Jump to content

Baritone/Bass Singers With High Notes?

Rate this topic


JackCee

Recommended Posts

Hi everyone, thanks for answering my last questions. There is a negative unspoken rule in pop/rock singing that

Tenor voice = great, you're awesome!

Baritone voice = you're okay...
Bass voice = you'll never sing pop/rock

I think Robert Lunte and Ken Tamplin have kind of lower voices but sure have high notes. I am not looking for a magical technique or anything like that... However, I'm very influenced by the radio (like many others) and there is not a single baritone or bass singer, it's all very "high-light" singing. Check Billboards Hot 100 charts... besides some rappers you will not see any lower voice singers charting.  

Here is where I am asking for your years of musical knowledge, can you show me examples of baritones and bass singers with high notes?? I'm sure the terms may be inadequate for you guys but just anybody with a deeper voice singing high without falsetto. Pop, rock, any genre... but they should be able to sing above A4 without strain in full voice. I don't need the technical explanation but my musical influences are very limited because of this generations obsession with high-light voices. Please help me broaden my thinking and influences by sharing a video of your favorite baritone/bass singers absolutely soaring through high notes. If there is nobody, that is ok, I just thought i would ask  :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are tons of deeper voices with highnotes. also highnotes is alot about technique, im a bari and i can sing very high. Just because you have highnotes alot of people assume your a tenor.

Jorn Lande huge voice

Peter steele

Roy khan

David coverdale

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_tfq0qTDDE

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Administrator

Good post Jens... 

 

Yes, Geoff Tate is a baritone for sure... we had the same voice coach back in the day... 

 

 

 

 

 

I am also a baritone... here is a new mix of a new original tune (sneak preview) ... it still needs to be mastered. It take a lot of work and training for a Baritone to sound good on top, but most certainly, they can do!  ;)

 

 

 

As a baritone its not easy!  It takes a lot of strength training and an understanding of vowels...  The up side is that Baritones have more surface area on their vocal folds... so the same pitch with a Baritone will have darker sound color at the same frequency, which is typically a good thing... but we do have to work harder then tenors, no doubt about it. My training system will help you to break the sound barrier with your range for sure... this was the big issue for me when I was younger, expanding range is the main focus. The program is titled, "The Four Pillars of Singing". In the book, I have a "Myth Busting" section in the book where I address popular points of confusion that students have about the voice... "debunk" the myth. One of these essays is titled, "I'm A Baritone, That Means I Can't Sing High Notes"... I actually wrote an essay on this topic in my book... it is a very common point of confusion. Sadly, other voice teachers are contributing to this sad confusion for singers because many tend to believe that as well... but it simply is not true. The Vocal Fach classifications have only a little bit of relevance, in regards to sound color, no pitch/frequency when discussing contemporary singing techniques... When discussing Classical singing where you have Operas and Choral music... the vocal fach classifications have a lot more relevance for casting roles in Operas and singing big vocal chords in choral music. Lead singer, Solo singer work in contemporary music?... nothing to worry about if you have the right training program and coach that can show you how.

 

Let me know if I can help you more... 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

More baritones than you realize.....

 

I'll just list them and a well known song by them.

 

Likely to be Baritones:

 

The late Jimi Jamison from Survivor, "The search is over."

Paul Carrack from Mike and the Mechanics, "In the living years."

Eddie Money "Two tickets to paradise."

Paul Rodgers "Feel like makin' love."

Chris Cornell "Black hole sun."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tenor=high notes

Baritone= high notes

Bass-never met a true bass still searching

 

I was hoping you bumped paths with Melvin Franklin before he died with how active you were in the music scene:

 

 

I remember you talking of Ali-Ollie Woodson back in the day. Or are you saying Melvin was a faker too? :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wanted to add to Bob's list of high-singing baritones:

 

Corey Taylor (Slipknot, Stone Sour)

M Shadows (Avenged Sevenfold)

Ted Nugent (on the songs where he actually sings are in baritone range except for some shrieks)

David Lee Roth (Van Halen, DLR)

 

And the one odd duck:

 

Phillip Anselmo (Pantera) - he speaks in bass, sings in baritone a lot but gets some paint-peeling highs in songs like "Cemetery Gates."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tenor=high notes

Baritone= high notes

Bass-never met a true bass still searching

i think i heard a true bass in person once. Not just the deepest voice I've ever heard, but deepest BY FAR. It's not like the kind of voice that makes you go "hey nice low range man" it makes you go "wow". And I could feel that everybody in the room was blown away. 

Also, might as well leave this here  :) 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Administrator

I think I have seen and heard bass voices for sure... true bass voices. But come to think of it, in my experience, they are comparatively rare. Most men are baritones it seems. Perhaps %30 to %40 seem to be tenors. 

