didjcripey
193 posts
Feb 12, 2012
12:55 AM
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Finally came to the realisation that if I want to play what I want to play, the way I want to play it, I'd better learn to sing. I'm not bad in the shower, but does that mean I should just get up in front of an audience and have a go?
I'm guessing that plenty of practice will help.
Any body got any tips?
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Lucky Lester
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K_Hungus
83 posts
Feb 12, 2012
1:58 AM
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Record yourself first (if you haven't already) and be prepared to be shocked.
If your planning to get on stage (and I've a little experience with that) be sure to know the song in and out. I don't mean just text wise, but 'muscle wise' if that makes any sense.
the reason is, if the band is loud there's a good chance you won't be able to hear yourself well. So you got no feedback to correct yourself.
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GamblersHand
326 posts
Feb 12, 2012
2:40 AM
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If you got to a teacher they'll focus on breathing posture and being relaxed - all a bit dull, but those are the fundamentals. They're quite difficult to teach - most people have bad singing habits (e.g. lifting your shoulders when taking a deep breath, reaching for a note without supporting it in their diaphragm), and it's easy to forget them in a live situation. A book might give you some guidance and exercises, but a teacher's perspective is always useful.
I'd suggest practicing scales and intervals, and check that you can easily adapt sing a tune in a scale a few tones higher or lower.
It's useful to know your range of your natural (chest) voice, so I'd recommend using a tuner like
http://www.seventhstring.com/tuner/tuner.html
An untrained baritone (most guys are baritones) might have a solid range of G2 to E4.
And of course, listen closely to your favourite singers and their phrasing, embellishments, how they communicate the song
Last Edited by on Feb 12, 2012 2:41 AM
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arzajac
746 posts
Feb 12, 2012
4:25 AM
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You could do it without taking lessons, but I would highly recommend finding and paying a good teacher.
Lots of people who sing would sing better if they learned the basics. Really basic things like how to breath and how to relax, as has been mentioned. Also, a good teacher will work with you over a period of time and will explore your vocal range. You probably don't know where your range really is and it will take months of work to figure out whether you are best to sing a song in F, G or A, for example.
Your teacher should give you homework to practice every day. For example, playing a broken triad up and down (major, minor, diminished, etc... "C-E-G-E-C") up and down and then singing it unaccompanied ("la-la-la-la-la" or pick another vowel). Start in the middle of your range and go up to the top. Work your way back down and go to your lowest point.
As you work at it, your range may change or expand.
You would miss out on that if you just went to jams and hollered into a microphone.
And most good singers don't add lots of embellishment when they sing. Most bad singers do. I would suggest you concentrate on singing songs without adding any (that may be hard sometimes when you really hear a song a certain way). Just sing the notes and make the words clear for the audience. The melody usually has lots of ability to carry the words. Your own embellishments will come with time.
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Last Edited by on Feb 12, 2012 4:34 AM
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SuperBee
67 posts
Feb 12, 2012
4:37 AM
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There's a guy on the web called Eric arcenaux who is pretty good. I mean he'd take money off you but he has some good basic stuff for free. What GH says above though, I'd second. And recording yourself is a great advice too. Regularly. I've been doing it every couple weeks for the last year or so. It's really the best way to identify your strengths and shortcomings and track improvement, problem areas.
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nacoran
5221 posts
Feb 12, 2012
11:59 AM
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I sang in choirs all through high school and college and it was an entirely different experience than singing into a microphone. There are little tricks you learn about singing right up in the grill, then backing off when you want to get that 'belt it out' sort of sound without peaking. You learn that if you want to whistle you have do it at sort of a right angle to the microphone so you don't get a wind sound. There are lots of little adjustments. Practice into a mic and record yourself a few times. Then compare yourself to wherever it is you are going to be singing and decide.
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Nate
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Leatherlips
28 posts
Feb 12, 2012
12:24 PM
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I've been playing harp for around 25 years and it's something which has not come easily to me. I see people who can pick up a musical instrument and quickly get hold of the basics.
