feel the need to be accepted as singers.

To me it's a bit absurd to come to a forum to ask someone else if you can sing, that covers way too much territory to properly assess through one recorded link. If you want feedback on a particular aspect of your voice, that might be worthwhile to pursue.

I prefer the feedback mentioned by a previous poster. You'll get feedback if listeners really like you and probably none if they don't.

Why waste energy asking if you can sing? It's a little like asking someone "can I screw?"

Just do it, you'll know.

I don't know, it's more like having someone watch your home porno film and then asking, "Do you think I'm good in bed?"

 

[Dutchtowner]

I don't know, it's more like having someone watch your home porno film and then asking, "Do you think I'm good in bed?"

so it is! Better analogy for sure.

 

[grimtraveller]

i can guarantee that at least 90% of people that post "can i sing?" arent looking for a simple yes or no... they are probably asking "what am i doing wrong? am i doing something wrong or can i just not sing?"

I've learned never to guarantee anything that involves the brain waves and thought processes of people I don't know, much less in cyberspace !
If people indeed are asking what they may be doing wrong, they should just say so.
The blurb at the forum heading says

Singers unite! Singing techniques, itchy throats, and do you need vocal lessons? Stuck with the vocal tracks? Share your problems and solutions...

There's an assumption that those posting here are singers. It may not imply great or wonderful. It certainly leaves plenty of room for those wanting to improve. There's even scope for those who, at present, can't sing but would like to learn to.
I don't wish to discourage anyone. I'm not sure that the people that are being said to be discouraged and shot down really are, if they are prepared to bare their all on the world wide web.
Interestingly, most receive a thumbs up and encouragement. And few ever return.

 

[Soccer]

That screwing analogy should be in the forum description lol... Being comfortable with the way you sing it could be argued makes you a singer. I guess the same goes for being comfortable with screwing. You're a self titled pornstar that works for free. Its all labels

 

[Armistice]

There are too many singers, and too few songs worth singing..

We should organise a cull. Who's with me?

 

[Clam Soup]

And I don't know that it takes courage to get up and sing any more than it does to get up and play guitar - overcoming fear, perhaps, but not courage. And if you don't want to overcome that fear... don't... the world doesn't care.

As a person who deals with stage fright I am convinced that fear will effect a vocalist in greater degree than it will effect an instrumentalist. While both may feel the same about performing, and nervousness might disrupt their groove, fear will not change the tone of a guitar - it will change a voice.

When I'm nervous I begin to feel like I'm drowning. There is a glitch or a lump in my throat suffocating me. When you're standing at the mic, and clearing your throat, that only exacerbates the problem and makes you more aware of your limitations.... and so, you begin to fall off because now, rarther than singing a good song, you are worrying about how bad you sound... and it feeds on itself. The guy in the back with a guitar can clear his throat without being picked up by the mic - he can turn away from the crowd and concentrate on what he is doing and find his way back into the mix being equally nervous - his "vocal chords" are not being played. ... he might make mistake after mistake, but the tones are the same because the settings on the amps and mixer are the same.... only the vocalist might actually gag to death in the middle of a soft love song - stage fright is a nightmare.

 

[Richard Monroe]

Yo Clamsoup- I feel your pain. See your doc and get a low-dose prescription for Inderal, a cardiac medication often used for stagefright. They eat it like candy at Juliard and Berkelee of Boston. It does help.-Richie (RN)

 

[guitaristic]

There are too many singers, and too few songs worth singing..

We should organise a cull. Who's with me?

I am with you as soon as I look up what a cull is!

...Ok let's go!

But seriously, all the little singer people on Youtube who cover pop songs need to be the first to go!

 

[grimtraveller]

And I don't know that it takes courage to get up and sing any more than it does to get up and play guitar - overcoming fear, perhaps, but not courage.

I am convinced that fear will effect a vocalist in greater degree than it will effect an instrumentalist. While both may feel the same about performing, and nervousness might disrupt their groove, fear will not change the tone of a guitar - it will change a voice.

Armistice's point wasn't about degrees but about fear in performing. Fear is fear. While it's true that an audience in general will focus more on a vocalist than an instrumentalist, that's got little to do with the fear of the performer ~ which is an individual thing. And it's not true that the tone of an instrument doesn't change because of nerves. If you're a nervous guitarist, bassist, violinist, trumpeter, trombonist, flautist, percussionist, drummer or whatever, believe me, if you're worried and nervous, you'll fluff notes, play out of tune or wrong notes, slip on strings, valves or keys, not breathe properly and blow wrongly and because it sounds so bad, that increases fear and nerves and the vicious circle goes around again........
The reality is that fear and it's degrees are not specific to any particular application, instrumental or vocal, but to specific individuals. Messing up in a band or orchestra can bring just as much wrath and attendant consequences as a singer gagging !

 

[Clam Soup]

Armistice's point wasn't about degrees but about fear in performing. Fear is fear. While it's true that an audience in general will focus more on a vocalist than an instrumentalist, that's got little to do with the fear of the performer ~ which is an individual thing. And it's not true that the tone of an instrument doesn't change because of nerves. If you're a nervous guitarist, bassist, violinist, trumpeter, trombonist, flautist, percussionist, drummer or whatever, believe me, if you're worried and nervous, you'll fluff notes, play out of tune or wrong notes, slip on strings, valves or keys, not breathe properly and blow wrongly and because it sounds so bad, that increases fear and nerves and the vicious circle goes around again........
The reality is that fear and it's degrees are not specific to any particular application, instrumental or vocal, but to specific individuals. Messing up in a band or orchestra can bring just as much wrath and attendant consequences as a singer gagging !

I'll put it another way - I play guitar and sing. I sing way better than I play guitar, but fear induced errors on the guitar do not come anywhere near what happens to a voice - which is not erring, but is incapable of producing the notes. Or, better yet, fear might have control over the intstrumentalist, but with vocals it has control over the instrument itself. An actual obstruction rises in the throat. ... it would be the same for the guitar player if fear caused duct tape to be wrapped around his strings. His instrument is fine regardless of his nerves, but the vocalists instrument is literally shut down by the same fear. He ain't flubbing, making mistakes, etc... he is choking to death!

 

[Clam Soup]

Yo Clamsoup- I feel your pain. See your doc and get a low-dose prescription for Inderal, a cardiac medication often used for stagefright. They eat it like candy at Juliard and Berkelee of Boston. It does help.-Richie (RN)

Fortunately I don't perform much. ... and I've found that 3 or 4 beers work fine under most circumstances when I do.

 

[grimtraveller]

it would be the same for the guitar player if fear caused duct tape to be wrapped around his strings. His instrument is fine regardless of his nerves, but the vocalists instrument is literally shut down by the same fear.

When fear prevents you from operating as you ought to, you are not operating as you ought to. Your fingers or lips or diaphragm cease to operate as they ought. It affects whatever you may be playing. And sounds a racket.