Hey, I've just been going over some of my own songs, finishing the half-dones and testing/rehearsing a couple I've just finished. I noticed that I seem to get stuck in one key, and when I go from e.g. song 1 in the key of E to song 2 in the key of F I sing horribly out of tune and it takes around 5 mins of frustrated key-changing work before it sounds okay again. Even just trying to hum an F over an F chord doesn't work too great if I've just done a whole song in E. Obviously, this will be a major hassle when I reach my goal of singin some of my own songs in public (or even just singing anything in public, lol), so I was wondering if this is something most vocalists have trouble with and need to work on and what practise exercises I can do to overcome/improve this. Naturally, switching to related keys is not as big a problem. i don't want to have to only perform in one key if/when I perform in public, since it'd make the songs sound too 'samey'.
If I'm understanding you correctly, the solution would be singing some scales. Singing scales trains the ear as well as the voice, and I think a few scales--moving up one half-tone at a time--would help you gain better sound differentiation.
There are lots of books, CDs, and DVDs that provide scale exercizes. A simple 1 through 5 (and back) in each scale, beginning at C and moving up through G (and back again to C) in half-tones would be helpful, and probably not too onerous. Do each of the major vowel sounds in turn: ee, a, ah, oh, oo.
But I'm not an expert on scales. I do know that they will certainly help develop your ear, and hence your pitch.
Good luck!
Jersey Jack
I have started singing scales, but only recently. I take it you're suggesting I sing a scale of Cmajor up and back down, then sing a Dmajor scale straight aftwerward, working up through the different keys? I've never had this problem when singing along to CDs - I find it pretty easy to sing in whatever key the song is in when its on CD, but a lot of the stuff I sing along to I'm not sure of the key anyway, I just sorta do it by ear. its only when I'm working with my guitar that its an issue :?
do you warm up before you start? that entails singing some scales but also some breath exercises and other things. do you take voice lessons? if you can afford it that will help. if not, there are how to sing CDs/books out that you can get. i have one that has a vocal warm-up as a part of it.
thanks pearlthekat - I'll look into getting a book/cd/dvd, are there any you'd recommend? I do try to warm up, but usually just strum some chords and hum notes over the top that fit with the chords, or sing some songs I know aren't putting a great strain on my vocals (usually something fairly low, like Jonny Lang, but without the bluesy growl), but I could do with a proper warm up routine. I'm not taking voice lessons right now as I realy can't afford it, but its my top priority once I can allocate some funds to lessons.
The book I have comes with a CD and it's calle You Can Sing by Jerald B. Stone. I live in NYC so there's a big storre that sells nothing but sheet music and song books but you may be able to fin something like this online. Try Sheetmusic.com
Hello,
it may be down to your voice. I was struggling a bit with D and on advice from my classically trained tutor I moved it up a few steps to E and it got so much easier, the same went for G to A.
Perhaps practice may help me move back to D and G but I think that there are some keys where we are at home. So don't push it until you can leave "home".. :)
adios,
Lovat
..play it..I just hit the damn thing...
thanks for the response, but I'm not sure that's the problem. like I said, its with my own songs, songs I can pick p a guitar and sing fine. the problem is only when I try to do one after the other - its like my voice locks into one key and can't change immediately to a new key, unless its a related new key. and the problem only happens when its just me and my guitar, not when I'm singing along to a cd. I can handle key changes fine when singing along with a cd, but not when its just me and my guitar. that's whats so weird about it.
Ah,
two things then.
I'm teaching gtr and a lot of players just launch into songs. I suggest they pause and "think" themselves into the tune,count beats in their head, think of the first passge or line etc , maybe this would work for you.
Reduce the amount of external stimulus and concentrate on the music...so close your eyes and listen to your root note in the new tune.
adios,
Lovat
..play it..I just hit the damn thing...
I do not know the complete answer - but I want to say you are not alone. A long time ago, we had a girl living next door who sang nicely and played guitar. One day she asked me to escort her to an audition to sing with a big band. We got to their rehearsal rooms early, had a chat with the bandleader, then went off into a sideroom to run through the charts he gave us to work on. She could not pitch any of the songs to the band arrangements - it was like she had an "internal pitch" for each song. Leave her to sing that song in her pitch, and the performance was flawless - try to persuade her to move a song to another key, and she could not even get a start when I sung it for her - it just came out in whatever key she had learned it. She was so embarassed by the experience that we just made some excuses and left - which was more than a bit stupid, because I could have got the gig myself (didn't hit me until a couple of days later)!
I think the answer is actually to join a beginner's choir for the learning experience, where you can lose the embarassment in the crowd until you hit the pitch accurately. There are quite a few pro singers who have had problems of this type, and still made hit records (Graham Parker often started in the wrong key, even when the band had played the intro) so do not let it discourage you. If you can recognise the problem, you are a LONG way forward to solving it.
So I thought of a technique that might help -
I think the truth of the matter is that you have not learned your own accompaniment well enough to sing along with it. The simple test is to record your own backing tracks, then sing along with them. If this works - and you say you are OK singing along to CDs - then the answer is that you need too much visual feedback from your playing. You have to learn that accompaniment BLINDFOLD - you are looking at your fingers too much when you are playing - force yourself to play your tunes without looking at your fingers, and things will get better. Touch alone is sufficient - to quote Richard Thompson "I'm going to play a Blind Blake tune now. He used to play it a lot faster, but he had an advantage, being blind!"
thanks houndog, I made more of an effort to concentrate on the new tonal-centre whenever I change key and that's helped tons, I'm going from key to key with a lot less difficulty now!
dotfret - I've only just read your comments, but many thanks for posting also - I think you have a good point about not knowing the accompaniement well enough. I think it was more that, if I was working on a half-done song I was focussing too much on what I envisaged happening on guitar after the point I was up to. and with songs I haven't sung for a while, I was trying to recall guitar part and vocal line, which probably contributed to my problems. so thanks for the tip, because that was essentially an accurate assessment.
and I wont let it discourage me (well, maybe from singing solo in public for a while, but only while I work on things, lol), I'm actually pretty please with how my singing has progressed and I feel confident that there's tons of room for improvement, so I'll keep plugging away at it.
Here's something that might help: start the next song with a strong cadens. For example, if you jsut played a tune in Eb and you're going to B then start the song in B with a B-E-F#7 progression. This should 'reset' the tonal center that's in your mind to the new song.
