Gsoul82

Moved to The Review My Singing Forum.

Moved to the Review My Singing Forum.

Seems like a number of people beat me to this one as well. The main thing I would've said is take it easier, just as Felipe mentioned, "oversinging". You end up expending unnecessary energy.

13 hours ago, 2 cats in a dust bin said:

We keep using this magical word again pitch!

 

Singing lessons sound very expencive

Robert Lunte, dose a downloadable training course, would that do the job?

Basically, pitch is if you're singing the correct note or not. 

They range, but I've been told basic singing lessons can usually be purchased for $30 for 30 minutes. Ideally, you'd have them scheduled every week. I'd say it's the best possible thing to do if you're serious about singing.

What are your goals with singing? What do you plan to achieve?

Robert Lunte's course is also a great option. I'd say it's the best option if we're talking about a singing training course. I'd say in-person singing lessons are better than anything else, but the thing there is you have to find a good, affordable teacher. Not only somebody who could fix your pitch problem, which shouldn't be that difficult, but somebody who can cultivate your voice into something balanced and robust. Also, it would be a great plus if they were familiar with the style of singing you're interested in learning. 

I'd suggest at least some lessons until your pitch improves.

After that, it would actually be a pretty good plan to get Rob Lunte's 4 Pillars of Singing. You get the book and access to the training library, but you also then get to go into the TVS log forum, where you can document your progress and get assistance. Pretty hard to beat that Rob himself goes in there and responds to questions, in addition to everyone else who learns from the program.

12 hours ago, ronws said:

The other thing you might need is a doctor. Perhaps there is something neurological or physical in your hearing and ability to make sounds that is disconnected. You might actually need a hearing test. That is not an insult or critique. Just a suggestion.

Maybe he doesn't need all that. My pitch was about the same when I started.

13 hours ago, Bzean123 said:

Cool RnB take GSoul! Your voice really shines when you go into the falsettoey part at the end!

I still don't know where I'm going to use the falsetto, but I think it's necessary here. To convey the sensitivity. And I need to think about doing other things, and how I'm going to do those things.

5 hours ago, Bzean123 said:

Thanks G!

Frankly, I don't know how I'd describe it - I wanted it to be as delicate as possible, but I am a bit surprised to hear it described as folky. Just for my own insight, can you explain why it sounds folky?

To me, the verbal delivery says country, but something about the tempo and the subtle guitar playing paired with those short pockets of silence, says folk.

Also, I forgot to mention one thing. Great idea to use Smule. I thought I was the only one. It's great practice and somewhat interesting to get feedback.

Getting used to singing this song. Decided to upload a first short take. Don't have the backing track just yet, so acapella. 

11 hours ago, Bzean123 said:

Messing with this a bit. Not an easy song. Here's a verse and a chorus.

 

 

"Not an easy song". Sounds like the perfect analysis of a challenge song

I like what you did here. Almost sounds folky. Interesting take.

On July 13, 2016 at 9:09 PM, 2 cats in a dust bin said:

I realy do fail to see the logic to this I realy do.
Because as far as I can see streming is downloading just not saving the file that is all

We went through this a few years ago when some twerp moved into the flat above Rogers.
And Roger having a telephone and broadband decided to run a cable up to his flat and split the bill, line 50/ 50
Only problem is Roger could not get online because this guy was using all the data allowance.
Roger being a clever man who would read and use things like Wikipida and not waste his life on facebook youtube crap.
Where this guy spent all day streaming junk off youtube and pissed Roger off in the end because he refused to belive that he was downloading data and streaming was not downloading data it was something ells in his infinite wisdom.

So there you have it, if you want to watch/ stream that same video again then you have to download it twice
Faulse acconamy realy
You can download it but you have the option to open the file as well as save it too, so I dont see what anyones problem is realy

But never the less you have all made your minds up regardless of the above
So hear is the song I just did as an .mp3 and using drop box as well
https://app.box.com/s/ez0xb2k0zdxfxlso35luyy1ks0qw7pz2
Bit of a cold on my through at the moment but hay ho, should really crack on with it anyway 

Don't get worked up about it now. You paid and you're trying to get the help you paid for, so lets focus on that.

I listened to the recording in the quote above and the pitch is the biggest issue there, and it is an issue throughout. No worries though, because that can be fixed. Take Killer's advice up top and start looking into ear training exercises.

I think I see what's going on here, Simon. Never be afraid to take criticism. You can always get better and you're here to do just that. There are no bullies around here. Only people who will tell you what issues you have and how to fix them.

