First gig as lead singer

[James_E]

I left a band last November where I was playing bass and singing some back-up. Headed back to 6 strings and put this current band together around december and we actually started practicing regularly starting mid-january.

I have never been a lead singer before. Lot's of backups, maybe sing lead a song or two. I decided I want to be able to sing as lead so I jumped in head first and took the role. Been working on it since around December last year but really got a slow start since I coach hockey so much in the winter that my voice is often a bit wrecked from raising my voice and being in rinks. I'm happy with my progress as a singer, but I have a long way to go. (I'm getting some instruction starting this friday via Skype from Robert Lunte. I bought Four Pillars in January but have not made a ton of progress in it.. also due to the hockey thing.)

This was a private function, the drummers 40th birthday party (I'm 42.) Total surprise to him. He was a bit drunk by the time we played so was a bit off, but we had a blast which is exactly why we do this!!

[James_E]

A whole bunch more vids of the night are up.

Some messups for sure. It was our first gig as a whole and my first as lead singer. My voice was crapping out as the evening went on... and the dozen or so shots of ouzo the drummer had didn't help (it WAS his 40th... we expected him to be drunk LOL.)

I really really am excited to start working with Robert Lunte. I've been reading more of his material and I think I'm trying to reach high notes with pure-chest belt and not using any "twang" or head... and it's not working and is straining my body.

[ronws]

Making it a viewable embed, here.

[ronws]

I think you will do well with Lunte's program. And you already have a good voice to start with.

And, amazing that the drummer could stay in the pocket after ouzo.

[James_E]

Thanks! I'm looking to forward to see how much I can improve if I get some training and diligently do my workouts. Communication with Robert leading up the lesson has been great. Seems like a great guy.

[Robert Lunte]

Hi Jaimie, got your VM finally after a long 10 hour day, still up answering emails.

Hop I'm not embarrassing myself here, but is that an original tune? Regardless, I think it sounds good considering that its your first gig. Sincerely.

I can hear that you have a good instrument for singing and you have some natural 'mojo'-soul peeking in that would grow and become more profound if you train your voice and keep going.

i would recommend that you get some compression on your mix, look into getting some TC-Helicon pedals... or a Lampifier microphone that has built in compression on it. Both are partner companies of The Modern Vocalist World.

You begin your internet lessons with me this weekend I believe, we will launch your understanding and capabilities forward in a massive way starting this weekend. Get ready for rapid progress through drilling the TVS Work Flows.

New clients of "The Four Pillars of Singing 2.0" get this video as well. It helps orient students to get off to a strong start and train smart. I want to share it with you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbHqGWFY17A

[James_E]

Thanks Robert!

The song is a cover song. "It's not my time" by the band Three Doors Down.

I am going through a Voicetone Create XT, mainly to add some reverb. However I've not spent much time configuring it at all... perhaps I need to look into that further and see if I can add the compression somehow.

Talk to you soon.

[James_E]

Wow. Just had my first lesson with Robert, via Skype.

It is clear that Robert is passionate about singing. This passion is oozing out of him. I can tell he really cares and wants to help. That guy in the videos you see is not some sort of "Robert in sales guy mode"... it's Robert. He's real. He cares about singing and teaching... and holy hell he can sing too.

My first lesson focused on "the hard parts".. getting through the passagio without shouting and without choking/breaking up. It was pretty cool. I actually hit a G4 (much rejoicing both on Robert and my parts LOL) using melodic 5th sirens without feeling like I was pushing. Robert made me "work".. didn't focus on what was easy for me and got straight to what was difficult for me. Clarified a lot of the thing I see in his 4 pillars training materials. He was not easy on me... if I did something that sucked he gracefully told me so.

Definitely worth it. We discussed what I need to work on and will do another lesson via Skype in 2-3 weeks.