Do You Sing?

[Kora]

I'm five years in school choir and this year I've started individual lessons. Mezzosopranos ftw.

 

[BlueScreen]

I sing reasonably well. My claim to fame is one year of voice lessons (opera) and I play flute (breath control principles are identical).

My advice (to be taken with a grain of salt): Scales are your key to vocal control. They're the most efficient way to gain control and improve. Get a piano/keyboard/guitar and sing scales while playing along. This will help you hear whether or not you are in tune.
- Sing scales slowly without vibratto to practice things like breath control, beauty of tone, and intonation
- Sing scales fast for agility (be careful to stay in tune)
- Sing scales in thirds (do, mi, re, fa, etc.) and other intervals

Stuff to watch out for:
1) RELAX!!! You can't sing with a tight throat. You want to feel like you're yawning, not squeezing.
2) When you're tired, you will probably go flat. Being flat sounds worse than being sharp, so try to be sharp when you're tired. (in case you don't know: when discussing errors of intonation, "sharp" = pitch slightly higher than it should be. "flat" = pitch slightly lower)
3) Learn to breathe. If you're breathing into your upper chest and raising your shoulders, you're probably doing it wrong. Use your diaphragm. To find out how, lie down on the floor and take a deep breath. Your lower belly should expand. When you forcefully exhale, your lower belly should feel like it's trying to expand (abs are engaged). I hope that made sense...
4) Always start with a warm up. Your voice is a muscle. If you don't stretch it, your chances of damaging it are much higher. You can stretch your chords by warming up with scales.

I STRONGLY recommend taking 3 or 4 voice lessons if you're serious about singing... just so you can get the basics down. Happy singing to you!

I sing in the shower mainly . But when trying to record stuff recently I found the best thing for my singing was feedback. If you can hear what you sing really clearly you hit the notes so much better, and the control is so much easier. Scales are good to get you in tune though.

 

[FFF]

I sing reasonably well. My claim to fame is one year of voice lessons (opera) and I play flute (breath control principles are identical).

My advice (to be taken with a grain of salt): Scales are your key to vocal control. They're the most efficient way to gain control and improve. Get a piano/keyboard/guitar and sing scales while playing along. This will help you hear whether or not you are in tune.
- Sing scales slowly without vibratto to practice things like breath control, beauty of tone, and intonation
- Sing scales fast for agility (be careful to stay in tune)
- Sing scales in thirds (do, mi, re, fa, etc.) and other intervals

Stuff to watch out for:
1) RELAX!!! You can't sing with a tight throat. You want to feel like you're yawning, not squeezing.
2) When you're tired, you will probably go flat. Being flat sounds worse than being sharp, so try to be sharp when you're tired. (in case you don't know: when discussing errors of intonation, "sharp" = pitch slightly higher than it should be. "flat" = pitch slightly lower)
3) Learn to breathe. If you're breathing into your upper chest and raising your shoulders, you're probably doing it wrong. Use your diaphragm. To find out how, lie down on the floor and take a deep breath. Your lower belly should expand. When you forcefully exhale, your lower belly should feel like it's trying to expand (abs are engaged). I hope that made sense...
4) Always start with a warm up. Your voice is a muscle. If you don't stretch it, your chances of damaging it are much higher. You can stretch your chords by warming up with scales.

I STRONGLY recommend taking 3 or 4 voice lessons if you're serious about singing... just so you can get the basics down. Happy singing to you!

Actually, the rhythm and tuning aspect is the thing I have down the best just from being a long-time guitar player. It's things like breath control and beauty of tone where I have no idea what I'm doing.

Are you sure it's falsetto and not your real voice? You should check. Also, is that F the one just below the staff or up more? The difference in your answers will make you either a Tenor or a Baritone.

I'm a guitar player so my music reading ability isn't great. I have to think about this really hard. Umm... it's the second lowest note you can make on a guitar in standard tuning. So, that's probably below the staff on the bass clef. Normally I work with an adjusted treble clef that's one octave lower than it should be.

 

[Xander]

Sing? Yup. Since primary school...possibly before but if so I don't recall it.

One possible hint I'd give is sing loud. Singing quietly is more of a pain and requires greater control. Oh and daft as it may seem doing impressions of pretty much any voice or sound can help a great deal.

On a side note I think that until you can sing like a pro it's possibly a mistake to take it too seriously. Singing is making a noise with your voice, try starting there and then worry about smoothing over the note changes, holding your pitch etc.

 

[FFF]

About a month ago I was playing guitar, and then I was singing along with some Live. That's when I realized how much of a comfortable match Live's singer, Edward Kowalczyk (if you know how to say his last name, please tell me), is for me. When he hits high and low notes, he seems to be just as far from his comfort zone as me, and the tone of his voice seems to be similar to mine. Singing Oasis can be rather comfortable because Liam has an unusual voice for me. Noel isn't as bad, but doesn't sing as often.

I like to sing along songs but I'm not very good at it.
I mostly sing by myself in a car when driving.
It's best that not many people hear me when singing.

Yes, that's exactly the kind of singing I'm not talking about.

I sing in the shower mainly . But when trying to record stuff recently I found the best thing for my singing was feedback. If you can hear what you sing really clearly you hit the notes so much better, and the control is so much easier. Scales are good to get you in tune though.

I want to be able to record myself and listen because I'll probably judge more accurately listening to a recording. I guess I just need to hook up a cheap microphone to my computer.

 

[BlueScreen]

I want to be able to record myself and listen because I'll probably judge more accurately listening to a recording. I guess I just need to hook up a cheap microphone to my computer.

