how to improve your vocals

[fatjack]

FJ I think appfro is giving you the silent treatment

thats his problem, not mine

[xan.]

does anyone know any other techniques besides just singing from your diaphragm and not your throat? i would take lessons if i had the money, can anyone give any advice that has been to a vocal teacher and pass down some information?

[Appfro]

does anyone know any other techniques besides just singing from your diaphragm and not your throat? i would take lessons if i had the money, can anyone give any advice that has been to a vocal teacher and pass down some information?

make sure you open your mouth. when i was in chorus the standard was three fingers width but my fingers were smaller back then. and always warm up before singing, do scales adn stuff.

[fatjack]

does anyone know any other techniques besides just singing from your diaphragm and not your throat? i would take lessons if i had the money, can anyone give any advice that has been to a vocal teacher and pass down some information?

make sure you open your mouth. when i was in chorus the standard was three fingers width but my fingers were smaller back then. and always warm up before singing, do scales adn stuff.

one of the best ways to train your ears

then do scales in thirds, fourths, etc.

[dmbandummer]

I can't believe nobody has said this:

Confidence.

If you have it, you will sound a million times better.
Granted, vocal stylings will differ with everyone, but if you give yourself the benefit of the doubt, you can only go up.

That's all the advice I can and will give.

[xan.]

thanks guys for the additional advice and help. you guys are probably going to laugh at this but i never had music lessons about scales and stuff. what do you mean by to do scales? i dont know what scales are or how to sing them

[fatjack]

I can't believe nobody has said this:

Confidence.

If you have it, you will sound a million times better.
Granted, vocal stylings will differ with everyone, but if you give yourself the benefit of the doubt, you can only go up.

That's all the advice I can and will give.

ive seen plenty of shitty vocalists who were confident that they could sing...

[geekmug]

(Off-topic):
This is a beaten to death horse, but I would like to put my two cents in.. not that I really think anyone cares.

First off, your intent means nothing. "I didn't mean to" is the kind of crap you get from children that you accept because they are young. So, unless you are 12, "I don't mean to sound mean" is just a bullshit statement. Own up to your personality. I really don't care how you deliver your criticism (I usually enjoy the mean people best because they don't bullshit around) but don't try and pass it off as "I don't mean to."

(On-topic):
Like all musical skills, a large number of people will be able to master them without any assistance from anyone. However, I have to agree with fatjack that unless you already have a musical background to build from you will, in most cases, require some guidance. Advice from people online is great and all, but music is not a text-based skill, and it is pratically impossible to give any sort of quality feedback.

With that said, if you are already proficient in other instruments, then it is often easy to self-teach because many of the same concepts apply. And, of course, there are always people that naturally understand how to do things well. So, it is not a hard-fast rule.

But, if you are coming online to a message forum to ask for advice, you clearly do not fall into a category that is likely to succeed left to one's own devices.

To use myself as an example.. I can pick up almost any instrument on earth and make the average player be humbled. But, I can't sing worth shit. I know everything there is to know about music performance and mechanics, but that doesn't make me have a good voice.

Now let the flaming commence..

[longleggedfrog]

You can learn about scales very easily, just search for guitar scales...there are a ton of sites that provide clear easy lessons, with tab that walk you right thru stuff......you just have to practice them. Also search for theory, etc. As well, there are a couple of videos that work on your vocal abilities, I have yet to purchase one, but even Ozzy uses one to warm up with(saw that on mtv). you can buy warm up tapes, practice tapes, and/or whatever you are looking for. If you have cable on demand, they have some samples of the american idol vocal tapes (I know, I know), and I'm not an expert but some of the techniques were quite nice....again you just have to practice. they take you through scales and try to build up your correctly processed singing voice.

