Drucifer

Indeed, sir! Those parts are supposed to be sung that way!   The "Run your mouth" high part comes out so easy because, again, it's coming from that roof of the mouth area where the annunciation of the words put you there already. The idea is to try to get that kind of 'ease' into all the words you're singing, not just the higher ones or the the ones that automatically put focus on the soft palate. But like I said, man, you're so close to being there it's really just time and patience and before ya know it, you'll be where ya want.

Hey brother! Not bad at all and with a little a focus you'll be bustin' Pantera tunes out like they're nothing!   There's two spots in this where I can hear you're doing "it" the way "it" should be done, the very first  "Run your mouth" and then again on the word "song" at the end of "violins playing your song". Those are perfect fry spots where you aren't pushing too hard, the fry is making the sound, not your vocal chords slamming together.   It's tricky not to push to hard when you're developing that kind of voice, fortunately for you, you've got a good grasp on how to attain it, it's just fine tuning so you're not using extra muscles that you don't have to. If you listen to that clip, listen to the word "achieve" and then the word "song" as you sing them, you hear how the "achieve" doesn't have as much grit, but sounds more strained than the "song"? That's because you were slamming the chords down a bit harder on "achieve" than you were on "song".   A lot of that fry sound is formed around the soft palate area, when you sing the word "song", the "on" of the word kind of naturally places focus on the roof (around the soft palate) of your mouth, as where the "ie" in "achieve" almost puts it directly under where the "on" was....if that makes sense. So it'd be easier to get the fry sound singing the word "song", than it would "achieve" just based on how you naturally form those words in the mouth. Keep that in mind as you're moving along!   Tight work, man! Phil's one of my all time favorites!

Right on, thanks again!   I'm 32 currently. I'm hoping that I'll get some life out of my voice because I feel that I've only really been singing for the last year or two and the previous 10 years or so was just testing the waters. I can't sing anything unless I'm properly warmed up and that took a while to figure out what worked for me. I used to just warm up an hour or so before rehearsal or a gig but I've found lately that if I just do small things to warm up throughout the whole day that I get a LOT more length out of my voice. I do need to look into some warming down techniques though, that's something I haven't really looked into at all.

I've got a couple vids from a few months back, actually, these two are from our first live show together.   The first half of this one is all screaming and the second half is singing with that gritty voice and a couple screams. Actually, this one I'm using 2 different kinds of screams; the verses and choruses are all fry screaming, at 2:56 it goes to false chord screaming (or at least that's what everyone calls it). That false chord screaming, if not really careful, that stuff will blow your throat out quicker than most everything else, for me anyway.   These videos are loud on my laptop, so watch the volume, I dunno if that's just on my side or not.       And here's the same tune that I posted in my original post. This was the 7th song in the set. This must have been in-between recording the final version of that song because there's stuff that's not smoothed out yet. Man, I wish I hit that same note at 2:45 in the studio.....I've been hitting that note every time we do it live since this show. I don't know why that's not on the damn recording....anywho...       I don't really have strain issues in the studio, it's just in a live setting. I don't follow every rule in the book, for sure. I don't get drunk but I'll have a few beers (no more than 3 before a set and then one towards the end of the set) and I've been slowly quitting smoking, to just a couple every few weekends instead of 1.5 packs a day.    Staying hydrated properly is something I've had to focus on because I'm just not thirsty all that often so I have to force myself to drink water frequently. This has been one of my biggest issues since I started taking singing seriously.   And WPB isn't far at all! I'm literally 2 minutes off of 95! Thanks for taking interest!   Thank you, Bzean!!!

  Wow, thanks, man!   It's mainly the aggressive screaming stuff that you hear at the end of the song that causes the most stress, almost entirely on my jawline and under my tongue. In the studio it's not as bad, but live when you're jumping around and trying to be a performer, I all too often break concentration and start tensing up my face/neck/shoulder muscles. I've never lost my voice, it certainly doesn't have the same quality to it by the end of a set.   Really, thank you for the kind words. In the metal scene here in South Florida, the majority of the audience and peers seem to care only about how gutteral a scream can get.....I feel often that I'm on the other side of the playground saying "Dudes!! We've been playing dodgeball for years, doesn't one of you still have some lawn darts in the garage?!"

Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, where we've got the total opposite weather you do!   I'm a major Layne Staley nut, I know who he studied with and I know who you studied with, so it's stupid for me NOT to reach out for some lessons! Just need a bit of time because life is crazzzzzy these days!

I'd definitely like to get some lessons in before we do our next studio stretch. We're in the middle of mixing a batch of tunes now and some live shows, but when things calm down I'll be in contact, for sure!   Thanks again, Robert!

Thanks, Robert! That means a lot, coming from you!   I get what you're saying about the forward pallete, as I've been finding that if I focus on that area a little more I've got that much more control over what I'm doing at that particular second. Definitely good to know I just have to keep working it!

That's why you're a great teacher, brother!

These are all KILLER, man!!!!

I was posting here little bit about 5 years ago and made random posts since then. It's really amazing how just lurking and retaining as much info as possible on these forums can really help you out, so first, thanks to all who contribute here, both the people who ask the question and those who answer them, because both have helped me along the way.   A bit of my vocal history- I started "singing" in a band when our vocalist quit and I had to take over, this was 10 years ago. While I grew up on Alice In Chains and Ryche, this was a heavy prog metal band that required screaming closer to Lamb Of God, to which I couldn't pull off....though I thought I was.   After that I fronted a couple other hard rock/metal bands that I purposefully joined to get better as a vocalist, as in a real singer, not just some guy who screams in a mic. I took a couple years away from screaming and really worked on opening up my range. I've got a low voice but I've never believed it'd stop me from hitting some Tate and Halford highs.   I'm not fronting another prog-metal band, but this one really allows me to go all over the place with the vocals, from Mike Patton-esque to Chris Cornelly to Phil Anselmo and everything in between. This tune was recorded about 7 months ago and even now I'd like to go back and redo some of it because I can do it stronger/better, but it's a good marking of where I'm at now. My guitarist sings the chorus at 1:18, but the rest of it is me.   The first half of the tune is clean/raspy singing and the 2nd half goes into a more distorted, full on vocal fry screaming sound. It's tricky to not go too crazy with that stuff live....the good screamers don't get enough credit!   https://www.youtube.com/embed/BSfjDFSi884   I openly welcome any and all criticisms and insights! Take care!  

Hahahah, it's too bad "All Of the Above" wasn't listed because at some point through an entire set, one of those jumps it's way in!