no singing for 6 motns-josh's back on track-Day 1 RichieKotzen cover

[joshual]

Hi fellas,

I know, long time i've been here. The last six months have been so hard, i had to learn about 300 songs (on guitar), i've done many many gigs, i've also been opening for molly Hatchet wich was very great ;-).

So no singing and no singing practice for 6 months. Now that i 've some time and move to a new appartment where i can sing without disturbing the neighbours, i'm back on track .

So for day 1 i choose to record a song, just to see and hear the disasters of 6 months of no sleep, too much smoking, too much drinking, too much working (rock n roll way of life) .

My voice is pretty shot, i've been talking all day long (giving guitar lessons).

I decided to "try" to sing the song" I would " by richie kotzen (yeah!!!). I never tried to sound like him, that's what i've decided for the next months. just try to sing the song the way i can. in fact i didn't listened to the song before singing it...

It's a one shot song, me playing the guitar and singing at the same time, no overdubs, just a simple raw take of my voice.

I try to avoid the "pushing" on the high part in the chorus that lay on the tenor range (E to A), trying avoid tensions even if i can really feel them. The "distortion" is natural, i really don't think about it, i've never really worked on it, it's just how i song this song ;-).

Now you can shoot at me right in the vocal folds lol, feel really free to criticize my singing and help me ;-)

Stop the talking here's the song.

So here's the RICHIE KOTZEN's :

And JOSH's:

http://www.box.net/shared/7udxbsk35evynesrj578

See ya singers!!!

ps

For info, i gonna work on ken tamplin's method, seems to be the right one for me!

[Quincy]

Sounded awesome! Maybe you should take more breaks from singing.

I think you are finding your "own" groove and it sounds really good.

Welcome back!

[devaitis]

I liked it.

In my opinion your English is fuc.... good as foreigner......ehm....I mean:

Your English is astonishingly great taking into consideration the fact you're not from English speaking countries (political correctness obligates).

Greetings.

[ronws]

Josh, opening for Molly Hatchet? What the (I would put an curse word here but I don't want to be banned for the use of one more curse word) are you doing here?

Paint me green with envy.

[joshual]

thanxs for your comments!!

@quincy: yep i think i'm starting to find out how to let go all the influences and just use my own voice, feels so great

@ronws: yep opening for molly hatchet... waht the (*auto edit*) am i doing here: I may be a good guitar player but not really a good singer lol ^^. and i like to be here! it's a great place!

[Chavie]

Dare i say you have a "Prettier" voice

very nice control man!!

i dont know what your talking about lol, if your bad.......im the queen of england

love that soft falsetto shift near the end....that kinda stuff gives me trouble :(

[Olem]

Wow!

What a pleasing raspy tone you got there. It is very similair to Koetzen´s and it also reminds me a little of Lenny Kravitz´. Great job! What would your voice sound like after 6 month´s of regular training? I can´t wait to hear.

[ronws]

Most singers are not "masters" of all types of singing. They are simply good at the things they do and the audience identifies with them. That is the key. It is not important or necessary to sing both "Nessun Dorma" and "Sweet Child of Mine" with the same voice. What counts is singing what you want sing, well.

[joshual]

thanxs again guys, it feels great to have some compliments when you think you sound bad ;-)!

@Chavie: i had trouble also with the falsetto before, you full/mid voice to falsetto. in fact it's a support problem, if you try to just realease the diaphrgam it's magic lol

@Olem: thanxs ;-). Can't wait to hear that too lol

@Ron: I (edit) agree with you bro'. I think too many singers (and me before) want to be able to sing everything great, it's just impossible, you have to sing what you believe is good for you period

[Snax]

Josual is a great example of a singer who I wish I could sound like! I get my fair share of compliments and folks saying they wished they could sing like me etc. THIS voice inspires ME!!! Simply incredible. Not much else to say. This is how it's done kids. Right here. :)

[ronws]

Hey, Mike, were you referring to Kotzen or did you have a link in mind?

[Snax]

No Ron, I'm talking about joshual. I LOVE this voice! So natural and great to listen to. He simply sounds "like a singer" you know?

I edited my original post for clarification. It's joshual's voice I'm talking about.

[ronws]

No Ron, I'm talking about joshual. I LOVE this voice! So natural and great to listen to. He simply sounds "like a singer" you know?

I edited my original post for clarification. It's joshual's voice I'm talking about.

