First and Second Attempt at singing

Your voice has a nice tonal quality, and with a little work you should be able to sing well! :P

That said, this recording doesn't show it in its best light. First, you are either a relative beginner at guitar or you're playing in a highly stylized fashion. It's hard to tell--is that unusual arrangement of the Coldplay tune deliberate or the result of trouble handling the guitar? In any case, it strikes me that you're trying to do too much and hence aren't able to pay enough attention to either your guitar or your voice. Also, your mix is off, with your guitar upfront and your voice hovering softly in the background.

I would suggest that you record the guitar separately, then record your vocal over the guitar track, then do a mix simply to set proper levels. You should be able to do this in the recording software/hardware you're using. If this is a problem, try to get a friend to play the guitar while you concentrate on singing. Failing that, take a little time to really nail the guitar part before you put too much attention on the vocal side.

Once you get your vocals more upfront, it will be easier to hear what needs to be done. From these recordings, I can tell that you are at times pitchy, and that you are occasionally wobbly when you do hit the note. The former problem you would attack by singing scales; the latter by learning proper breath control. You may also be too breathy, but it's hard to tell from these recordings.

So, your voice is pleasant enough and you could benefit enormously by taking some lessons. All of this is fixable with a good instructor! 8)

+1 to the recording stuff, its quiet hard to hear you... what do you record with? You can download Audacity for free and then record your guitar playing and then your vocals over the top.

Its hard for us to give you more advice, but it did sound a little off key. Maybe practice some scales and learn about diaphragmatic breathing... you didn't seem to have much power behind your voice. But keep recording it! Thats the best thing you can do!

Keep on singing,
Nath

Wow, thanks for the replies guys.
I've been playing for about 7 months, and I just learned the Coldplay song like a day before I recorded it so I didn't have much time to practice. Also both songs were done in one take.

I do use Audacity, next time I'll try to record the guitar and voice separately.

A vocal teacher would be nice, but I don't have the money for a teacher for now, but later on I'll try to get a vocal techer.
So what would you guys recommend for practicing scales and breathing? Like are there any websites that show you how to sing scales, and practice breathing?
Thanks in Advance

Singing is a difficult thing to teach--which is why people always assume that it's "natural," that one either has or doesn't have talent. In fact almost anyone can be taught to sing with a good teacher and enough practice. The problem is that so much of vocal instruction is intuitive--it's less about rules than...well, guided imagery. It's very like trying to teach someone to wiggle his/her ears; you can't really teach it, but you can suggest different ways of thinking about or imaging the process. The voice teacher will work with you by describing vocal technique in different ways, and eventually (trust me) you'll "get it."

Now, I feel your pain about the impossibility of lessons. The only alternative is to look around in a lot of different places and see what clicks. I particularly like this one:

http://aliciaskeys2vox.blogspot.com/2008/04/welcome-to-alicia-morgans-online-voice.html

But if you don't have a live, responsive teacher, you really need to have a lot of different resources. Again, it's not about someone telling you the secret of great vocals, it's about someone saying it in such a way that it clicks with you personally.

So read a lot--and above all, keep singing!

Awesome, thanks for the link, it looks really good! I'll keep reading. Do you happen to know if there are any good books? I generally do better when I have a book around. Thanks a lot for your help! :D

Sure, there are lots of good books. I like Roger Love's Set Your Voice Free, and Jaime Vendera's Raise Your Voice is also good. Again, you'll have to look at a lot of stuff to see what clicks.

There's also a vocal form run by the gear manufacturer T. C. Helicon that Vendera and other well-known voice teachers participate on--Voice Council. It's also more active than this one, which is great but can get, well, sleepy at times. You can find it here:

http://forums.voicecouncil.com/index.php

There's a lot of plugging going on here (TCH's products, singing courses, etc.) but the information is generally very good.

Keep singing!

Sure, there are lots of good books. I like Roger Love's Set Your Voice Free, and Jaime Vendera's Raise Your Voice is also good. Again, you'll have to look at a lot of stuff to see what clicks

I use Roger Love's C.D. as a warm up, he addresses some of the major problems to do with learning to sing, but I think its important to read around and get more than one opinion. There are plenty of sources on the internet that you can find on forums like this, and by using Google.

So good luck! And don't be a stranger around here,

Nath