Am I singing right?

[amatuer]

Ive posted on here a few other times, but a few weeks ago I started singing with a different style (I think maybe a difference in head or chest voice or from the diaphram or something), but anyways, please give any tips/critique/opinions and a 1-10 rating.

Thank you!

[mr-leonor99]

10/10 dude that was great

if you're like me not aiming to get a 4 octave rockstar voice and just the common g2-A4 range then I think that you got it

it sounded Professional for me

[mvrasseli]

8/10, it seems like you are screaming a little bit, I think it's a breath support problem, I don't know really, wait the masters of singing write something.

[amatuer]

wow thanks guys for the ratings. I have a sore throat/cold right now so that might be part of it. What kind of exercises would be good for me?

[ronws]

I like Daniel's advice. You get good at singing by singing.

But you did good because you did not start with excuses.

I don't advise singing with a cold or sore throat or vocal malady, even though I have broken all of those rules.

Also realize, amatuer, that many a person reviews from their own personal criteria.

Different town, different crowd, different reaction.

I once got a tough review of "Immigrant Song" from a person who admitted to never liking Led Zeppelin, or Robert Plant, or even that style of music and singing. So, why the bad review? I don't know.

The forum is full of all kinds of ideas. See what you find and what works for you.

[amatuer]

thanks for the advice. is there a way to get a better tone or is that innate, is my voice enjoyable to listen to or just not disenjoyable if that makes sense.

[ronws]

^ the absolutely perfect response.

Read everything Justin said and live and breathe by it.

You asked is the tone good or is it merely not a deal breaker when listening to the music. I think your tone was good for this song and the style of music. It was a good performance and the sound of your voice fit the music.

But it' like Justin said. What do you want to do with your voice? Do you just want applause for bluesy acoustic songs? You just got that.

You want to do a different style or sound like, but not as a carbon copy of a singer in another style, you can do that too. And that takes time, as well. And some in here appreciate the bluesy folk thingy.

And others may not comment at all, if they feel the song is outside of their experience to judge. That is, if a person is familiar with on genre and how to judge that, they may not comment on you within in this genre.

[amatuer]

Thanks for the great responses! Very helpful. If I wanted to create original material do you think it would be something people would enjoy hearing. My main focus in life is not music, but I would like to have something such as a decent youtube following or play at small shows or maybe even festivals, do you honestly think I have the quality of voice for that, or should I just stick to playing in my room. And should I enter in my school talent show?

[ronws]

My main focus in life is not music, but I would like to have something such as a decent youtube following or play at small shows or maybe even festivals, do you honestly think I have the quality of voice for that, or should I just stick to playing in my room. And should I enter in my school talent show?

I can't answer your question like you might wish.

People here, including myself, sing because we cannot contemplate not singing. And even if we have day jobs, such as I do, music is a primary focus in our life.

Singing and music is not an app you can download in your phone. So, if you don't have the drive, you are probably better off concentrating on something that you can focus on. I'm just trying to let you down easy. Many guys here have been working a long time to get where they are in singing. It is a focus in their life, not something casual to do, something to fill a Saturday.

And if you go into the festival or talent contest with the attitude of "oh well, ho hum," you are going in with, I think, the wrong perspective.

So, why do you need a "following" on youtube? Especially if music and singing is not your main focus, day job aside?

I have other interests, too. I like motorcycles. I like golf. But I only have time for singing and so, that is where my "free time" is. Whether I have a youtube folowing or not. That is, I sing because I must sing, not because I need fame or notoriety or a high number of "likes."

In that case, I might be totally the wrong person to answer you but I felt inspired to answer your seemingly lackadaisical approach to singing.

I could be wrong. You could ho hum your way into massive celebrity status. Why? A couple of italian businessmen had a hit song called "Macarena."

[amatuer]

Ya i guess my response came off kind of the wrong way. I love music and regardless I will continue to play everyday. Its just I kind of want something to show for my time I have spent playing. I have never actually sang for anyone in person, when people ask me to play something for them, I kind of just feel awkward, cause im a decent guitarist, but not good enough to really amaze someone. I was kind of looking to see if my voice is of high enough quality, where if someone asks me to play something, I could sing a few notes, and they would be semi-impressed.

[ronws]

Ya i guess my response came off kind of the wrong way. I love music and regardless I will continue to play everyday. Its just I kind of want something to show for my time I have spent playing. I have never actually sang for anyone in person, when people ask me to play something for them, I kind of just feel awkward, cause im a decent guitarist, but not good enough to really amaze someone. I was kind of looking to see if my voice is of high enough quality, where if someone asks me to play something, I could sing a few notes, and they would be semi-impressed.

Then you were kind of like me up until 1988, when I decided to do something about my voice. And realized that I am singer that plays guitar, rather than the other way around. I'm okay as a guitar player and there are guys who can play rings around me. A co-worker could play 2 or 3 times faster and better than I could. But I could do teh Ab5 in "Dream On" repeatedly and loud enough to make him flinch.

