The**OFFICIAL**Voice/Singing Help Thread

I've got another question. Why is it that I can't sing along with Green Day songs? Are they too high or too low or something? I've got no problem with Nirvana and Soundgarden etc.
 
ok i have a problem....
i want to be able to sing (decently) ...but the thing is my voice doesnt sound musical...even though i can diferrentiate between different notes..and melodies...when i record myself...i m not happy with the sound.....its not at all musical and sounRAB really...dry...(tryed drinking water) ...

i cant go high since i used to play alot of Counterstrike and use to yell alot...so my high vocie doesnt even come out....just air comes out..i m trying to fix that by huming and holding notes....though the mid and bass is fine....

(2) if i'm playing a D chord on the guitar ....should i be singing a D note too or should i be singing A note ..like in a harmony?

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
You really have to put emotion into singing. The two most important parts of being a singer are pitch and emotion, if you have those two, you can fool anyone into thinking you're a good singer, no matter how big your range is. So if you have the pitch, emotion AND technique, thats what makes a good singer into a great singer. So work on rasp techniques, certain amounts of breathiness, and just sing along to songs.
 
Hey. I was doin Merkaba's falsetto scream today (the ones at soundclick), anyway I was able to do most of them but I still dont get how to use that in a song, i still need practice I think. Anyway that's not the point. When I was done, I couldn't feel part of throat. It's like it's numb or anything, it's like I that area doesn't exist or something...hard to explain, it's only like in one small spot. I didn't feel pain or anything during the exercise or after it and I can still sing normally, it's just annoying when you can't feel that area.

Is this natural?
 
Could you post a sample of Mark? I cant recall his voice right off hand. I'm off to work but I'll try to reply more when I get home...in twelve hours!

ick.


As far as working on range its about 50% technique. Alot of people have notes waiting on them just around the corner but they dont know it because they have been equating raising the pitch with raising the throat. But the vocal folRAB are horizontal...so you dont need or want the the laryx to rise up because this is just creating unneeded tension and blocks airflow. In my voicehelp hotline I talk about this alot. It helped me a ton when I actually first was reminded of this. I just pictured my corRAB and tried to feel what muscles should do in order to pull horizontally instead of some other way.

But once you get technique down then I would say the other 50% is that you have to actually work the area just like any other area you want to grow. What youre actually wanting is the ability for your corRAB to remain closed, thick enough to vibrate properly and strong enough to stay that way while being stretched for pitch, while strengthing the muscles that are responsible for this stretching. kinda like a guitar string. You can tune the high e to a G but it will not hold up for long unless you thicken it....and you can tune it down to c but it just starts to lose its clarity and resonance. So you want to be able to do both and thats the advantage of being animate. The corRAB are almost like a stringed/wind instrument.

I would say to work on finding your registers first and getting to know where you break and if/when you can stay in head voice. Being able to get into a good head voice really helps because it helps you to get the feeling of releasing tension in the throat area. More thorough stuff is in here....http://www.musicianforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=219911
 
I am trying to learn how to scream properly but it just don't seem to work.. i have a strong voice and belt out regular notes really easy, but when i scream all i can get is sometimes a really low raspy sound. It sounRAB like a really weak diecast. i dont know what i am doing wrong but i know its wrong because it hurts while i do it and i know that is not supposed to happen if anyone has quick advice that would be great
 
hey , to sing metal as in like death growls/screams if that is what your asking. I've been doing this for a while in my screamo/hardcore band and we're really getting somewhere , like all i've really got to say is as a begginer just don't get into the habit of throat screaming. Make sure you scream (or growl) from your diaphragm, and bring it up through your chest. If you throat scream you will lose your voice, and sound like crap at the same time.
 
What about something like Dream Theater? I already know most of those lyrics.
EDIT: btw merkaba can you listen to this and give me some tips. I know I'm not the best or even that good, but I would really like to sound descent. So any help is great.
 
just try opening up your throat more, like merkaba said. if you can't change it, it's OK to have a nasal sound. that just might be how your voice sounRAB. the singer from avenged sevenfold has a nasal sound ever since he had surgery and he has great technique. and his voice kicks ass.
 
sup thread

i'm a begginner to singing (well i sing when i play guitar but don't we all)

what i want to know is

someone sayed my voice was ok and i'd like to develop it

any websites/tips/info would be greatly appericated
 
Your main area of focus with running out of breath is very simple to fix.

You, as does any singer/vocalist, need to work on breath control.


