MDEW

I am a 50 year old beginner who has been singing since grade school. I always stayed in my comfort zone and never figured out how to sing above G4 without sounding like crap. I'm getting better. Glad to have you aboard.

:) Sounds good. You say you've never had a coach. Did you have someone giving you any tips? Other singers or did you figure things out on your own. My brother was naturally good. but he would work on one song for hours at a time picking it apart until he got it the way he wanted it to sound. I always had to fight to get a descent sound.

:) I think your voice fits great with this song. Fortunately I have never heard this song before so I am not biased by comparing you to original singer. To me everything sounded just as it should. This is a personal taste thing for I am not a teacher. But good is good.

:) Even if it is a little shakey here and there It seems that it will straighten out with a little more work. I can hear that you have the ability to sing those strained(not the right word but I cannot think of the correct one) notes without a problem. I also think with the right effect (reverb, delay, whatever) the vocals would sit inside the music a little better. But this might not be what you are worried about now. You sound pretty good for being away from it for awhile.

How about submitting something without extra vocals or special effects. The vocals clash in a bad way.It is hard to pick one vocal line to make a good review.

I agree with you Tommy. Attitude and movement WILL change the music and the delivery. If you are providing the music also. The guitar as it is is not fitting. She knows it is not fitting. Julia said it felt static. It felt static because she is not feeling a groove. You have to feel a groove to transmit a groove. Once you get that feeling for the song you will start playing it a little different. The music will change and the delivery will change.

:D

No offence taken Tommy. I was thinking finding a groove to move to in the original song would help her find a different rythm to play on the guitar. When you get that groove going you tend add more dynamics without even thinking about it. Edit, I listened closer. You wrote this song correct? If so the melody is good. Tommy is correct about the guitar playing. It does not fit the way it is, but that can be corrected. Songs are like children. They change and grow. Song writers are constantly changing the way they approach a song. I watched an interview with REO speedwagon. The singer had a song that he would pull out on a few recording sessions and it just didn't work the way it was. They tried a classical approach. they tried a country approach. they tried a rock approach. It just did not come together. Then one day they came across the song again. They had two of the trial recordings that ended up being in the same speed and tempo. Out of curiocity they started mixing the two together. Long story short It Worked the song was now complete. It also made it to the top of the charts. You do have a good song there. When I listen to you sing I can sway with the melody but it does not fit with the guitar. That being said. If I were you I would sing this song without the guitar for a while. The melody does have groove to it. Tap your foot or swing your hips or whatever you do when you are enjoying a song. Finding a groove that you can "dance to" will also help keep the tempo consistant. It will help smooth out the phrasing to. After that then work on getting your guitar playing in line with the groove of the song.

Julia, I do not have any technical advice but if you find a groove and move your body while you sing it will trasfer into your entire performance. When you hear this song on the radio or your mp3 player do you move to the the music? If so incorporate that into your singing. This will help add enegy to you songs.

Chris, There is a reason for this place being here. I have no teacher never got any decent advice from anyone until I joined here. Am I a better singer for being here? Yes. Do I really know anymore about proper technique? I don't. But I am hard headed. The main advice most people give here is get a coach or a teacher. That being said, In the mean time work on support. I finaly found out what support really means from being here. I don't support correctly but now I am not trying to push like hell from my stomache which I was doing before because I had a false idea of what support is. The information or advice that seems to be the best comes out in threads like this one where two or more coaches have different views and show by example why they think the way they do. I had an AHA moment reading your post. I believe that my bottom end is mostly solid so I do not think about it as much. I would not have thought that maybe I am wearing myself out on the lower end before I even get to the higher notes. I am not saying that is my problem and I am all fixed now. I am saying I would not even think of that. Maybe it doesn't help to say that someone is "Pitchy" (although there was one guy who was way off and he did not know that pitch had anything to do with singing. It did help him to tell him that pitch meant a whole lot), but it does help to tell him the chorus was good and showed potential although the verses were lacking in -------. Felipe's advice of "get a coach" is great. Daniels' advice of "shut up and sing" is great. Ronws' advice of "motion in the abs. nothing in the throat" is great. Chris I love hearing you sing. You've posted songs here for us to review and critique. You must believe that there is a reason for this forum. All that I could come up with was "That was great" and I wish that I could sound that good. From me that was an honest opinion.

In my opinion a teacher would teach Axle how to sound like Pavorati. A coach would help Axle do what he does but do it in a safer way.

