For Bob

[jonpall]

I stumbled onto this while surfing youtube and thought of our own Bob (videohere) . Perhaps you've seen it before Bob, but in case you don't, you'll like this!

For guys singing rock, you can learn stuff from watching Lou Gramm perform live. For one, he didn't seem to be singing as quiet as f.ex. Steve Perry, but like Perry he also knew how to shed vocal weight and keep things connected as he went up in pitch.

btw. ... have a nice day Bob ;)

[jonpall]

A side note, I think it can be hard to do a live set that contain BOTH Foreigner songs and Journey songs (or just soft voice vs. more all out voice), because you tend to go into a certain vocal gear and your voice wants to just stay there for the rest of the nights. I've done exactly this and find it to be quite a task.

[VideoHere]

jon, first off thanks for the vid. and man you really said a mouthful of truth in this post.

b.t.w., if you study lou over time, his voice really changed after foreigner 4 to a more twangy, edgy, more metallic sound (at times.)

his younger voice sounded more classical? and had a heavier, thicker sound. i love both voices.

but if i ever get to meet with lou someday (still trying).........boy, do i have a list of questions...lol!!!!

i've been trying to get that perry singing capability lately, but you're right, it's very difficult to sing a journey song over to a foreigner song, and mix back and forth....and i think that's because foreigner stuff puffs up the folds to where it's harder to access the fold edges and dance on the light registration like you need for journey stuff.

foreigner stuff requires you to engage much more fold and needs more fold compression to get "that sound"...if you're really intending to sound like him.

so i would probably do the perry stuff before you did the foreigner...

lou is such an underrated vocalist. to me, he was slightly better than steve perry in terms of versatility.

if you ever want to chat about foreigner stuff, feel free to hook up with me.

and now a little earlier gem from lou:

check out 1:56 and 3:10 to 3:20 especially

his tonal beauty and consistency throughout his range is incredible..i.m.o.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vswqRm4zoLM

[ronws]

"Head Games"

"I daydream, for hours, it seems. I keep thinking of you, yeah, thinking of you ...."

Conversational volume. Mid part "sounds" louder in comparison. Lou sounds "beltier," whether he was belting or not. I could not compare him to Steve Perry, nor belty to light because they each have a unique vocal quality, regardless of perceived weight in the voice, let alone the actual vocal weight being used.

But Lou rocks. Always has, always will. And I don't say that for Bob's benefit. It's just a fact of life, like the Earth rotating on it's axis and the refraction of sunlight through the atmosphere causing that blue color in the sky.

[gno]

The thing that is amazing about Lou is that he was able to deliver night after night. You're right Jonpall - he can shed weight whenever needed for the high notes. He has incredible control.

[jonpall]

Glad you like it Bob, and guys . Last night I did a 3 hour gigs with a variety of songs and I did manage to sing a variety of soft and hard songs so I was fairly happy.

For the softer songs, I think singing with a technique not unlike speech level singing works well, just add a bit more support on the higher notes, IMO.

For rock songs that have some high notes in it, the edgyness in my voice just doesn't seem to come out unless I sing a bit louder - and more so in the passagio and higher. But I really have to watch that I relax and breath low on the inhales and then just before I sing a high phrase - really hold my air back, twang more and either think more volume or "project" my voice far across the room. And finally, if for some reason I'm having a hard time doing my rock voice, I just sing the rock songs with my pop voice.

It's very helpful to, right after inhales, to imagine that you've "swallowed" the air and no air will escape your mouth during the next sung phrase. That should engage your support in a fairly natural manner. Rock songs will often make you SWEAT, btw., because of all the tough breath support.

I must add that for rock songs, you really have to lighten your sound colour and make it slightly more twangy than your natural speaking voice is. Otherwise you usually end up pulling up too much vocal weight and become too shouty. You'd THINK that you don't need to be too twangy but for rock songs, you really do. I guarantee that our favorite rock singers are actually using more twang than you think. Just make sure you try to relax your throat while still keeping the twang and power because else you might feel that you've swallowed something and sing flat.

All that while moving a round a bit, smiling here and there and, of course, giving a range of emotional colours by sometimes lowering the volume, sometimes sliding up to notes, tastefully using vibrato, creaking into occasional notes, using rasp here and there and not all the time, and finally just deliver the story of the song to the audience.

And using cvt terms, I have the feeling that for softer songs, I'm using curbing on high notes but edge on high notes in the rock songs.

[jonpall]

Here is a guy sing with lots of power and loudness but without rasp. Still very awesome and a good study video for singers:

[jonpall]

Another song with this hell of a singer:

[Mivke]

hahaha nice to see them getting recognition. H.E.A.T is from my hometown, same town as Europe (as you might be able to tell xD)

[jonpall]

Foreigner unplugged with Lou Gramm. Another masterpiece of rock vocals and again, stuff you can learn from this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czToHk2OUh8

[jonpall]

Actually holy shit at Lou's performance in that unplugged Foreigner clip! :)

[Keith]

Lou lives 3 miles from my rehearsal studio. I drive by his place (well, one of them) all the time hoping to catch him outside. Maybe become a stalker lol. But, he is never there.

