Can I "Teach" Myself to Sing?

[daled]

I've been playing guitar for about 3 years and am very interested in writing and performing my own songs. My big problem is that I CANNOT sing. It sounds okay to me while I'm strumming along but when I play back a recording I sound awful! Tone deaf! My question is, can I teach myself to sing better? Is there any method/technique to help me improve my overall vocals? It's not that I'm trying to immitate any one singer's unique vocal sound/style, I just don't want people to cringe while I'm plucking away! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated...

 

[LI Slim]

Maybe, maybe not. Are you recording with headphones so you can hear yourself well? Are you careful about hitting the notes? Treat your voice like it's an instrument. Be precise. If you do, and if you can hear yourself, and when you play it back you're still off-key, then that's a problem.

Try breathing. Lie down on your back and breathe like you're going to sleep. You'll see your stomach rise and fall. You're breathing through your diaphram. That's how you breathe when you sing. The air comes from as low as possible and creates a column through the back of your head.

But the best idea is to spring for a lesson with a vocals teacher. Get him/her to evaluate the situation and take it from there.

Actually the best idea is to hook up with a gorgeous female singer with a voice like an angel, but this may not be an option....

 

[JerryD]

Singing

Hi,

There is no differnce between a recording artist's vocal chords and yours. It's just that they have been practicing.
You learn voice just like you learned the guitar.

They key to singing is control and not volume.
With electronics volume is not a problem. You can always grab a mic but with no control you will sound terrible.

How do you control your voice>? I mean you sing out but how do you tell when you hit a wrong note. Your ears. So any control loop, that's electron terms, contains a output, a set level, feedback, and correction.

Output would be your voice.
Set level would be the right key or note.
Feedback would be you hearing it.
Correction would be you hearing it and changing to the correct note.

Nothing against deaf people but this is why speech problems occur. No feedback. No correction.

So when you go into a studio put on the headphones you can hear yourself singing. Don't say hey that's terrible just begin slowly correcting it.

Control will always be the key to singing.

 

[Brahmb]

If you're truly tone deaf only a teacher can teach you to sing. If not, you can record a song on any instrument (solo line) and try to match it. Keep practicing and then record your voice on another track. Listen and match them up.

The voice is like any other muscle and simply needs the exercise. It's the ears that make it difficult. But if you can hear music well enough to tell the difference between a guitar and a bass, you should be able to train your voice.

Teachers are worth the money if they know their job. Anybody can learn to sing (unless they can't talk then they have to hum).

 

[dragonworks]

Remember, when it comes to vocals you will be your own worst
critic. I am way to critical of my voice when I hear it but
I still get paid to sing. Another thing, I dont really try
and sing, I call it more like yelling in key, hey if anyone
can do better on my songs let them try, thats what I say. Find your best keys, you will be better in some than in others and just go for it.

 

[gibs]

You're not tone deaf if your playing sounds ok...the voice, like the instrument it is, just needs tuning, listening, and practice.....and vocals don't have to be perfect, i.e. kris kristofferson couldn't sing his way out of a paper bag, and bob dylan is no Caruso either....but they play instruments quite competently...gibs

 

[Tim Brown]

Re: Singing

Hi,

There is no differnce between a recording artist's vocal chords and yours. It's just that they have been practicing.
You learn voice just like you learned the guitar.

They key to singing is control and not volume.
With electronics volume is not a problem. You can always grab a mic but with no control you will sound terrible.

How do you control your voice>? I mean you sing out but how do you tell when you hit a wrong note. Your ears. So any control loop, that's electron terms, contains a output, a set level, feedback, and correction.

Output would be your voice.
Set level would be the right key or note.
Feedback would be you hearing it.
Correction would be you hearing it and changing to the correct note.

Nothing against deaf people but this is why speech problems occur. No feedback. No correction.

So when you go into a studio put on the headphones you can hear yourself singing. Don't say hey that's terrible just begin slowly correcting it.

Control will always be the key to singing.

This is all great.

I would suggest The Book and Video "Rock and Roll Singer's Survival Guide" by Mark Baxter.
This book made a MAJOR difference in my approach to vocals.
I am normally a pretty shy person-so for me to sing in front of other people i have to "go into character" so to speak.
It's almost like taking on a persona-it's definitely another part of me that I don't normally let out too often.