Felpe wrote: "The value in this section is exactly in collecting honest reviews of people who are involved with the activity before exposing a work, and also collecting directions when its possible. Its insane to try to make everyone sing by pointing random bits of problems on totally broken executions. Not only you will not help the person, as you will make your own opinions dubious: So do I trust this guy who says the squirell dude is good? Quite hard in my opinion." (this is not aimed at your comment. I am just using it as a lead in.) Also I agree with you and would rather have someone tell me that I sound like a duck if I do. But would also like suggestions for not sounding like a duck. I don't remember the squirrell dude. It may have been me who said good job, I don't remember. If brian Johnson and Axle Rose was to submit a song here for review I would have to say to both of them "Dude you sound like a munchkin" but to others it is spot on perfect execution. But if it was on key and had energy weather I actually liked the sound of their voice or not I would probably say good job you are on track keep training. Or should I tell them that if they keep up the way they are going they will not be able to a sing in a normal voice after a while?

If that was first try I would say not bad. I do not know much about this style of music, But it sounds like you would be able to smooth out any kinks with a few more trials. The more you sing this the easier it will become.

It is good that you braught up the subject. We do have a responsabilty here that can be inadvertantly overlooked. There are people who will check reviews of other people to get a feel of what to expect if they post their own songs. If we say good job to a song that is clearly in need of help it makes us look bad and gives the impression that we don't have a clue to what is good or bad. Most of the time when we do that it is because we know that the poster is aware of the many faults and are working on one particular problem. We are responding to the one problem and overlooking the others puposely. But newer members will not know that, so we should remember to add what we are responding to.

I have posted songs here knowing there were faults but not being able to pinpoint their origen. If I am having trouble I will post the worst take not the best. I am usually not looking for praise but a direction to follow to fix the faults. Some post songs here to see if they are worthy of distribution. And when they do they usually tell us up front. Others are just wondering if they have potential. And again they usually tell us of their intention. I also like to hear songs from those that are giving advice. A "how it is done" kind of thing. This is "The Modern Vocalist World" and we have members all over the world yet there are about ten members who regularly chime in on their views and some kind of critique. We do owe it to the posters to be as honest in our critique as we possibly can. And I believe that we do take into account the many variables that go into giving some kind of honest review.

I try to take into count the level that the poster seems to be in. I can not give any technical advice. If there is a solid quality or if I percieve potential I will comment on that. I also want a true evaluation for myself with tips if there is something obvious that is causing problems. There are times when I hear something that is not to my taste and I hear something that sounds off to me, I will not comment because that may actually be part of the "Style". And there are times when I wonder if everyone listened to the same song as I did. I have seen comments that seemed a bit harsh, but at the same time the one giving the critique explained why and gave help for fixing the problem. I give praise to some because I have listened to earlier recordings and can hear the improvements. And others because I am simply in awe of their sound. There may be flaws that are easily seen by others but to me it is perfect. I am not worthy to give a critique on technique. But then again none of us are unless we are teachers or performers making a living from this ourselves. I can make comments on what actually sounded good to me and what sounded bad and give an opinion on what may help.

:) Sounds good Tommy you've come a long way in the last few months. I love the blues and I am not disapointed when I hear you sing.

I have a couple of suggestions for a beginner. When you are working on a song, strum the chord once and sing the line. work on one line at a time to dial in the pitch. Know the message of the song and the feeling that goes with it. A song like this one is so close to speaking that it is hard to break speaking habits. A person tends to speak on a monotone pitch so the pitch tends be a little flat when trying sing low and slow. Work on singing and playing the guitar seperately at first until you have control of pitch. Just suggestions I am not a teacher. Just another person who sings.

George, I wouldn't worry about not having the same tone as Paul Rodgers or anyone else for that matter. You have a good sound of your own. The bad thing about being overly familier with a song being covered is you have an idea of what you think the song should sound like. I am very familier with Can't Get Enough so my opinion may be influenced by that. If you were doing things your own way then I see no obvious faults. If you were trying to sound like the original then I would agree with Tommy that some of the words were rushed and perhaps cut short. But a few times listening to the original would fix that in no time. I also sing this song and I do not sing it exactly like the original. I do not believe that a singer singing a cover song has to stay true to the oringinal. Make it your own and believe what you sing and sing it like you believe it. Good job and keep them coming.

Sounds great. I loved it.

Sounds great Tommy. :cool:

:( I couldn't listen. It says I'm not signed in.

Beautiful.

Sometimes we like an example of "how to sing with technique". You come to our rescue. I post songs to get advice. I listen to yours and the others to find out what it is that I am missing. Whatever it is you've got it.

I usually only listen to Oldies stations here is the US. If I hear a Bon Jovi song it is "Wanted, Dead or Alive". Or something that made it to the mainsteam "top 40". I've had a very narrow musical upbringing. That is most likely why I am having so much difficulty improving my singing. In a way it is good. When I hear a cover song I do not have to compare it to the original artist. You always sound great and I really enjoy listening to you sing.