[ronws]

Lou lives 3 miles from my rehearsal studio. I drive by his place (well, one of them) all the time hoping to catch him outside. Maybe become a stalker lol. But, he is never there.

Eat your heart out, Bob. \m/

Of the Foreigner catalog, "Dirty White Boy" has to be one of my favorites of theirs.

[VideoHere]

i'm really glad to see (maybe me harping on it..lol) you folks getting more out of lou gramm's vocals.

you folks already know i think he is truly one of the greats......hugely underrated. i admit, i really enjoy sounding like him at times.....

certainly one of the most intense, most versatile singer ever in rock.

his assistant sent me his address to mail anything. she said he actually thought of teaching once, but family time time will not be compromised. he knows i exist...lol!!

what i wouldn't give to sit down and talk shop with him......

i've studied him so much......so if you listen.....really listen carefully to lou, so much of his voice is based on classical technique.

it's almost like he is an opera singer, singing rock songs...yet without the opera sound....if i make any sense..lol!!!

and you hear shades of narrow vowels a lot.....there's a hooty power in the mid to upper range. there is also an above average strength in high notes right out of the gate.

"oo" "uh" "oh" are used a lot with him. his head voice is super strong.

also, he takes catch breaths so skillfully and quick between phrases in order to keep the intensity up in difficult passages.

where we might try to take a phrase on one or two breaths he actually does more breaths!!!

he said in his book some woman opera singer (name forgotten) was responsible for teaching him how to breathe.

i truly believe just trying to sing his songs his way has made me a better singer......

i don't know how many folks explore strengthening this "hooty" section of the voice using narrow vowels but it has helped me so much.

those descending head voice slides frisell teaches? so many times i was ready to give up on them till out of nowhere i began to feel the benefits to where the voice just grows stronger yet it feels like it's being made the way you would produce falsetto.

so friggin' hard to explain.

here's a great live performance on some difficult songs.

[MDEW]

I can see the headlines now.... "singer Lou Gramm was held captive in a local video store and forced to give singing lessons" Lou was released unharmed. In a later interview Lou was heard to say: " I don't even know why he wanted the lessons. The man had the most powerful OO vowel I have ever heard". Charges will not be filed. Lou said it was the most fun that he had in years.

Sorry about that I couldn't help myself. I have way too much time on my hands today. :rolleyes:

[VideoHere]

lol!!!! something tells me one day i'm gonna get lucky.

but what if he said "i have no idea what I do, i just sing." then i'm gonna get pissed.....lol!!!!

[MDEW]

lol!!!! something tells me one day i'm gonna get lucky.

but what if he said "i have no idea what I do, i just sing." then i'm gonna get pissed.....lol!!!!

That is the answer I got from every singer that I asked that question to.

Sing to the back of the room. That was it.

[ronws]

Bob, all you need to do is hook up with Keith, who drives past Lou's house, every once in a while.

Anyway, Lou echos what I have read from all the other great singers, famous singers, who made more money in five years than most of us have made in our lifetimes, to date. Breathing.

Even David Lee Roth, in his youtube channel, talks about the "bellows." Aka, breath management.

Bob, you ain't dead, yet, and all ribbing and jokes aside, I think you will one day get to meet Lou. And it will be enlightening.

[MDEW]

If Lou is like anyone else he probably has a facebook account or a youtube page or a twitter account. log on and friend him or whatever you call it. Invite him to this forum. You may be supprised.

Even James Taylor has a youtube account and he teaches how to play his songs. He even answers your questions.

[bigfoot]

That unplugged video is ridiculously awesome! :-)

[VideoHere]

i'm old school folks...sorry, no facebook, no twitter for me. i email him every so often...sometimes his assistant replies, sometimes nothing.

i comment on youtube all over the place...i've replied to what i believe are his own posts.

i know he's pretty busy doing small venues and i don't want to pester the guy.

i never give up....

[ronws]

i'm old school folks...sorry, no facebook, no twitter for me. i email him every so often...sometimes his assistant replies, sometimes nothing.

i comment on youtube all over the place...i've replied to what i believe are his own posts.

i know he's pretty busy doing small venues and i don't want to pester the guy.

i never give up....

You say that but you are "old school"? Not willing to do the facebook thing? Emails are for assistents to screen out and delete.

Get creative. Take your tender psyche out there, and let him know through email, website, whatever, the next time you are doing a karaoke club event, or something. I know you are ten years older than I am. Hey .... daylight is burning ...