Voice training

There are a couple of sites with free online lessons. They can be really helpful.

http://www.voicelesson.com/html/lessons/free_lessons.htm

http://www.vocalist.org.uk/voicetraining.html

The second link even has a free player to practice scales.

Drink lots of water! 8)

Great question. Great answer. :)

I've just bookmarked those links, and have resolved to do a bit of study.

I thought I could sing .... sort of OK.. because I can belt out a few simple lines unaccompanied.

But what a reality check when I tried to accompany the guitar and sing in time, in tune, in key, etc. Turns out I have a voice that can curdle milk at fifty paces... :oops:

It seems to start out OK, but then quickly collapses into a variety of odd effects such the "needle skating across the record" screech, the "I just caught my scr*t*m on the barbed wire" wail, the "where did the volume suddenly vanish to" whisper, the "I could have sworn I knew the words" mumble, etc. It's a dismal experience to be in earshot of it, I can assure you. :cry:

Good luck Cubone. I've still got my truck licence, maybe I could co-drive for you and we could practice together.... :twisted: :roll:

Nice links. I'll be favoritizing those myself.

I'm one of those that thinks I can sing too. Although I have never taken lessons formally. But the single most important thing, in my opinion, when it comes to singing is controlling your breathing.

Breathing is sort of like your strumming hand is with the guitar. Its your timing device. Its also the reason that so many amatur karoke singers sound so badly. They get nervous, they tighten up, and they cant breath. Some of it, and maybe quite a bit, is strenghtening your vocal chords no doubt.

Probably didnt add anything that wasnt obvious but good luck on your study. I AM the king of obvious. So I am told

Geoo

Grat links.

My problem seems to be to control my voice when the tones get just a little higher than where I geel comfortable. I can get upp ther without trouble but I allwas seem to land a note to hight or to low up there.

Read the article on Power Breathing on the first link to get better breathe control.

When hitting high notes you have to "smile" inside the back of your throat and let the note go through the top of your head. :?

Now I know that sounds completely wierd, but that is the advice they give. After you practice it awhile it will make perfect sense.

Believe it or not, a practice to help you hit higher notes is to practice yawning. You will feel the smile in the back of your throat when you yawn. :D

When I was a kid I saw a show about the Vienna Boys Choir. They showed how they trained them for breath control. They would make them sing in front of a lit candle. They were not allowed to blow the candle out. I caught on to this right away. It is all about conserving your breathe. You must learn how to get a deep power breathe (read the article) and then you must learn not to "push" when singing. It is compared to letting air out of a ballon. You do not need to push the air out. The pressure within the balloon creates all the pressure. And it is the same with your lungs when you sing. You let the natural pressure from your lungs provide all the power. If you push you can damage your vocal chords.

And drink lots and lots of water. This will keep your vocal chords loose and flexible.

EVERYONE CAN SING

You may not be able to sing like your favorite artist (why would you want to?), but you can sing. Everyone has their own range. Some have a high voice, some low. You must learn your own range and sing within that range. You don't hear Bruce Springsteen hitting super high notes do you (he probably can't)?

So find your own voice and make the best of it. You might be a much better singer than you realize.

I'm pretty aware of my limits i range. but its just a matter of controling that range, I can have songs that clearly in my range but I just cant hit the notes right. The thing is that I can sing songs that are old swedish classics perfectly but if I want to learn new (to me atleast) songs its allmost impossiple to get the right notes. It might be more of an eartraingning issue than a voice issue.

Cubone

If you go to the last article "Target Practice" on the first link I gave you it is about this very thing.

Mark gives some pointers on hitting proper notes, including singing along with an electronic tuner.

Yep, I read it. Great link. I practiced with my girlfriend all day :D