singing tips?

liverlipsyyz

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does anyone have any good tips on singing or know any good tutorial sites? i'd like to get up on stage at our weekly uke open mic but i'm such a bad singer i need help! thanks!
 
Many people lack confidence in their voice, so they sing quietly, without conviction. Sometime, when there is no-one around, try filling your lungs and producing your voice as though you really mean it. You will find that you can sustain notes for longer, and your vocal range will be wider. I don't mean you have to yell like an opera singer, but you should be aiming to be heard clearly in a fair sized room.

Most of us practise at home, in a small room, and are concerned that others will hear us, and judge us harshly. The result is like an orator who mumbles apologetically.

Your voice is a musical instrument - it works from air fed by bellows - they are your lungs.

Sorry, that's all I know about singing.

Ukantor.
 
Many people sing in the shower. For some reason, the natural reverb in a closed environment like that sounds "better" to them and they tend to be less worried about other people hearing them. That makes them more relaxed and without the stress, they will sound better.

So, go into the bathroom, close the door, sing your heart out and see if that helps build confidence.

If Bob Dylan can sing, anyone can sing. :D
 
Hi,
i started with the ukulele in december 2008.
At the beginning i wanted to do instrumental solos only but
since i discovered this site i've started to sing too.

I didn't believe that it would be so easy to improve my voice with simple training. I can just recommand you the following free singing lessons:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qau_lVcIrxY&feature=channel

The guy shows some simple techniques to train your voice.
You will see how fast you'll become better (if you haven't done some special vocal training before).

Of course i'm not a Pavarotti now but at least my singing does not kill the clean ukulele sound anymore ;-)
 
Another good way to practice is to record yourself. Make it all the way through the song - don't stop. Then play it back and listen for where you missed, where you hit.

If your goal is to be on stage, get some professional assistance. If you want to sound better for (mostly) your own enjoyment, keep playing and singing. Don't be too hard on yourself, but don't lie either. The recording will help.
 
i think my biggest problem is trying to stay in key, or even trying to start in the right key. any tips?
 
Starting to sing in the correct key is easy if you figure out the starting note, and remember where to play it on your fretboard. "Ping" - and off you go. It's not too difficult, it is one of only seven. Once I set off singing in the right key, I never have a problem staying there. Don't know how you would deal with a tendency to slip out of key, except just practice, perhaps.

I've been learning "The Shadow Of Your Smile". I start singing before starting to strum, so there is no lead-in to set me right. First string, second fret, "ping" - start singing. It's a great relief when you get to the word "smile", play the first chord, and it fits!

Ukantor.
 
practice, confidence... and sing from your gut - dont sing from your throat - throw the sound from your stomach (or in singing tuition parlance - your diaphragm...)
 
Singing is God gifted, learning and practice makes it perfect, you can be a singer if you have really a soft and perfect voice and have a teacher who can understand you. it can't be done with out a perfect teacher.

I hear that very often but i know a lot of people that never received any kind of voice lessons or special training and they're singing pretty well.

It's probably the same for every art, a good trainer can help you a lot but it will also work on the autodidactic way.

If you start singing in your childhood, i think will all did this (kindergarten etc.) but the most of us stopped with 9-14 years because it was not cool anymore... all that kept on singing don't have problems now :)

Are you a voice coach homeloans ;)?
 
I've always been really shy about singing, but my partner kept encouraging me to keep at it. Started out harmonizing, doing backup stuff, but what I lack is vocal strength... always have. So I sing in the car along to the radio or cds when I'm driving. It also helped to sing into a microphone... a little bit of amplification helped me to hear better.
 
When I was about 11 I was told I was singing flat. It upset me very much and I never sang again after that.

I mimed the singing in school assemblies, church services, everywhere, and didn't even sing on my own at home. I was just so ashamed that people would cringe and I would feel useless - after all everyone else can sing! (or so I thought)

This summer I picked up the little ukulele that has hung on my wall for a few years now. It is a bright pink Lazy one, nothing special. I have played flute, keyboard, mandolin, numerous instruments for a many years (not well, self taught always, just play for myself) - and fancied seeing if I could get anything from it.

I found a book on ukes that I had picked up somewhere, never really looked at, tuned it up and began to follow the chord symbols above the simple songs in the book... and began to sing along.

I am still VERY self-conscious of my singing, I know my voice is horribly weak and feeble, I can barely be heard over even gentle strumming. But it is FUN!

I have now added a cheap but cute pineapple uke, a 1950's Harmony (Ebay bargain) and a gorgeous 1920's banjolele to my collection, and was thrilled to get a handsome tenor uke for Christmas.

And I sang to my parents and son on Christmas day. And they didn't laugh at me, or cringe. They joined in the choruses.

I am about as far from being an expert on singing as you can get. But I do know one thing. Practice makes it better.

*shuts up now and goes back to twanging her ukes*

(oh, but my guinea pig does still hide when he sees me pick one up, hehe)
 
So I am also going through the journey of trying to become a competent singer. I'm one of those "when I was little I was told I can't sing and so never tried types..." And those few times I heard myself recorded it was a totally painful experience. But I am working on it as I would love to be able to sing well.