 

Baritones can rock it on high notes, but they do have to work just a pinch harder then tenors it seems to achieve similar results. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Made me think about Elvis Presley and Mick Jagger as well as a few great blues singers and Mark Knopfler. Some of the greatest pop songs were performed in the baritone range. 

 

Not saying you shouldn't work on your range and it takes time and effort. However, there's nothing wrong with being a singer who works in the classic baritone range. We can't all sound the same.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Made me think about Elvis Presley and Mick Jagger as well as a few great blues singers and Mark Knopfler. Some of the greatest pop songs were performed in the baritone range. 

 

Not saying you shouldn't work on your range and it takes time and effort. However, there's nothing wrong with being a singer who works in the classic baritone range. We can't all sound the same.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Tom has low crashes and scoops on his notes (on purpose for effect) on songs like "I Won't Back Down."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think I have seen and heard bass voices for sure... true bass voices. But come to think of it, in my experience, they are comparatively rare. Most men are baritones it seems. Perhaps %30 to %40 seem to be tenors.

Baritones can rock it on high notes, but they do have to work just a pinch harder then tenors it seems to achieve similar results.

Ill quote Jens "everyone is an untrained Tenor" xD

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Baritons can hit high notes... Well, not as easy as tenors do, but... Here is my list of bands with bari frontmen...

Nickelback, Killswitch Engage, Shinedown, Volbeat, Texas Hippie Coalition, Scar Symmetry, etc.

 

BTW Juan the Beast, a well-known youtube singer, is a bass baritone.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I love how everyone claims they're baritone just to have an excuse to why their high notes suck ass. /strawman

 

Bro dont be like that..im a bass...thas why i cant go higher than A4...true story

 

/tenor

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Baritons can hit high notes... Well, not as easy as tenors do, but... Here is my list of bands with bari frontmen...

Nickelback, Killswitch Engage, Shinedown, Volbeat, Texas Hippie Coalition, Scar Symmetry, etc.

 

BTW Juan the Beast, a well-known youtube singer, is a bass baritone.

You should get a point for mentioning Texas Hippie Coalition. One of my former workmates knows that band as friends.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The other thing is I think you can change your voice a lot by how you warm up. I've consistently thought of myself as a baritone and a heavier voice but recently I've been able to get myself warmed up to the point where my voice completely transformed into this light and tenory place with a new tessitura new timbre new dynamics. a lot of things won't change from that and just need to be trained over time but a lot of things will pop up that are completely new to your voice.

 

I think most of us are low tenors or high baritones and there is a lot of flexibility there. the high baritones can train to sound just like tenors and low tenors can train to sound like baritones but either way it's a lot of training and you have to thoroughly warm up (at least 45min-hr) to get into anything that's not your comfort zone.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Owen, 

 

What was the change in your warm-up routine that seemed to lighten your configuration?

Warming up carefully and slowly over several hours (with breaks of course), starting at a medium or medium soft volume (for singers who tend to belt and strain, this will feel like they are intentionally throttling back into a more vulnerable spot - this is huge for me to remind myself), focusing on getting all the range smoothed out first and letting the power come in very very gradually.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Warming up carefully and slowly over several hours (with breaks of course), starting at a medium or medium soft volume (for singers who tend to belt and strain, this will feel like they are intentionally throttling back into a more vulnerable spot - this is huge for me to remind myself), focusing on getting all the range smoothed out first and letting the power come in very very gradually.

So it seems patience is the key.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes patience is huge, at least for me, it's one of the biggest things I've neglected in my singing and it got me to cut corners and not really develop properly. At the same time impatience is a great motivator to put in the hard work to get better quickly, there is a yin and yang to it.

But basically think of it like building a fire. If you just throw in a bunch of newspaper you get the big flames but they won't stay long enough to heat you up. And that's not to say a little newspaper can't help in a pinch (there are times in singing way where for whatever reason you need a "cheat" way that has some strengths but equal weaknesses in a different area) but it won't bring you the end result you really want. That's like an analogy for the effect of amateur chest pulling. Squeeze your neck and blow air and it sounds huge, you hit the notes, BUT...strained sound, lack of dynamics, poor stamina, etc. What you really wanted is the warm long lasting fire, or for singing that's proper technique that gives much more than just shouting out big notes it gives you the whole essence of great singing. Baby steps added on strategically over time get you to that just like building a good fire. This is both short term in your warm up and long term in your entire training journey.

At least that's how I understand it now. I might disagree with this in a few years, you never know

Sorry if you don't get the fire analogy in this day and age - I have a wood stove in my studio and it's a pain in the ass but I learned that making it work is all about working smart, taking your time, checking in frequently to avoid mistakes, using good materials and planning, etc...lately singing feels so similar to that process to me. Very earthy and different from this technological age - just think about how ancient the practice of singing is...you can't just click a few buttons and poof you have it...it works on a slower "clock" like a lot of natural processes do

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...