So, if your real question is, do you have a good enough basic voice to do well with this, the answer is yes. And it's all up to you. Define your goals. And then, go and achieve them. No one will hold you back like you will hold you back. Technical problems to work on aside, if someone says you are crap, they are not holding you back, you are, because you let their words hold sway over you.

So, work on your technical things and be the best singer that you can be and ignore the guys that can't get through "Happy Birthday" without botching a note.

As for guitar playing, I do what I need to do to accompany myself. I'll let someone else be "guitar god." But as long as I can float around the 4th and 5th octave like I have a mailbox there, I'm fine.

You have a good enough voice to start. It's up to you to take it where you want to go.

There was a guy who fancied himself a drummer. And he did okay, even played in a few high school bands. He had a girlfriend who was taking some singing lessons for choir and he read her book, entitled "how to sing" (it either had to be the one by Lilli Lehmann, the one I read by Graham Hewitt was published later.) And he thought, "hmm, so that's how they do that with their voice. What can my voice do?"

So, he joined another band to play drums and the singer quit. Process of elimination, he happened to be the only one who could carry a note. So, I guess, he is a case of a guy who found out later he was a singer. Influenced by the classical music he grew up with, his girlfriends choir, and his love of good storytelling, he grew to be a singer of great fame.

Care to know who that was?

Bruce Dickinson and he replaced the original singer of Iron Maiden and both of their fortunes changed.

Decide what you are going to do and then do it.

[amatuer]

Thanks a ton for the great advice ron! hahaha good anecdote. Do you think that you have honestly seen a difference in youre singing performance since 1988, or is singing more a thing based on gift/genetics. Im 18 now, planning on becoming an investment banker , but will continue playing music. I would like to perform for people, something about performing is really fun (but I am way to embarrassed about my voice to sing in front of people). Do you sing for people, and if so, when did you start?

[ronws]

On the whole, I am singing the same stuff I did in 1988. I am singing with more ease these days, especially through the passaggio area, the spot were go from what most people call chest where they speak, to head, where the higher notes are. For example, when a lot of people do falsetto, it is in a part of the range that is where head voice is. But falsetto is not specifically head voice. It is a tone of singing most often found in the head voice region. Graham Hewitt had a saying that stuck with me like white on rice, like ugly on ape. "If you can sing it soft, you can sing it loud."

So, I think my singing performance has gotten better, yes. The range is about the same. I just get better at working the range that I have. To make it flow more continuously, if you will.

As for performing in front of others, well, we sang around the house when I was growing up. So, singing in front of others was not that big a step, for me. And no one in my family said that I could not sing. However, singing was not considered a valid career option. Good song, Ron. Now, here's a book on solid state transistor theory. And a primer on Einstein's theories of Relativity. (Einstein was wrong but that's a whole 'nother thread. The guy could not do math to save his life. )

As far as singing in front of strangers, church, singing along with others. But as a solo singer, probably high school. But not as part of a show. In junior year, we had a club called the Music for Art Society with a sponsor and never got our picture in the yearbook. In senior year, a bunch of us guitar-playing guys took music theory as a blow-off course and on the day of pictures, without a sponsor or official charter, decided to call ourselves the Reggae Society, even though we didn't play reggae. And got our picture in the yearbook. I would play and sing in class. Our teacher was also the choir teacher but I guess I didn't have a "choir" voice. (devil smiley, right here)

Through the years, singing at parties. Campfires with other friends, both close and not so close. In the early 90's, I was auditioning for bands as a singer. They wanted someone who could sound like David Coverdale or Robert Plant. I can sing anything by Led Zeppelin but I do NOT sound like Robert Plant.

In college, with an informal group of us music geeks called Translucent Blue Plexiglass. I owned "Born to be Wild" by Steppenwolf as much as a light voice can own that song.

And on through the years, a few more parties, camp-outs, a few bars, waiting for friends with a real band to set up their gear. Some karaoke nights. Once at a restaurant (I was volunteered by my wife.)

But I have not been paid for it. And these days, no one is really interested in a middle-aged Led Zep freak.

Here's the key to stage-fright, it's all about you. You are so worried about what people think about you. You have to realize, except for a few people who have the manners of a gnat, that most audiences do not expect to see you fail. Only you expect that. The key to get out of stage-fright is to love the song the way the audience loves it. Sing it like you are a fan in the audience.

Be a fan of the song, like the audience is. Don't worry about what they think about you because they are not thinking about you, they are thinking about the song. So, you should think about the song, too. You only trip up when you worry about you.

So, the trick to get away from that is to quit being so self-centered. It's about the song, not about you.

And practice this mentality while rehearsing. You will be surprised how much your tone improves. Hear yourself outside yourself.

[David]

I didn't like it..

I felt the song was too laxed for you and you sounded a bit sloppy and airy when singing it..

the "Feel" was spot on..

A little nasaly for me as well and lacking major support

Just don't think the song does you justice..