Jazz and Blues Scat Singing and Growls

  • Thread starter Thread starter shanetsh90
  • Start date Start date
S

shanetsh90

New member
hey guys..

i've been a huge fan of the Blues and Jazz music..
however, growing up in a typical Asian family, all i had to listen to was pop ballads and rock tunes...
i'm trying to learn the art of singing the Blues and Jazz so that i can cover some awesome songs that i love

Can you guys give me some suggestions about websites that provide tutorials to singing Blues and Jazz? in particular scat singing and growling.
Even youtubers that you think can help me improve my audio performance will do too!

here's an example of something i made.. its my first cover with my home set-up:

I Put A Spell On You - Nina Simone (Cover) - YouTube



Note: pls ignore the lack of mixing and mastering that might make the audio sound pitchy and muffled.. i'm already asking about that in the mixing/mastering sections.

Thank you in advance!
 
Scat singing is the same as an instrumentalist taking a solo. It's not something you'll learn to do well in a short time period.

If you just want to sound good on one or two tunes, I'd just work something out (compose a solo that will sound improvised when you sing it). Start with the melody and begin to slowly embelish it. Improvising in an interesting way usually involves singing notes you don't usually find in the construction of most melodies, so you may have a difficult time with it at first. Learn a few of someone else's first. Sing them well so you start getting the sound of b9's, maj7th, # or b5's, etc in your head. If you play piano or guitar, that will help a lot. Hard to hear intonation when the note you are singing is dissonant.

To truly improv requires excellent ear training, pitch control, an understanding of complex harmony, knowing the tune backwards and forwards, good time, and of course you need to make it interesting to listen to.

By all means, learn it. But know that it is an art above and beyond singing melodies.
 
Hey, I really liked it! What ever you are doing, just keep at it.
Unfortunately, that "growl" you want (I'm guessing that husky Ray Charles kind of thing) can only come with age and a few decades of straight whiskey and cigarettes. At least that's what worked for me ; )
 
i must say, i'm pretty good in harmony.. in the sense that i am not musically trained but i can pick up harmonies for songs in the first listen..

i'm already quite ok in terms of singing melodies... that's y i'm pushing it to learn scat singing so i can add a lil flare and flavour to my covers..

is there any youtuber or other websites that gives examples of scat runs that i can practice to?
 
darscuzlo said:
Hey, I really liked it! What ever you are doing, just keep at it.
Unfortunately, that "growl" you want (I'm guessing that husky Ray Charles kind of thing) can only come with age and a few decades of straight whiskey and cigarettes. At least that's what worked for me ; )
Click to expand...

and thank u kind sir..

i'm trying to improve on it.. can u recommend me some more old school artists to listen to? now my playlist is kinda limited to Ray charles, nina simone, stevie wonder.. XD
 
also, listened to Ella Fitzgerald, absolutely love her.. XD
 
Ella is the queen but in the jazz influenced rock world you might listen to Van Morrison on the album St Dominics Preview and, to a lesser extent, Hard Nose the Highway but he does scat on quite a few tracks across his massive catalogue of LPs. He grunts a lot but he also ad libs noise and sounds almost constantly. There's more of it on his live albums.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYxoVhrcorg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5GMHzPeEyA&feature=related Pee Wee's solo is excellent material for scat phrases too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcQDK3cc-0U&feature=related
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lFxGBB4UGU
Be careful where you say scat. It has a few different connotations these days.
Also, listen to the guitar solo on Creedence Cleawater Revival's version of the song & try to sing bits of it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeXqtzusIU0
Nice effort though the backing is pretty anonymous and you do need to swing a bit more.
The foam behind your speaker isn't going to help your tone much.
have a look in the Studio building forum for clues on how to treat your room to improve everything.
Keep posting - hope the south of the border weather is as good as we had up here today.
You scatting on FOIMLife was much looser and more fun because you seemed to be enjoying yourself.
 
Last edited:
thanks mate.. i will listen to ur suggestions..

thanks for taking the time to post here!
 
also one question, anyone notice any difference in their recordings if they sit or stand up?
 
You'll produce beeter sounds if standing simply because you're not sqishing the lower part of your diaphram etc etc. If you get tired - LEAN on something.
The sort of stuff you sings & want to sing takes a lot of chest to get happening - esp long phrases.
Post another track soon. Try to post audio on something other than Utub if you can. Aim for 320 MP3 or better - but an MP3 at 320 will give a good indication of your sound. People who don't know you will probably prefer a streamer like soundclick or sound cloud until they get to know you & are happy to down load 10 or so meg.
 
thanks for ur suggestion man.. i think i might try soundcloud..

i just picked up a couple pieces of new equipment and will use them for this new track
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top