This should be helpful. Please read:

12 minutes ago, sher179 said:

Lol I never said I wouldn't send "teachers" anything. As I've mentioned above I'm seeing a vocal coach and have been doing so for the last couple of weeks. I said I wouldn't send my mentors (guys in the music industry) any singing clips, until I feel I've made progress with my lessons etc. I actually never specified a time that I would be sending in that clip to my mentors either. But thanks for the advice. And when I set out to do something, I do it. I needed to learn the guitar to make the songs I had playing in my head so within 8 months I taught myself and have been playing ever since. Thanks again though. I thought this forum was for a more broad musical community, too bad. 

I was just replying to what you said below in bold.

On July 10, 2016 at 2:49 AM, sher179 said:

Hey everyone! 

My name is David and I'm from a small town in the Yukon, Canada. The town I'm in is about 400 people and doesn't have much of a musical scene so I thought I'd check out this site :). So ever since 2014 I've been getting mentored by a songwriting/production group in the music industry. They've worked with everyone from Maroon 5 to Fifth Harmony (most recently). It all happened after I reached out to them with my lyrics. They immediately took me on and in these two years I've worked on honing in my lyrical and melodic abilities and even taught myself how to play the guitar (within this last year). The last part of this puzzle is singing. I've always felt this fire deep in me ever since I was young. But I was too scared to try out singing in front of teachers until recently. So within the last 2 months I've gone to about 3 or 4 online singing lessons, which I've been feeling pretty great about. I made a promise to myself that before I email these guys something new, it'll be when I can sing decently enough to intrigue them. I know I have it in me. Aside from this introduction  (I hope I'm posting in the right place). I'd love to get some feedback and tips and even more than that after I share some videos here. I see that this community has some vocal coaches, so it would be awesome to hear from everyone. Singers and teachers alike! 

If you meant something else, that just wasn't clear to me.

Can I ask what you mean by it being a more broad musical community?

If it's about commenting on your singing, we simply cannot do that. Review My Singing is a paid service. There are lots of people here who have studied the art of singing for years, including a number of performers and singing teachers, so you would be getting expert advice. I actually highly recommend that you purchase it, because, as I mentioned before, you are serious about singing.

Should be finishing Do Me Baby this week. Figured out how I want it. Then I'll start my take for I Can't Make You Love Me Challenge:

I can't comment on your singing unless you've purchased a Review My Singing Plan, but about that part where you said you would not send the teachers anything new until you could sing decently enough, how do you plan to achieve such a level of efficiency? 

Sure, you could keep singing and eventually, it will sound better, but who knows how long that kind of approach could take? If you're as serious as you sound, you'll want to pinpoint the obstacles that are standing between you and the voice you want and decimate them. For that, you should be seeing a teacher regularly. Weekly, if you can.

Setting constraints like that for yourself when you're just learning about something can cause problems. It's just like I told somebody the other day. They want to develop an iOS app with all the bells and whistles on it but they hadn't programmed anything in their life. They wanted to set timelines for certain parts to be finished. How do you know how long it will take you to do something when you're just learning about the subject?

Better to have somebody lead you closely through things. Much more likely to happen as quickly as possible and you'll have more confidence.

40 minutes ago, Bzean123 said:

Great! Post something for us to hear!

Yeah, it's funny because the piano is so much more conducive to playing multiple parts. With the guitar it's a real challenge. As Ron said, trying to cram everything together just doesn't work. It's more about hitting the most important notes and creating the illusion that you've got everything going at the same time. For the record, I am no pro at this stuff. I've got a couple pieces I've kinda sorta got down, but at this point its more of an aspiration than a reality. I will get it though.

 

Cool Ron! This song really shows Jimmy Page's genius. It's so lyrical. The singing and the guitar together is all that's needed IMO.

When you get to 'I felt the coldness of my winter.....'  you really got the Robert Plant belt down! I'm nowhere near being able to sing that.

Working on it. I can almost play this one Isley Brothers song all the way through. Could already sing it without completely decimating it, lol.

I don't know. Something about the guitar always attracted me. I think everybody at one point heard at least one song that made them go "Wow! I want to play that!" and decide to pick it up for the first time.

I never really listened to music that had that instrument in it, but once I started to, I knew I wanted to play. Something about those sounds it can make. 

8 hours ago, ronws said:

The recording and mix stinks but the playing was much easier when I scaled back the guitar part to just guitar.

"Rain Song" # 2 by Led Zeppelin

http://www.box.com/s/09def48d0af59a258e5b

 

Reminded me of Bowie at a couple parts.

5 hours ago, Bzean123 said:

Ron

Wow, well the Rain Song has  a lot going on even with just the guitar. So that's ambitious. I was working on it a while ago (just the guitar), but haven't played it in about 10 years. I have to brush up on it, cause its a great song and hey, I might even be able to sing it one day.