I have wanted to sing for the last twenty years, and joined singing groups and had some one on one lessons. It's only been in the last year or so that other band members have let me sing at practice.
I know I thought I was better than I was in the past, but finally I think I've arrived.
I didn't at any time spend hours practicing, so perhaps this is why it's taken me so long to get to this point.
Hopefully, I'm not typical of someone learning to sing and that you are one of the narurals. I think it's important too, to just have fun doing it.
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jbone
775 posts
Feb 12, 2012
1:20 PM
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i don't know about arriving L-L and i've sung for about 16 years now. i DO know that the limited training i had was helpful to me. once i had got started i realized i had no idea about my depth or my air column or breathing or any of it. at that time i was still blowing out 4 draw reeds on harps at an alarming rate as well.
so i did get a lesson and dove into some exercises and worked briefly with a yoga guy who got me breathing much deeper than i ever had. this helped tremendously once i also learned to relax my muscles associated with stomach, chest, throat, etc, and form notes with less stress. along with beginning to find my real voice, which i had never suspected was there, i began learning more about harmonica, different positions, amps/mics/acoustic playing, and all of this kind of tied in together for me. considering when i started working with bands i could wreck a D harp in a night and blow my voice 0out in 2 sets, and these days i can sing most of a night with no hoarseness next day and seldom blow up a harp, i have seen a lot of progress. this began not with breathing exercises for me, but with becoming a student. all else follows an open mind and a willing attitude.
i am no carnegie hall candidate these days but i can do what i set out to do most times and people tell me i sound good in the bargain! along with my wife i have a great blues/roots duo which would not have come about if i had not led the way re vocals. wife did not sing at all when we met, and it was partly my example and encouragement that led her to try. the success she has is hers alone.
to me though, the real bottom line is, if you want to lead a band, learn to sing and get to where you sing well. maybe not not perfect but in a way that people like and you can sustain. if you sing you get to pick material, even write your own, and if it's good quality ( a whole nother story), you can achieve greater heights personally and who knows, as an artist as well.
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mojojojo
89 posts
Feb 13, 2012
12:12 AM
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Brett Mannings's Singing Success (youtube free samples) material/exercises really explain what singing is (what's going on physically) and if you can do the practice exercises regularly you can train your voice. Amazing teacher and method.
Pro singers can just walk on stage and belt out a song because everything is coordinated muscle-wise and their breaks are already smoothed out.
Just the first disc on humming scales and so on will take you in the right direction, just like practicing scales on harp opens things up.
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didjcripey
194 posts
Feb 13, 2012
1:49 AM
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Thanks for the great advice fellas.
I reckon I've got breathing, relaxation and posture covered, and I can project my voice no worries. My biggest concern is hitting the notes on pitch. Looks like scale exercises and practice are what I need next up. I'll check out the recommended lessons too.
Cheers.
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Lucky Lester
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KingoBad
1038 posts
Feb 13, 2012
1:56 PM
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I think the point is that hiring a pro will let you know if you are actually doing things right instead of what you might reckon...
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Danny
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joek18
11 posts
Feb 13, 2012
8:44 PM
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I second and third the notion of hiring a pro teacher, at least for a few lessons. Teachers help not only with pitch and tone quality but also intervals (an essential component of finding pitch from note to note and phrase to phrase), support and proper tone creation and placement. As important, most teachers will work with you on the very songs you want to develop, providing needed input to shape the work itself.
If you do work with a teacher, please send an update for the forum. It'd be interesting to follow your experiences.
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didjcripey
195 posts
Feb 14, 2012
1:10 AM
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@ kingo and joek: yep, I'd love to hire a pro singing teacher and a pro harp teacher too, but currently paying for bass and piano lessons for the kids as well as all the usual expenses of family life, while trying to dodge work enough to give me the time to practice harp enough to keep improving.
I do learn well from youtube lessons though, so I think thats what it will be for now.
Doesn't mean I won't start trying to put a little away for at least a couple of lessons though, (after I pay to get my amp fixed!).
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Lucky Lester
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