A Major fact with singing, is that You're voice is your's. If you're worried about making a mistake, don't be.
And if someone else doesn't like your voice-so be it.
I was always very critical of my own voice.
My selfcriticism was part of what was holding me back-I thought" I can't do that", and as long as I told myself I couldn't-I couldn't!
Mark's book does get into psyching yourself up some-and I found it to be extremely helpful.

It's one of the best that I've seen on the subject.

For the record:
I'm a drummer, and was placed in the position of playing drums and singing lead at the same time-not an easy task.
I have had several bands ask me to just either be their lead singer outright-or to record the vocals on their Demo's.

I'm not bragging, and I don't want it to sound like bragging-I'm not the greatest singer in the world, and I'm sure there are people out there who wouldn't like my voice; but I've learned that an Emotion delivery and singing with conviction goes along way.

Also, learn what you're present range is, and work within that range once you have complete control over your present range, then you can learn to stretch your range (yes you can add notes to your range for those who didn't know this)
I would also suggest working on the Lower/middle range first, just because that will be your speaking range.

Tim

 

[jvasey]

Sing EVERY DAY!!

If you do it every day, you will definitely get better. To start, practice singing triads. Pick each note, and sing the same pitch. Once you get a little better try hitting the note before you pick and see how close you are. Key of C would look like this
Cmaj Dmin Emin Fmaj Gmaj Amin Bdim Cmaj

Hope this helps
Jeff

 

[kero]

I agree with Tim, I find that it's mostly psycological, if you play an instr Your most likely not tone deaf, just be smooth sing in your natural range, work through your pronunciation and stay in key. Now getting up in front of a crowd and doing it....that's another story

 

[LI Slim]

I agree with most of what Tim and JerryD say, although I think we're skipping ahead a little. I also do not agree that volume is unimportant. I don't mean volume for the sake of volume, but "singing out" requires some power, and most people's voices sound better when they are really using their lungs. I'll bet Tim's singing persona, that performing side of himself that he discovered, sings a lot louder than he used to. Also, electronics only go so far. Most of us don't get to have our voices processed like Brittany Spears -- we have to supply the sound.

 

[Tim Brown]

I agree with most of what Tim and JerryD say, although I think we're skipping ahead a little. I also do not agree that volume is unimportant. I don't mean volume for the sake of volume, but "singing out" requires some power, and most people's voices sound better when they are really using their lungs. I'll bet Tim's singing persona, that performing side of himself that he discovered, sings a lot louder than he used to. Also, electronics only go so far. Most of us don't get to have our voices processed like Brittany Spears -- we have to supply the sound.

I had to learn to NOT be embarrassed to sing in front of other people-my brother always cricized me about my singing, and it caused me alot of unfounded fear that my voice was horrible.
Heck, I had words to a song that we did, and knew how I wanted it to go-so I just did the vocals one time on our 4-track.
I had forgotten all about it, and my bass player got a copy of a practice tape (We taped every band practice) and took it home-he and his wife heard it and freaked out over it, and she's extremely critical of singers. His Wife's grandmother was some Wagnerian singer back in the early 1900's, and all the grandkids had opera lessons. She even won some major award that Pavoratti won.
Anyway, My bass players wife decided that I was better than any of the singers who came to audition for us, because of my "Delivery" and tone.

Granted, I do have a lot of Power-The best way that I can describe it is my tone/sound is similar to the singer from Fates Warning (Ray Alder/Adler -I can never remember his last name-that's just what everyone tells me).
My earlier stuff all sounded like Glenn Danzig or Ian Astbury from The Cult.

So, that's true-the technique that I use is essentially an Opera technique of singing from the Diaphragm instead of from the throat.
If you sing from the throat-you'll wind up getting polyps, or possibly damaging your voice box.


My key is learning to bridge through the Chest-Falsetto without any breaks/cracks or weak spots in my range. I'm making pretty good process.

For the record, my favorite singer's are David DeFeis from Virgin Steele and Eric Adams from Manowar, so I attempt to sing in a similar style as far as delivering the lines.