On the fatjack, it is very obvious that he is opinionated. It is very obvious that he is educated. The problem is that when you write something down, it doesn't sound like it is in your head, it sounds like it is written and read....so you have to be very careful. Words like fuckface are fighting words and unless followed by ha ha, are taken that way. When you express all your opinions as fact, you come off sounding like a know it all. Now maybe you are right, most of the time, and your opinions are based on fact.....the fact remains that people don't like a know it all who pushes his knowlegde as undeniable fact. Because no matter what anyones thinks, or believes, I can find a 100 people who think they are wrong.....proven fact or not.
I have to agree with him regarding the lessons though. They are very important, unfortunately, most of us will not get them, either because we don't have the balls to put ourselves out there, or because we dont' have the money.....or whatever the excuse. But the fact remains, it is the best way to improve, it is interactive, you can be seen and heard, you can be adjusted appropriately. Nothing is better than a teacher, except maybe a hot teacher. I also agree with geek, intention means nothing, own up to who you are, if in hindsight you don't like yourself.....change.

back to the scales, once you know some scales play them and sing along, matching voice perfectly.

[whatshername]

i agree. furthermore, i think calling one of the best vocalists on the board a fuckface and telling one of the other best vocalists on the boards that he has bad vocal habits is in fact jealous ranting. i'm sorry, but josh, i haven't read a thing from you in months that you have written that adds a positive vibe to these boards...in any forum. you constantly down people for not "knowing" as much as you do, you rant like a 4 year old on people that disagree with you and while i can't do anything about it, i've seriously had enough. nothing positive comes from your mouth, someone has something serious in their life going on, you're the only one that finds a way to down them, someone has a question, you turn it into a huge debate and call everyone that disagrees w/ you names. honestly, i'm sick of it. like i said, i can't do anything about it, but rest assured that your posts will be ignored by me from now on.

ps. how do you have the right to tell tom that he has bad vocal habits when you've NEVER posted one thing w/ your voice on it. can you even sing? allow yourself to be criticized before you criticize. [/rant][/listening to your advice on ANYTHING]

i've never met a soldier who whined more than you do

first of all, did i ever say anything negative to the original poster? no. i gave my advice about a subject that i am fairly knowledgable in.

second, did i ever claim to be able to sing well? no. but as someone who has received musical education, and as someone who GIVES musical education (for 5 years in fact), i think i can safely say that i can give basic advice on the subject. can i teach someone how to sing? no. but, i do know basic principles and concepts and can point people in the right direction.

also, i have stated my opinion about tom's voice before. it has been a year or so, but he knows what i think of it.

third: i called miguel a fuckface because he rolled his eyes at my advice. it seems as if though you've created a double standard here. he can put down MY advice, but im not allowed to disagree with him?

and i actually did my vocals one time, alongside with miguel actually. i've been negatively criticized about my voice before, and not just on a messageboard of people i dont know. i have to do it almost everyday in front of my fellow classmates. so dont think that just because i dont post recordings of my voice here means i dont present it to others in REAL LIFE. i dont need to have people on a messageboard tell me i suck, i get it in my daily life enough already.

and like i just explained to whit, you CAN sing on key and sound decent without using proper technique, but you can STILL hurt your voice. you may think that tom sounds good, but i can tell from just listening that he's probably hurting his voice. i haven't listened to you in a while, but you might be doing it too. and believe or not, not even miguel is perfect all the time.

perhaps i am negative elsewhere on these boards, but not this time. you were looking for something, grasping at straws even. i make one little comment to miguel and you think that i have gone off on everyone in the thread. i dont find that very fair. i like you apps, but sometimes it seems to me like you are just waiting to take up the role of knight in shining armor

i think that was pretty disrespectful.

[fatjack]

First off, your intent means nothing. "I didn't mean to" is the kind of crap you get from children that you accept because they are young. So, unless you are 12, "I don't mean to sound mean" is just a bullshit statement. Own up to your personality. I really don't care how you deliver your criticism (I usually enjoy the mean people best because they don't bullshit around) but don't try and pass it off as "I don't mean to."
.

yes, because its SO easy to convey speech patterns, inflections, and general tone over a message board

[fatjack]

i think that was pretty disrespectful.

i don't see it

[GSR]

i think that was pretty disrespectful.

i don't see it

especially with the laughing smiley.

[whatshername]

whatever.

[JamesMatthews]

Longtime no see.... let me say it will last

WTF...
I love this forum.