I totally and unequivocally agree, Mike. Joshua, you are a rock star. Figuratively and literally. Just remember the guys like me when you are on a world tour.

[ronws]

And for you youngn's and others not familiar with the southern fried rock of Molly Hatchet, here ya go.

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

Edited to add: I apologize for the use of profanity in this song. I can't control how the band writes lyrics, though I found this song inspiring and worthy of listening to, profanity aside.

[joshual]

OMG!!!!!

Really Snax i don't know what to say, really... thank you very much for your writings about me. It means so much to me... It's like my curse have been understood, just sing, no matter color have your voice, no matter what are your influences, just sing to express yourself! Love you bro'!

@Ronws: don't worry i would not forget you bro! Maybe the world tour is coming soon (just kidding ). But this year i will write and record my album, so who knows??? :cool:. The guys of Molly Hatchet are so cool, they are really nice, i had a long talk with the singer, he told me how he joined the band and all the blabla i said to myself whoau that's the REAL southern type of accent lol. biggest and deepest speaking voice i've ever heard lol

[ronws]

A little bit of trivia, Joshua. None of the original members are in the band, any more. Which is fine. Molly Hatchet is a force to be reckoned with and I am glad the music lives on and that they are still playing.

So, if the Hatchet comes to America to play, and there are occasional package deals of bands that play at the Choctaw casino (event center about the size of a decent opera house, seating 500 or so at a time) will you come to States to still be their opening act, or have those negotiations not been nailed down?

[ronws]

Also, some people may not know what I mean by southern fried rock. Rock and roll bands from the southern states in America tend to have a distinctive sound. A sort of swing or shuffle to the beat. The singers often have a thick sounding voice, which probably arises from their native accents. I know I can hear it my voice, at times.

"Fried" because we have some common recipes down here that involve frying. Such as fried chicken. Chicken-fried steak (they take a chopped or heavily tenderized steak and fry it in batter, like one does for chicken.)

Other examples of southern fried rock groups are Lynrd Skynrd and Black Oak Arkansas.

[jonpall]

Joshual asked me to give him feedback on his singing here and I guess he wants me to be picky . I'm going to approach this as if I were your record producer or engineer, trying to help you get as awesome, professionally sounding, full of emotion and great tone vocal as you could get, ok?

The good news is that the commentors here are pretty much correct: You're a great singer, man! . *slow clap ...* . Your tone and feel are great and you really deliver the message. Little do many people here know how scary your guitar playing is, too.

I would ask you to re-do a couple of things, though. The interesting bit is that it's related to the ee vowels, just like you've mentioned you have a problem with. Listen to the line at about 1:00 that goes "Get my feet back on the ground". What my ears hear is that the word "feet" is 1% below the correct pitch. It's probably due to a bit of tension in your throat. Try to sing that word - in fact the entire line - with just a slightly lighter sound colour and more twang. It sounds like you're dragging up some vocal weight. Don't push quite as much. You could try experimenting with what I'm experimenting at the moment, i.e. smiling more when you sing, because that brightens the sound and can make the high notes easier and more resonant. Just don't overdo it and you might want to raise the soft palate alongside. But if it doesn't work, discard it and keep doing what you're doing. There are other phrases which have the same high note and most are good, usually the ones with the Uh vowel, but then there is one or two with an ee vowel again, in which you strain slightly.

Note that in some cases, if I were your producer, I'd simply let that take slide and just enjoy it because you're singing with feel and it really connects with the audience. But if you agree with what I'm saying, you can play with my suggestions and see what happens. Just don't forget that you CAN definitely SING and really, really well, man. Have a nice one :)

[joshual]

Hey fellas,

Sorry for the really late answer... But my life has been a mess those last 3 months... Broke with my girlfriend, big money trouble etc.....

Jonpall:

Once again, i love your answer. You really pick every details and give solutions that works, ever considering giving some vocal lessons?

[ronws]

So, how are the tour dates going, now? Or are you back and ready to put in some studio time? At least put down vocal tracks that can be mixed in? Wassup?

[jonpall]

Joshual, I've thought about becoming a vocal coach, yeah, but at the moment I want to focus on improving my own voice and singing in bands.

[ronws]

I couldn't quite hear what jonpall was talking about but he has good ears. Long story short, you will have one or two vowels that really work well for you and you could stick with those, when in doubt. But other than that, I really enjoyed your performance of the song. You have the feel of the song's meaning solid in you soul. This is singing from the soul.