Lay on your back, using your nose to breath, inhale for say 10 seconRAB, then hold the air for 10 seconRAB, then exhale (control!!!!) for 10 seconRAB.
What ever time length feels fine at first works.

My biceps won't grow in size without doing curls, so why would your lungs hold more air without working them out?


Practice those breath control exercises. You run out of breath because of a lack of air!!! This is one of the easier things to fix.

oh, you need to do them as long as you're singing. Otherwise, the benefit gained will vanish.

Lessons will help, but if you're capable of using your gut now, do the above^^.
 
Well, what I did when learning was screamed lower. The vocal corRAB need to tighten to make higher notes, and when you make higher notes while an assload of extra air is coming through at a higher force, and whatnot, it's harder to hold them. What you need to do is scream low for now, and work at strengthening your corRAB. When they're stronger, it'll be a lot easier to hold a high note, right? RIGHT!



So, you've gotta do exercises, and work on those corRAB just like you would if you wanted a six pack set of abs or massive arms. It's no different.

When I started screaming, I started screaming lower. Not grunting, but I wasn't hitting the high notes. The more and more I worked on it, the more and more I could hold those high notes.

Basically, you won't be screaming high notes like Billy Werner right away. You need to be dedicated to screaming if you want to hit those high notes, too. It takes longer to teach yourself to scream high notes than it does to sing high notes. Why? Because when singing, you use your true corRAB. When screaming, you use your false corRAB. But don't worry about that, it's too technical.

So, just scream deep for a while every day. The more screaming you do, the easier it'll be to move around your range and through the notes. Sooner or later you'll be able to hit whatever notes your voice will allow you to. Don't forget that you might not be able to hit the high notes. But if you can sing them, I believe you can scream them. It's just more difficult. I know when I first started I couldn't get up high at all.

Basically, just scream more where you're comfortable, and start doing some exercises to strengthen your corRAB. I know there are a bunch of exercises posted around here.

Good luck!
 
Thanks for the link -- I had been to that site before but not for a long time. I find it's helpful to re-read vocal advice/techniques months or even years later, since it has more meaning after having gone further down the road of developing vocal technique. The advice you gave about not listening for a while, then listening to the original, then seeing if I can hear my mistakes will be useful I'm sure. Yeah I think a lot of it is I just get so used to hearing the way I'm singing something that I'm immune to whatever might be wrong with it. I also find that not doing a song for a while -- like months -- is useful because you can then unlearn the bad technique -- muscle memory has a chance to forget.

I got a lot of good feedback at http://forum.bandmix.com/ (general chat) -- you should check it out too because this board gets very little traffic now I think.

You have a very relaxed voice and seem to have very nice tone in the upper part of your full voice (probably because it is so relaxed). Pitches didn't sound bad but I was only familiar with the second song (was the first an original?). (I think I'm just not as picky about pitches being a little off as some people -- my ears might not be as sensitive to minor pitch variations -- which is unfortunate for my singer aspirations....) You maybe could apply more power at times (but it could be just the songs you were doing didn't call for it). With more power though, you could then do some of the falsetto parts in full voice (unless you like the effect of falsetto, but personally I like it used more sparingly). I'm sure the real critics on here and other places can and have given you better feedback.
 
It might be moving through alot of your bridge area where your head and chest voices seperate. If you can do Nirvana and Soundgarden then I just dont get it. Like I say....try to sing it in an opera voice to see where your weaknesses are.
 
Question.

How do i do falsetto screams?

I can add some kind of rasp to normal fairly low pitched singing by pushing down or something...the weight lifting type grunt, ya know. I followed Merkaba's rasp instruction recording and it seems like i figured that out. BUT...

I can't seem to add any rasp to my falsetto voice to do the Matt Heafy screams. Friend of mine can do something close to Matt Heafy screams, but he says he feels it really high up in his neck, almost like the screams come from his head. When i try to add rasp by pushing down to falsetto(like described in Merkaba's lessons) no rasp comes out, and i tried the way my friend described but i can't seem to understand what he's doing either.

So, how do i do falsetto screams?
 
Thats true obviously but they do help quite a bit as long as you are careful enough to do them exactly as instructed. Private lessons just aren't an option for everyone and thats why these things are made available. If you cant afford actual lessons, you can usually live off a book/cd/online lesson/ whatever until you CAN actually afford to go to a teacher on a regular basis. I think the most common reason too is that unless you live in a decent size city, you probably are going to be lucky to find any vocal trainers, and even if you do they seem to almost always be classical who look down on any other style or better yet a member of a church choir who has you only singing songs and doesn't really know any technique.
 
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