Guns n Roses - Rocket Queen cover

[Duchi]

Hello.

This was the first song from GnR that I tried to sing 3-4 months ago, when I was starting to practise singing...what a fool I was, thinking I could pull this off

So I gave up the idea and was recording myself ocasionally, just to check if there was any progress. This is the last record I made.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtxAD5wS-wA

The last part of the song, when Axl starts to sing high "No ones need the sorrow, no ones needs the pain" , gives me troubles, because I still cannot figure out how he is doing it without pushing, or is he just pushing? I can sing it with full voice if I add a lot of volume and in head voice it just doesn't sound enough powerful. So how is he singing it, just pushing and straining?

[Olem]

Good work man, sounded pretty good. For the last part i think ýou should stick with your head voice configuration, with the rasp and twang it will sound powerful. Support well and feel like you are holding back your breath, don´t push, the volume shouldn´t be high.

[ronws]

First off, let's here how the original singer does it. A couple of things to mention. Axl is only two years older than I am and he's scaring the hell out of 50. So, he has matured and refined his technique. His singing is not as distorted as you think it is and certainly not as much as it used to be. He is singing cleaner than he did in the past.

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

Head resonance, using a lot of the sinus. Watch his jaw. It drops and he is keeping the note in his head, driving it with air. I swear to God or whatever you deem holy, he is not singing chest "really" high. It is head voice.

That said you have much of his timbre, more than I have and I have always been inspired by Axl Rose (search my older posts.) Basically, keep your voice timbre as it is, just lighten up on your approach. You will find it not as straining, which I could hear some.

Good effort, I would like to hear you do more GnR stuff, as I think you have a voice similar to his, in some circumstances.

Side note: this is my favorite of the the newer GnR line-up with Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal on lead guitar. He is aces in my book. Also, note that Axl misses his cue and starts the lyric to early and stops himself. Crap happens in a live show. But you don't stop, you roll right on through.

[Duchi]

Olem, thanks for the nice words, I stil haven't discovered how to do rasp in head voice, I think it comes with time/experiments and experience

Ron, I am also aware that Axl is doing it in head voice nowadays, but when I watch concerts from the 80-90's, he makes such a facial expression as if he is really pushing the voice, thats why I think he is just screaming it in tune.

Actually when I was typing this post, I recorded just the last part of the song, to try lowering the volume and adding rasp to the head voice, I am not sure if I succeeded, I still may be pushing some chest..

http://www.box.net/shared/53yttua2pvna7rqdli27

Ron, when you mention about messing up live performance, I must chuckle, because the latest song that i uploaded, Chris Cornell - Black hole sun, right in the middle I screwed up the chord progression and stopped, which shouldn't be done in a live performance. Check it out and tell me what you think :)

[ronws]

The other thing you could change which will alleviate the strain you are feeling. Don't pronounce the words as if you would speak. Let the vowels stay in the back and only luse the lips to form the words. Not the whole mouth, just the lips.

[jonpall]

I don't think Axl was even CLOSE to his best in that clip, sorry. I guess he only had a couple of good years around Appetite. Compare it to Steven Tyler or Sammy Hager who are incredibly durable.

[ronws]

Well, jonpall, I think they were playing 1/2 to 1 whole step down, as it sounded to my ears. Even so, I don't care. I think he is still one heck of a performer. And I like his clean voice but then, again, I am an odd one. Also, he is over 20 years older than you are. Let's see anyone keep up that level of performance on the short ramp to 50 years old.

Then, again, as I have said before and got told I was wrong, there's a good chance of having some problems by singing with distortion for 25 years, 200 nights out of the year, not including time in the studio. But then, I don't know much, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.

[jonpall]

I don't have all the answers either. But Axl can have one thing: On Appetite for destruction, he layed down heavy metal vocals that I consider to be pretty much unequaled before or after.