Learning to sing

Everyone has a voice, if you are willing then its worth trying a few vocal coaching sessions. Singing is far more complex than it appears, good coaching will definately improve tone. Go with a recommended coach.

A short course with a good coach will get you started. Be warned, it is expensive, but if you consider what it costs against the 'feelgood' factor it can bring, consider it as a personal growth investment.

Everyone has a voice. What is important is that you also have an ear! You need to be able to hear and follow a melody. If your voice can follow that in tune then there is hope!

Some people just can't. They can be great musicians but can't sing a note in tune.

The biggest hurdle in beginning is FEAR. No body is any good in the beginning - no matter how it sounds in the shower or car.

Find out what your singing voice can do first and then you can work on tone. But honestly, you can do more with breathing and phrasing correctly.

I still use the warm up sequences I learnt at the very beginning from a CD tutorial.

Don't be alarmed when you hear yourself (recorded I mean). I hate my voice to this day but other people tell me that it is great, but I can't stand it and it embarrasses me to hear it most times. But the other day the mp3 was on shuffle and Thin Lizzy's 'Suicide' came on. It was live but it wasn't Phil singing and I couldn't place what version it was. I realised then that it was my own band! Crazy I know but I left them last year and hadn't heard for ages. It didn't sound half bad!

Trust me when I tell you there is nothing like singing your heart out. The sense of freedom and the great feeling of wellbeing can't be beat. Hope you try it!

Sorry for the delay in answering.

If George (Amsterhammer) reads this, this topic might be another one to move to 'Other Topics' as it isn't specifically Joe related.

The short answer is yes, of course you can shape your voice. Depending on the tone of your voice and what key better suits it, that might dictate the music where it fits better, of course.

That said, you can adjust the instruments on certain songs to assist you.

I mean, if you listen to a lot of blues and what to sing that then you can ape some of the techniques you hear. If you have an 'ear' as said before it is relatively easy to do. But first get the confidence in your singing.

I've said it on here before and it doesn't bother me to tell again, but I really starting singing once I had mastered Barry Manilow! I don't do him now, of course (unless I really have had too much), but I still know all the words.

Mark Knopler was fun, but more like grunting of sorts. Hardest is Bon and I wouldn't even bother trying with Brian J. or Percy Plant. I hate having to ask the guys to drop a half tone for me, but it is better than it sounding crap. Still it does mean that they then have an another guitar on the stage and they love having that!

When you are singing it is important to know you have a bit of space for that extra gear, but if you are singing at your limit already there is nowhere to go, so you can't give it any tonal light and shade.

The way I view is that I can sing rock, which I consider the hardest to do for me (opera is a no go anyway), so after that I think I can develop it for anything else I m ight need. Thats the theory for me anyway.

Good luck. Mail me direct if you want to discuss it any further. Don't know if I can help but you never know.

Hello! Also sorry for the late reply. Yes I can tell by listening to certain singers who their influences are...the most obvious one I've heard is the SRV influence on Joe in 'long distance blues' from the blues deluxe album. This got me thinking and made me see it's possible to shape your voice and tailor it to your preference. Thanks for the reply my friend and yes I will mail you with anymore questions I have!

I never cease to be amazed at what I can sing and what I can't.  Some Sinatra version of "Luck Be a Lady Tonight," was on somebody's mix.  (I was not hanging out with my usual rogues) and I blew the song out of the room.  I was surprised...sorta? 

Was that you Doc?  Yeah I like that tune.

The hardest thing I do and I don't do it well is play bass & sing.  Because I'm an aggressive bass player, I have to really work to sing like I mean it and still push the band down hill.  ah well

MuchWork
BigJeff

No Shite?  Thank you, sir.  Email me, please.
http://www.bigjeffjones.com

MuchBoom
FDOL

Do you like to sing and never had the chance to take a lesson or try it? Here are five easy tips for singing that you can start with now to get you on the way to starting the voice training lessons. If you give these a try you can and will improve your voice. Also once you have gone through this there is a bonus step that is amazing for helping your voice training. Finally here are a couple great tools you can use to help your training at the end of this article.

Find a place everyday where you can have fifteen to twenty minutes to yourself and give this a try. If you do this for a month you will notice improvements in your tone, breathe control and confidence in your singing. What ever style of music you want to sing is unimportant. What is important is getting started and seeing some results. This are basic techniques I have used personally and in my teaching for over 20 years.

So let's get into this and get you started with these simple free voice lesson techniques. These are the start of any good voice training lessons and they are free for you here.

five easy tips for singing -find a quiet place to do this. It may seem silly at the start but you will notice improvement if you are willing to try it.

1. Your body is your singing instrument. Stand up, place your feet shoulder length apart, place your shoulders back though still in a comfortable position, bend your knees slightly, imagine there is a hook in the center of your chest pulling up and slightly out and finally make sure your head and chin are down and the head is squarely over your shoulders.

2. Now open your mouth like your are going to yawn. Make a yawning sound that is audible while opening your mouth as wide as your would when you yawn. You should notice that your ears open up more. Your mouth is the resonance chamber of your voice just like the body of a guitar. When done correctly your ears will open and your jaw should relax.

3. Let's begin this step with a very simple breath control exercise that has help hundreds of people increase breath strength and control. Place your forefinger and middle finger about 1 inch (10cm) below your diaphragm, Breathe from your stomach making sure your chest feels the hook pulling it up and slightly outward and repeat the sound TU as many times as you can. Do this as many times on one breath as possible stopping when you run out of breath. Try to maintain the body position in step one so that your are not changing the your voice's instrument.

4. Start with any tone that is comfortable. Your range does not matter for this, using middle C on a piano works. Then on that same note you will sing MA ME MI MO MU holding out the last one as long as you can. Try to over-pronounce more than you would when speaking. Now move up a whole or half step, meaning sing a bit higher pitch note this time and repeat this going up each time as long as it is comfortable. Do not strain yourself and stop if you feel dizzy of out of breath.

5. Now your are going to sing the sound OHM just like in meditation, again starting with a note that is comfortable and easy. You will sing this for as long as you can. Notice your sound and how your voice is while you are singing. Does it waiver or faulter? If so keep going. This will improve over time, what this does is help with breath control and tone at the same time. (We can expand on this in further steps later.) Do not judge or push at this point. We are starting to get the basics of a great singing foundation set here.
If you want to concentrate on pitch then you can learn to master absolute pitch and relative pitch with this amazing course