Tim

 

[poo]

You'll probably sing your best when you aren't actually "thinking" about it. Usually when you know your recording something in your body just turns off. Learn to love your voice in tune or out of tune! It's your voice and no one elses!

 

[ruebarb]

Couple of things I've learned over the years I'll try to pass on.

1. The best singers are 100% talent (Mariah Carey)or 100% emotion (Neil Young). Usually they hate each other. Talent is harder, but emotion goes farther. Let's face it, Bob Dylan and Neil aren't great singer, but they're unique. That's what I've tried to do on my stuff (www.mp3.com/ruebarb) - maybe it works, and maybe it doesn't - but then again, hell, I'd settle for being Noel Gallagher if I could write the songs.

2. Write for your range. If a song doesn't feel right, capo it and try until you find a harmony/range that works. I spend a lot of time in F/G/A because it works, or else I'm writing other notes in other keys

3. listen to yourself on tape. You're on the right track there. We all hear ourselves differently anyway. (Man, do I HATE the sound of my voice on tape) - but it'll give you a clue as to where your problems are. You're not tone deaf, otherwise you'd not spot the problems on playback.

4. Confidence. Very true. I had a sister of a friend give me some critiques one day that made a lot of sense and left me feeling more relaxed about my singing.

5. Realistic expectations. Here's my point. I love The Verve. I also love Wilco. Two very different singers with two very different approaches. Given the sound of my voice and technique, I sound more like Wilco than the Verve, so I should probably not try the sweeping ranges and style of Richard Ashcroft if I don't sound like it. Write melodies suited to your vocal style.

hope that makes sense
RB

 

[LI Slim]

This is a very interesting thread............

For a few reasons:

1. Daled, who started it, has not reappeared yet. I wonder if he's even seen any of it.

2. It shows that singers tend to be:

--risk takers. More than any other instrument, putting your voice out there is really scarey.

--insecure. Several of us have noted how we cringe at the recorded (that is, actual) sound of our own voices.

--egotistical. Despite insecure, above, we all talk like we have great voices and know everything.

--analytical.

3. BTW, I really really disagree that the best singers are either 100% talent (I assume that means "have a great natural voice") or 100% emotional ("have a great instinctual feel for the music"). Neil Young, for example, has a LOT of talent. He's not "untalented", just very distinctive. Very few singers have his clarity and strength in the upper register. He could probably sing operatic tenor if he trained to do it. You need to have and develop the "talent" (like Mariah Carey has done) in order to be able to express your artistic vision. Yeah, everyone can sing, but it takes a lot of natural ability, musicality and practice to sing in a way that people really hear you. And don't we all seek the satisfaction of having people really hear us?

I want to thank all of you who have participated in this discussion (even tho it's not "my" thread) for your thoughts. Thanks.

 

[talk show host]

yippee..another kewl topic

I've been playing guitar for maybe 6 years now, and singing for about 5. My singing isn't church choir quality, but it's getting to a level where I'm more happy and comfortable with it anyway. I taught myself to sing, and I wasn't a very good singer to begin with at all. I'd like to share a few things I've picked up along the way.

1. Practice singing against CD's and the radio. Do it as often as you can, and really try and learn those songs back to front. Remember not to turn the volume that loud that you can't hear yourself, either. Start with songs where the singer doesn't try and sing really high notes or anything, that way you can concentrate on singing in tune and holding your notes. Work your way up to singers that sing higher notes. I started with stuff like early silverchair and moved through stuff like Weezer up to bands like Collective Soul, Radiohead and Jeff Buckley.

2. Don't push your voice too hard. Try and make the notes come out more naturally.

3. Sit yourself down and sing the lowest note you can through to the highest note. At some point you will feel that the air you're using to sing no longer comes from the chest but that it moves up into the head - usually around C for guys. The transitional bit where it goes from chest to head (and back down again) is the hardest thing to have sound smooth. Practice drawing the notes slowly up into your head as you sing higher..almost like little breaths at a time, and then slowly back into your chest as you go lower again. When I'm singing high I usually look downwards rather than up..like I'm concentrating on drawing everything into my head. That works for me.

4. If you're really having trouble singing in tune at any level, practice individual notes against a guitar or piano. You'll be able to pick out the differences a lot easier.