Vocal Drills? -

[homernogetit]

K, I am a beginner and need some advice for improving all around.

What I have done so far is to run up and down scales on my guitar and harmonize along to teach myself how to sing.

For example, I start on the 6th string 5th Fret and run two octaves up and then back down again for an A Scale.

I have a more baritone voice, seems like the C's and A's are easy for me…..but have issues with E?.........im betting its just my ear. Also have issues when attempting the second octaves.

So……..is this what I should be doing?..

Any advice is welcome!
Thank you

 

[grimtraveller]

I would say that you're most defintely on the right track.
A really important aspect of singing is controlling breathing. An interesting excercize that a drama friend of mine showed me; breathe in deeply through your nose for 8 seconds. Make sure you breathe into your stomach. If you put your hand on your belly you can feel it expand. Hold the breath for 8 seconds. Then through clenched teeth, almost hissing, expel the breath . You have 8 seconds to get rid of all the breath. By the end of 8 seconds, there shouldn't be a single breath left.
Then extend the times. By the time you get good at this, you should taking 24 - 30 seconds to expel the air.
Also, try running, riding a bike or doing some cardio~vascular excercise while singing. That'll do wonders for both your breath control and your ability to alter and control your notes.

 

[arcadeko]

hold the notes for as long as you can on each scale. Then go through it faster, moving through the notes one beat at a time.

Another one I remember was on the keys but you could do it on the gtr too. Basically you start at a root of the scale and go up or down a full step, then 2 then 3, 4 and 5 and back down. so if you started on C you would play/sing:

C - D - C - E - C - F - C - G - C - F - C - E - C - D - C

then start on D...