GSoul

Yeah, I'm sure the piano is a big help, especially if you sang along then. If you can sing with the piano, the guitar should be no problem whatsoever.

Yup, I did. Trying to start singing over things with the guitar and it's moving along.

The stuff you and Ron have been saying is also stuff that's interested me. I had seen and read a few things since I started playing again. Doing more on a guitar than just playing a song, like making changes in a way such that you're compensating for only playing one guitar is amazing.

15 hours ago, Bzean123 said:

Right on Felipe and GSoul!!! Keep at it!

It just takes dedication to learn, that's all. Being a guitar player first and for much longer than I've been singing, I kinda feel naked singing without a guitar in my hands. And, yes,, as GSoul says, its just hugely rewarding to be able to produce the harmony (and a bit of rhythm) to go with the melody. One of the things I want to ultimately be able to do is create a complete arrangement myself: sing the melody, play the bassline and harmony on guitar and play percussion with my feet. Ambitious, ya think? BTW, this is not to contradict Ron's point about playing very simply when just starting out and when learning a song. That's absolutely the way to go.

But to get back on point - I came across this video yesterday and figured it might help. This guy has a pretty good, basic idea of how to put the singing and the guitar together: 

 

I first got a guitar 8 years ago. During that time, I had 2 teachers and attempted to self-teach myself several times. My first teacher was good, but took too much time off. We'd have a lesson, he'd go out of town the next week. We'd have another lesson, he'd go out of town for the next week. We'd have another lesson, he'd go out of town for 2 weeks. Second teacher, which was one of my last attempts, was actually my piano teacher who had given me lessons for 2 years, but school got too busy, so I had to make the decision to drop the guitar for the moment. That piano experience, by the way, is why I'm much more confident that I'll be able to stick with it this time. Between all that, I attempted to teach myself and never really learned more than around 20 songs and a bunch of chords. I had no direction when I was on my own. Now I know much more about what I'm doing and why.

On June 27, 2016 at 9:26 AM, Felipe Carvalho said:

 

Oh I meant I can't play it properly, as in if you gave me a guitar today, and asked me to play a few songs with your band, I can't even wrap my mind around what I would need to do to prepare for it. I would not even say its being humble, I can see how I am just terribly naive on it. I've mentioned that because if you use this technique with someone that is more experienced on the instrument and can play with a good sense of flow, rhythm, etc, it really sounds great ( I will record something in this setup soon with the help of the guitarrist that works with me).

But you know what, mdew said something in the lines of begin from the basics, and I've been doing that , its part of my daily routine now to pick the guitar and study something on it for at least 30 minutes. Let's see what happens a few months from now!

Well, believe it or not, I'm doing that as well (on about the 9th attempt to learn the guitar). About 3 weeks in. Turns out I never really knew what I really wanted to do, or how to go about it, when I decided I wanted to "learn" it, until I had already tried to learn it 7 times.

The more I thought about it, the cooler I thought it was to be able to make music with what's inside your mouth and what's in your hands. Singing alone is incredible, but being able to do it while accompanying yourself? It's much more complete. You're a one-man show. And now, beyond that, being able to create whatever comes to mind with an instrument other than your voice? Very powerful stuff.

I'd never seen a post from you before o:

This is a momentous occasion!

I'm a little late to the party though. MDEW already covered what I had to say.

On June 16, 2016 at 4:20 PM, Robert Lunte said:

Really?... Mine's done...

 

Does it help you to get into the mood when you stand on the outside like that, before it's time to start singing? I notice you do that in a few of the videos you posted.

On June 20, 2016 at 3:01 PM, Bzean123 said:

A work in progress, but figured I'd record a couple verses before I move onto something else and forget the chords.

 

 

RIP Natalie Cole. 

 

Wow, what a change of pace! Is this one easy to play?

Here we go!

15 hours ago, ronws said:

And to answer G's question, yes, Felipe plays guitar. So, a handsome man with the beauty of youth on his side, a great singer, a multi-instrumentalist, awesome recordings and he could be a recording engineer or his own label, even. It's just not fair to the rest of us. Survival of the fittest, and all that.

Seriously, I do learn stuff from Felipe, even if I am old enough to be his father.

I wonder what he meant when he said he can't play it properly then. Was wondering if he meant he actively practices or hasn't really tried. I've come across a lot of people who just never thought they could really learn.

11 hours ago, Jeremy Mohler said:

Thanks a lot man.  I enjoyed all the covers as well.  Was nice of you to give a rundown of all of what you heard from us.

Ron's got some insight, for sure. He mentioned Prince to me, completely out of the blue, a few months ago.

Sounds like we've got a plan