Keeping tune

Hi,

I'm just starting out trying to get control of my voice too.

All I can do is pass on the suggestions my guitar teacher gave me about singing.

Rather than hum he suggested singing the old "doh, ray mi" thing instead

Just use the basic major scale and sing:

Doh, ray, mi, fah, soh, lah te, doh (with the last doh being an octave up from the first one.)

The words are pronounced like this:

Doe, Ray, Mee, Far, So, Lar, Tee, Doe.

Because we're singing a major scale it follows the pattern:

Tone, Tone, Semi-tone, Tone, Tone, Tone, Semitone with "Tone" meaning a jump of two frets and "Semi-tone" being just going up one fret.

So, for example, start on the third fret of the A string (which is a C) and just go up in frets like so:

3, 5, 7, 8, 10, 12, 14, 15 ( C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C)

If you don't like Doh, Ray, Mi, sing the letters instead.

He also showed me a set of hand gestures that started with a closed fist and then went through various positions to match the sounds. He told me that if you practice it enough the hand gesture become firmly linked to the sound. So you can just (for instance) stick your thumb in the air and automatically sing a "soh" note.

This is apparently a technique he was taught at the conservatorium, not his own invention. If I give him sheet music for a song he doesn't know he sort of mutters the notes to himself and waggles his hands and it gives him the melody (really!).

Not sure how much effort I'm going to put into the hand gestures thing, but I'm singing my way up and down the strings to try and learn the note names and improve my voice control.

I'm also going to try and do it with the written music as it would be a huge advantage to be able to sight read a score and sing it.

Good luck anyway. :D

Chris,

Thanks for your suggestions. I will try singing the notes instead of humming.

One suggestion: either sing through a mic into headphones or go and sing in the bathroom. You'll get to hear exactly what you're singing.
If I record what I "sing" (for want of a more accurate description), it sounds nothing like what I thought I'd "sung" - using a mic into my PC, that then feeds out to headphones (no more injunctions for me), let's me hear (shudder) what's coming out of my mouth ('nuther shudder).

Couple of things.
Chris is spot on first of all.
Secondly, your ears hear something quite different than what actually comes out of your mouth. Harmonics inside your head are picked up as they resonate, humming is even worse as it traps more sound inside.
I would suggest along with singing the notes you also record yourself so you can hear where you really are at tonaly.
Edit: I must of been busy typing as Greybeard was posting, Excellent advice :D

One suggestion: either sing through a mic into headphones or go and sing in the bathroom.

I've found this to be excellent advice.

I've only been trying to sing for a couple of weeks, so I'm also trying to get past that initial horror of how darned awful my voice sounds.

I have a setup that allows me to sing into a microphone and hear myself through headphones. First time I sang it sounded quite frighteningly bad, but once I relaxed and just mucked about I started to randomly get a few reasonable sounds.

So now I'm trying to start with the basics of note selection and voice control and not attempting too much too soon.

I asked Jon (my teacher) last night about scales and he said that, yes, there are a bunch you can use for singing, just like playing. Not much point in going any further down that road until I am doing a fair job of the basic one I've started on though.

Cheers, Chris

Hi everyone

One thing that helps me is to play the melody on my guitar and then try to sing along with it. You can really tell when you are not hitting those notes.

As everyone has said, record yourself. My band records every practice and then we listen back. Man, do I hear some bum notes sometimes. :D
I work on those and try to hit the right note next time.

One thing that helps me is to play the melody on my guitar and then try to sing along with it. You can really tell when you are not hitting those notes.

Hi Wes,

I was just about to write something a long the lines of "Hey, I'd love to do that, but I'm only a beginner. I can play a few chords but there's no way I can just pick up the guitar and accurately play a melody line and hold it correctly while I try and sing as well.... "

But then a little inner voice said "What! Not even one bar" :oops:

So I guess, as always, it's break it down into small manageable chunks, stop thinking you can't do it, and just get on with the job!!

Thanks Wes. I'll start today. 8)

EDIT: Never mind; I was the one who read wrong, not Chris

:oops: :oops: :oops: :oops:

But..it would be easier to record the melody and then sing along with it.

Chris_C said,
But then a little inner voice said "What! Not even one bar"

Chris, another advantage of practicing like this is that you will learn the melody line of the song and can always use that for a great solo.

Listen to "Come As You Are" by Nirvana. All Kurt Cobain did was copy his vocal line exactly.

You will always have a great solo at your fingertips! 8)

One suggestion: either sing through a mic into headphones or go and sing in the bathroom.

I have a setup that allows me to sing into a microphone and hear myself through headphones. First time I sang it sounded quite frighteningly bad, but once I relaxed and just mucked about I started to randomly get a few reasonable sounds.

Cheers, Chris

Hi Chris, could you describe what you did to get this setup? What did you buy/use?

Thanks!

I don't know how Chris does it, exactly but I can think of several easy ways. Most computers can easily be made to play microphone input out through their speakers (or headphones if those are plugged in). Of course, all the jacks need to be properly sized to fit together. You could even run your mic through a guitar amp if you've got nothing else, and some stereos have a mic input. Chris probably has a nicer setup, but those are all good low-budget solutions.

I chatted with a friend of mine, and he suggests to hear your pitch, just plug one of your ears. Works reasonably well.

Some good suggestions here. One other, sing every chance you get. In the car with the radio, in the shower, walking the dog.... practice, practice, practice.