Sliver, were you a naturally good singer? Or have you worked your *** off to be as good as you are?

[QUOTE=Knifeboy]Sliver, were you a naturally good singer? Or have you worked your *** off to be as good as you are?[/QUOTE]

I honestly don't know, =/ The first memory I have of actual singing was about 6 years ago when I was 15 and did a small acoustic show for some girls and I totally sucked. :lol:

However, how good you are, depends much on how you view yourself and how confident (which I wasn't at ALL when I started on) you are in yourself.

I was alright, ever since the age of 12 I always sang to myself when I walked to school, but I wasn't amazing or anything, but I was ok. I know people who were a hell of lot more talented than I was when I started out, but haven't progressed at all as musicians or singer since; I am better than all of them now.

I would say the ratio is probably 50% natural talent, 50% perseverance and work. Other people have different people opinions on the matter, and obviously depending on the style of music you do natural talent might be worth more or less. For example, I don't have a talent or ear to sing opera, its very difficult for me, but I can sing jazz or rock easily. In the genre's of rock/punk/metal the ratio is probably more 40:60.

So to answer your question; both I guess.

[QUOTE=sliver]get him to listen to a recording of himself singing... after he hears how horrible he sounds his confidence will be in the gutter :thumb:[/QUOTE]

that's probably a good idea but i think it's his ears and not his voice. oh well..the truth will become evident someday :evil:

According to silver's guide, I'm a bass. I consider myself a baritone. And I'm singing tenor in choir :(

I really need to strengthen my lower falsetto, I can hit a G or G# full voice, but when I'm getting into consistent long phrases above an E# or so, I start dying. However, my falsetto is not there at all below a G or so, which is a great annoyance. Other than just practicing lower falsetto a lot, are there any specific excersises I can do?

I'll give some more typical examples of vocal ranges, because I feel like it.

Tenor- Chris Cornell, Robert Plant
Baritone- Eddie Vedder, Maynard James Keenan
Bass- Everlast, not many others...

[QUOTE=italic zero]
Bass- Everlast, not many others...[/QUOTE]

Wouldn't J Mann (i don't know what his real name is, thats what it says in the book.) from Mushroomhead be a bass? His voice is incredibly low. And probably Jens from Meshuggah... If he ever sings...

Yeah, probably a bunch of DM etc. vocalists, but very few in the pop/rock category. Strange, they show up in jazz, classical, blues, R&B, but not pop/rock.

Yea I havent been able to start trying your execrises yet, but besides my desire to be the greatest guitarist ever (no joke, though i know there is no greatest ever) I would love to be able to sing. I have been told i am tone deaf ever since i was like 8 and i used to sing to my moms beach boys cassete in the car, and i really started to believe it when i started playing guitar and i couldnt tune my own guitar (still can't which really isnt helping my guitar quest). My favorite singer is James Heitfield from Metallica, and i still try and match my voice to his all the time, and I noticed the only time i think that i come close is during nothing else matters, when he gets really low. I think i can hit low notes not really sure. Basically i was wondering do you think that with lessons, which my mom and dad have offered to get me, I could have a chance at being a decent singer? Thanks in advance.

[QUOTE=thehellspawn]Yea I havent been able to start trying your execrises yet, but besides my desire to be the greatest guitarist ever (no joke, though i know there is no greatest ever) I would love to be able to sing. I have been told i am tone deaf ever since i was like 8 and i used to sing to my moms beach boys cassete in the car, and i really started to believe it when i started playing guitar and i couldnt tune my own guitar (still can't which really isnt helping my guitar quest). My favorite singer is James Heitfield from Metallica, and i still try and match my voice to his all the time, and I noticed the only time i think that i come close is during nothing else matters, when he gets really low. I think i can hit low notes not really sure. Basically i was wondering do you think that with lessons, which my mom and dad have offered to get me, I could have a chance at being a decent singer? Thanks in advance.[/QUOTE]

try taking lessons or practice with someone that has a piano and an good ear(which is your problem) that way they can tell you when to correct your pitch. you'll get after a while.

How do you know if your in key?

If you can't tell yourself... ask someone else and learn to recognize it. Off key = sounds bad. That's how most people tell.

[QUOTE=italic zero]If you can't tell yourself... ask someone else and learn to recognize it. Off key = sounds bad. That's how most people tell.[/QUOTE]

or just record yourself... if you can't tell still it means you are most likely tone deaf, sorry can't help you there :upset:

Not being able to tell if you're off key = Not tone deaf.
You get better at it after time.. Just practise singing along to music, when the singer from the musics voice "clashes" with yours, you're properbly off key

Singing along to music generally masks your own singing. It's much better to practice alone.