It's actually quite cool. First time I tried recording myself I really hated my singing and was miles off notes and everything, then I just went headphones off my laptop and used the built-in microphone with one headphone in my ear. Then all you need is something that allows you to feed back. I think in windows you just turn microphone off mute on outputs. I'm on mac.

The headphone step is important, though I'm guessing you'll realise that quickly if you try speakers. And start with the sound down and increase slowly. If you get feedback with headphones on it kills your ears like nothing.

 

[Xander]

Singing Oasis can be rather comfortable because Liam has an unusual voice for me. Noel isn't as bad, but doesn't sing as often.

LOL. If you find yourself singing like those two by accident then try breathe right strips

 

[INTJMom]

I'm not talking about sounding as bad as nails scraping on a chalk board in your car or in the shower, but do you do any serious vocal music making? I'm a long time guitar player that's trying to learn how to sing. I still don't know what I'm doing with this thing, and it's my own body.

I am a singer. It just comes naturally, and runs in my family, too.
I've done some recording and songwriting.
I play guitar and sing in front of people several times a month.

I wouldn't know how to "teach" someone to sing.
I've always thought that either a person can sing or they can't.
After that, it just takes practice.
I guess it depends on the genre.
I think you can be tone deaf and still be one of those "screamer" dudes.

Judging from American Idol auditions,
apparently, not everyone has the ability to judge whether they can sing or not.

 

[ThatsWhatHeSaid]

Y'all should post videos of yourselves singing. If 3 people do it, I'll do it. (Keep in mind, I've never taken a lesson, sung in a band, and likely suck nuts.)

 

[runvardh]

I'm a guitar player so my music reading ability isn't great. I have to think about this really hard. Umm... it's the second lowest note you can make on a guitar in standard tuning. So, that's probably below the staff on the bass clef. Normally I work with an adjusted treble clef that's one octave lower than it should be.

Probably Baritone like me then, I work with both the treble octive down and the base depending on the piece. Do you know if people still like the lower sounds or do the girls only screem for the screachy Tenors?

 

[runvardh]

Y'all should post videos of yourselves singing. If 3 people do it, I'll do it. (Keep in mind, I've never taken a lesson, sung in a band, and likely suck nuts.)

Hehehe, maybe once my cold is gone and my Tenor roommate isn't around to poke fun at me.

 

[FFF]

Probably Baritone like me then, I work with both the treble octive down and the base depending on the piece. Do you know if people still like the lower sounds or do the girls only screem for the screachy Tenors?

I read recently that the tenors make up almost all popular singers. That's about all I know.

I do have a video of me singing and playing guitar, but it's from a few months ago. The singing really is that good in it. I didn't know the singing well enough, so I got some notes on the ends of lines wrong.

 

[nightning]

Some people say I have a choir voice even though I haven't done any since elementary My voice is usually too high for most pop songs, around mezzo soprano? . I sing along with the radio but only if I'm alone. Usually I have to transpose most things an octave above.

Not sure if I'll feel comfortable with posting recordings Edahn.

Edit:
Nearly forgotten... if you want to work on your singing, the first thing you should practice is breathing. What you want to do is to slowly push air out from your diaphragm. Practice just singing single sustained notes. Keeping it clear and holding it for as long as you can.

 

[FFF]

Edit:
Nearly forgotten... if you want to work on your singing, the first thing you should practice is breathing. What you want to do is to slowly push air out from your diaphragm. Practice just singing single sustained notes. Keeping it clear and holding it for as long as you can.

Hey. That's helpful. Now I see how breathing (from the diaphragm) relates to singing. Before I didn't seem to be breathing out much at all.

 

[Usehername]

I read recently that the tenors make up almost all popular singers. That's about all I know.

I do have a video of me singing and playing guitar, but it's from a few months ago. The singing really is that good in it. I didn't know the singing well enough, so I got some notes on the ends of lines wrong.

Tenors do make up most popular singers.

Crash Test Dummies is the only real bass(? bass or baritone?) lead singer I can think of.

 

[Tallulah]

Y'all should post videos of yourselves singing. If 3 people do it, I'll do it. (Keep in mind, I've never taken a lesson, sung in a band, and likely suck nuts.)

I'd do it. I've posted a clip before, when I mimicked Dido for the Gauntlet. I could do another crappy home recording job.

Probably Baritone like me then, I work with both the treble octive down and the base depending on the piece. Do you know if people still like the lower sounds or do the girls only screem for the screachy Tenors?

I prefer lower voices. There are a few guy singers with high ranges that I like, but I generally like lower voices, male or female.

 

[FFF]

Tenors do make up most popular singers.

Crash Test Dummies is the only real bass(? bass or baritone?) lead singer I can think of.

Well, how do you figure out what a singer is?

 

[niffer]

I do kind of sing. I take a vocal jazz course at school and I've entered various singing competitions in the past. And like, I plan to become a rock star...so yeah.

Lol I'm actually a low alto. My music teacher originally thought I might be a contra-alto, but I'm not. I just have a pretty low voice for a chick. I sometimes decide to sing with the tenor guys during vocal jazz hehe, and in choirs I can do soprano. I generally just alternate between alto and tenor, depending on which part I think is cooler. So yeah, my range is pretty tricked out.

 

[niffer]

I prefer lower voices. There are a few guy singers with high ranges that I like, but I generally like lower voices, male or female.

Same here. In other words TYLER CONNOLLY ( ) of Theory of a Deadman, or Mika Nakashima.

 

[runvardh]

*looks up* Damn it I may need to get unsick quick so I can sing!

I just would rather only have it acessible to people on the board...