Anyone out there?

well....theres a limited number of things to talk about with singing....

and theyve all been covered in previous threads..... :oops:

im not sure what to talk about...plus the thread in this section tend to die real quick....like my 'dying thread' a few days ago...so that doesnt booster new topics being posted i find...

any ideas for topics?

I think that one reason this forum is kind of quiet is the fact that most people are here to learn about their instruments first and foremost. Singing is a secondary thing to most.

Instrument? My vocal teacher used to comment regularly on the quality of my instrument. Since we're both men, I found the experience a bit awkward! :oops:

But seriously, the voice is an instrument, and it is the most difficult instrument to control. Practicing any other instrument, for example, leads to a sense of mastery, even on a beginner's level--I know if I hit a series of notes on the guitar often enough I'll hit them correctly almost all of the time. Not so voice, which can crash (I find) for any number of reasons, including something as mundane as being in a bad mood. Emotional flatness=bad voice for me.

We'll talk....

Jersey Jack

SINGINGS HARD!!

and i dont always enjoy it cause i wanna be better....then i practice and i get better....and then i sing and i still suck! haha :P

oh well. i think thats the problem when you want to be able to sing well...you lose the enjoyment of it cause your frustrated at what you CANT do....not what you CAN do...

my improvements are as such....

i can do a vocal 'twiddly bit' and most of the time not end of on a slightly flat note...
i can hold a note steady for a long time...even a low note...could never used to do that
i have a greatly improved range (its still low but at least i can jump an octave now)
i can....um...thats about it :)

my weaknesses....voice loses timbre on the high notes and its a struggle to not go flat on the low notes...
not sure what it is exactly but i sound 'amatuer' i think its the slight hesitation or 'thinking about it' rather than 'thats i note go for it oh im already there' that good singers have

im also limited by my baritone voice in a tenors world....which makes the constant stretch to reach notes that i really cant reach take its toll on the life and sound of my voice...

next... :)

I still haven't gotten around to setting up a way to record myself, despite my blathering about it in other forums. Once I get that I'll be much more into singing.

IMO the voice is the most misunderstood 'instrument' in the world. Before I started trying to learn, i thought that being able to sing was just innate, I thought that simply some people can do it and some people can't. My favorite singers are Dallas Green (of alexisonfire and his solo project City & Colour) and Jeff Buckley, neither of which have ever had singing lessons, but are constantly talked of for their outstanding vocals.

When i first recorded my voice years ago, I hated it, it was so nasal, had no resonance, was out of tune and was just generally unpleasing. So i stopped. I didn't both trying to do something that was seemingly impossible. But after a hard time in my life, i finally stopped making excuses and started to try and do something that ive always wanted to do, and now I see (or at least believe) that you CAN learn... its all about knowing your own voice and knowing how to control it.

I am still way way way off where I want to be, and I may never get to where I want to be, but I will always be trying :D. And its clear that I have improved, from listening to my original recordings to what I sing like now.

The thing with the voice is that it is effected by all of your body and all of your emotions, but thats what I love. Instruments do exactly what you tell them do... your voice doesn't follow the same constraints. And although thats annoying when it keeps doing something that you don't want it to do... its so rewarding when you finally get it sounding better.

This is actually the forum that I check most regularly and the only reason I don't make more topics...... I don't want people to think I like the sound of my own voice :)

Nath

agreed with the above pretty much. there is also something about the voice that's so personal - if you hate how your guitar sounds, you can buy a new one, not so with the voice. and some people just have a naturally great sounding voice for what they (e.g. jonny lang's natural gruffness or tom waits' gruffness).

I always hated that my voice sounded so deep, lol, as a gurl its not exactly the paradigmatic comment you're after vocal-wise. I'd never sing in public, no matter how drunk or how lame the tune. until once in my third year at uni, with a good friend, both seriously drunk, and the point of singing in that context was very much to 'show solidarity' with a point he was making rather than to sound remotey pleasant. so I sang. afterwards he sounded impressed and commented on my surprisingly deep sound. since then, I figured just go with it and try to find a context(s) that sound will work in. okay, I may never be able to do a high-pitched delicate-doll kind of song and sound convincing. but I am slowly learning what I can make it do. I may love playing strat, but my voice is always gonna be a les paul, lol.

and its not just the idea that singing is supposedly innate but also the idea that it is natural/easy for some and not for others. actually, even those who seem to have this talent are probably performing the same physical movements as you or I, they just don't seem to have to think about that as much.