[QUOTE=Knifeboy]Not being able to tell if you're off key = Not tone deaf.
You get better at it after time.. Just practise singing along to music, when the singer from the musics voice "clashes" with yours, you're properbly off key[/QUOTE]

it's just like tuning your guitar, when the resonation vol heightens the two strings are in tune (stated very basically i.e., sounds waves parallel or in sync with each other tend to have a reverberative quality out of tune strings don't have. it's sort of a "brightening" effect). you should be able to at least hear the pitches matching even when your singing. try singing in your car and get real close to the windshield so you get some echo although, you might not want to do this while driving.

not being able to tell = tone def but tone defness isn't permanent like regular defness. you can learn your way out of it. :thumb:

[QUOTE=italic zero]Singing along to music generally masks your own singing. It's much better to practice alone.[/QUOTE]


Singing along to music helps improve being able to hear if your off key. Singing alone does not.

[QUOTE=sleepy1212]
not being able to tell = tone def but tone defness isn't permanent like regular defness. you can learn your way out of it. :thumb:[/QUOTE]


If you mean, "not being able to tell if you're off key" = tonedeaf, then you're wrong.

Tonedeaf = Not being able to tell the difference between two pitches, wich would mean that all sounds and all music, would sound as if it was made up of only one pitch. And that, is very very rare

[QUOTE=Knifeboy]Singing along to music helps improve being able to hear if your off key. Singing alone does not.
[/QUOTE]

Singing with a piano is what I meant. Singing along to music promotes bad technique and minimalistic singing. Singing with a piano you can slow down and get all the pitches, then speed it up.

[QUOTE=italic zero]Singing with a piano is what I meant. Singing along to music promotes bad technique and minimalistic singing. Singing with a piano you can slow down and get all the pitches, then speed it up.[/QUOTE]


Ah, of course.. You're right!

So y do I think I sound really really good in my head?

Because you get the resonance of your vocal chords to travel through your cheek bones, making your voice sound fuller.

And I hear myself and i sound ok, so what do i do to make it sound like the voice in my head?

You'll never be able to sound exactly like you sound like you do in your head. Another reason you like it better is because that is how you are used to sounding. But with practice, you can make your voice sound better in general, I don't know any excersises for resonance in particular, but there are excersises to work on tone.

Are emo singers all tenors then?

Pretty much :)

[QUOTE=italic zero]According to silver's guide, I'm a bass. I consider myself a baritone. And I'm singing tenor in choir :(

I really need to strengthen my lower falsetto, I can hit a G or G# full voice, but when I'm getting into consistent long phrases above an E# or so, I start dying. However, my falsetto is not there at all below a G or so, which is a great annoyance. Other than just practicing lower falsetto a lot, are there any specific excersises I can do?
[/QUOTE]

No? :(

I'd like some tips, I started getting lessons but I had to discontinue them because they're so expensive, I can't find any affordable teaches around where I live. I got given a cd that has scales on it and I've learnt how to breathe properly, do I just keep practicing these and sing along to songs as practice? Also I find that I can hit higher notes pretty close, however even tho I know I can hit the lower notes I find it harder to match them, which is really quite annoying. Any help would be appreciated. I had somethin else to ask but I forgot :(

There's a really good book called "Set Your Voice Free" by Roger Love [url]http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0316441791/ref=lpr_g_1/103-3247938-4945436?v=glance&s=books[/url]
comes with a cd...Has some very good lessons and excersises.

Hi, I'm a human.

I can sing pretty much, and ove it, but I have a problem, and that's why I'm here. I barely go off- key.. but hate it when I do it. So, while trying to avoid this, I realized that I go off- key because my voice isn't strong and solid enough. When I try to make it solid, lower I get, the more "distorted" my voice becomes, and higher I get, the more fake and "robotic" it gets.

For example, let's take 2 pieces of music with really hard vocals:

1) Sting- Roxanne. From the start, Sting's voice enters pretty solid, goes high and low, but never loses its dynamic mood. But, when I sing it, I don't go off- key but my voice is very weak. When I try to make it stronger, well, it's not "clean".

2) Muse- Micro Cuts. The whole song is at falsetto, how nice. I can hit "all" of these notes, but they're not fluent enough, and when Matt Bellamy hits those high notes, his voice shakes, which gives it a strong feeling. I just can't do it like that. When I try to sing louder, I have no voice.

Any help? Pleease...:)

Practice expanding your range a lot, and make sure you support the notes with your diaphram.

How would i help this, i have about the deepest voice ever i can get it into higher octives but it turns into a screech, but i can pull of singing stuff from like AC/DC and Guns N Roses sometimes but how bout for like over all singing cuz im in a band and one song we cover is Senses Fail Bloody Romance and i cant seem 2 get my voice 2 get the high while staying in tune

You can practice gradually climbing in pitch, but if you have a deep voice, you have a deep voice. A bass trying to sound like a tenor isn't a pretty sound. Play to your strengths man, singing high is overrated anyway.