Here are a few things I have learned so far:

1) People are way too quick to blame their singing woes on poor pitch. It turns out that getting into reasonable pitch is not that hard for nearly everyone as long as they are somewhere within their voices range. I was surprised by this as I was always told I am off key an had thought this was an unsurmountable challenge.

2) Don't let your voice die out too soon - follow through. A common mistake is to start on pitch but to let your voice get too flat or muted because of a lack of air or just fear of making a poor sound.

3) Vowels are more important than consonants. I was totally emphasizing the consonants in my singing and half the time it sounded like I was talking instead of singing. I've learned to dwell much more on the vowels

4) And pretty much what everyone else has already written: relax the jaw and tongue, don't strain, sing from deep within your body, record yourself, listen and self- correct

Overall I have been very surprised at how these small simple changes can make such a big difference. I think the most important thing I now know is that the ability to sing reasonably well is within reach of anyone willing to invest a little time for study and practice.
 
Many people sing in the shower. For some reason, the natural reverb in a closed environment like that sounds "better" to them and they tend to be less worried about other people hearing them. That makes them more relaxed and without the stress, they will sound better.

So, go into the bathroom, close the door, sing your heart out and see if that helps build confidence.

If Bob Dylan can sing, anyone can sing. :D
also the heat from the hot water lossens your vocal chords so they sound smother and hve wider range...not by much but if your that self concios anybit of improvment is noticable lol
 
For something of that short of duration the best thing you can do is not to worry about voice so much but worry about ear. You need to work on training your ear as much as possible to recognize key and make sure you stay in tune. Check on the net for some scales, set up a recorder to record yourself matching those scales. Keep working with it until you stay in tune. Take a deep breath into the diaphram and belt it out! Good luck..
 
Singing "flat" is typically caused by not supporting your voice from the diaphram. When you sing properly, breathing and support are vital. You also need to relax your throat to prevent strain. You can stay within your natural range to get proficient, and eventually extend your range through training and proper technique.
 
I've been singing in choirs and small groups since I was in grade school. I found that I love singing in groups (or along with the radio) but once I'm singing solo I don't like the sound of my voice. Technically I have good fundamentals and good pitch control, just don't like the sound of my own voice while I'm singing. Since I spent so much time in groups I never developed a "sound" for my individual voice and I think it lacks soul but I'm working on it.

As far as improving your singing goes: stand to sing as much as possible, there's a reason most people don't do it sitting down. Also, find a vocalist that you enjoy and try to emulate their phrasing etc. Not so much the sound of their voice, just their style.
 
My best tip and the information that completely freed my voice was to sing as though you were simply talking with a sustained sound. So begin by saying a short sentence the way you normally would, then hold the 'notes' of that sentence still in a completely speech-like tone and quality. Once you've done that for a while, you'll begin to feel the difference between how your vocal chords feel when you are singing and when you do this. Then, aim to allow your vocal chords to be as relaxed as they are during your sustained speech sound while you are deliberately singing.

It seems too simple, but think of children and how they just do this naturally and have so much ability to be VERY loud (I have five of them; I know). They don't gain control necessarily, but they do have clear tones and lots and lots of volume. Keeping your voice relaxed as though you were speaking also goes very far in helping to stay on pitch.

When you want to sing, a very helpful exercise (that even horses use to relax their jaws) is to do that raspberry thing while pushing your cheeks up so that your cheek skin is as loose as possible on your face. Do scales like that for a few minutes.

If you are very serious, I recommend Singing With Success by Brett Manning. It is very easy to do, easy to follow and at least for me and a few professional musicians I recommended it to, it helped immensely. I can actually listen to the one vocalist now and enjoy his voice whereas before he was really holding his band back. Now they are signed. Previously, the label they wanted said that they'd have to ditch the singer...

Check out some of the stuff on youtube from this program- the exercies to increase range are pretty impressive.

I have always sung, but my voice was very unpredictable. Sometimes it was so tight I could hardly squeak out notes in my usually comfortable range. Other times it lacked control and/or just sounded clouded or muffled or had little richness to it. Sometimes it sounded great; it was always great when that happened to coincide with a performance! I had only just begun the program before the quality of my voice was drastically increased and has not reduced no matter what (excepting pneumonia- that wrecked it for a while). All that stuff about using your diaphragm (no offense to others who do so) is truly damaging to some voices, mine included. I get fabulous volume and control, as well as good tone without exerting my voice any more than when I speak normally to someone right across from me. I can also sing in a whisper or very loudly without straining at all, and without compromising tone and control and without exerting my daiphragm any more than is physiologically normal for speech. If I had just done what was natural to a child- to relax and sing like I speak- I wouldn't have had to unlearn so much stuff in order to sing well- the stuff that made my voice tight and unpredictable. This is obviously not the case for everyone, but if you listen carefully to popular vocalists, once you can hear the distinction between diaphragm voice and speech tone singing, you'll hear that they use speech tone, not diaphragm except for deliberate effect, which you can do too, obviously. Speech tone is also what gives those diva-style singers (not my style, to be clear) their incredible control.
 
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