Tips to improve my singing!

Pitch-wise, you did better on Lovebug. But you did a pretty good job of staying on pitch on both songs. To me, it really doesn't sound like either of these songs is too high for your voice, but the high notes are where you seem to be having problems. I think it's more a question of being sure of the intervals than not being able to reach the notes. Did you warm up by doing some voice exercises or singing before you sat down to record these? If not, try that next time. You have a pleasant voice and you seem to have no trouble singing and strumming at the same time.

I know what you mean about only recording when nobody else is home. It's hard to really go for it when someone is listening. Also, you don't want to worry about interruptions while you're recording.

Oh, and welcome to Guitar Noise! I see that this is your first post.

Welcome :).

Well done on giving singing a go, far too few do it, and far less are brave enough to record their voice, so you're ahead of the crowd.

The first thing I noticed about your voice is that it didn't seem supported, which incidentally may be linked to the nasal sound that you are getting (not that there's anything wrong with a nasal sound if that's what you are going for!). You want to get your breathing in check before anything else, look up some breathing exercises, and ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS do your breathing exercises before you sing, honestly it will really improve your tone.

But support is different to breathing, it basically means you are controlling your air flow so that you support the notes that you sing. You only want to release the air that is necessary to produce the tone you want, anymore will diminish it. Its quiet a hard concept to explain, so I recommend you look it up.

Pitch was good, hard to comment on tone at this stage, I would definitely recommend getting your breathing in check first, you will see MASSIVE improvements I promise :).

But keep on singing.

F.Y.I.

Thanks for the responses!

Hobson and Nathan080, do you have any tips for becoming less afraid of singing in front of others? It feels almost impossible to really go for it in front of others. I sometimes play in a band-type situation for fun with a few friends and i've never been able to step up and really try to sing, i'm always just in the back pickin away at the gee-tar.

Also I looked up some breathing exercise, and I found a lot of information..I'm just not sure how good or accurate it all is. A lot of it seems to have to do visualizing different things while breathing. There's also a lot of information about posture. Are these the breathing exercises you're talking about?

Are there are any most useful or most reliable breathing exercises that everyone does? I know that warm ups and thigns should be tailored towards the individual, so there might not be any standard warm up that works for everyone, but i'm pretty clueless when it comes to singing technique. So any more help would be really great.

And to all other users, any more comments or tips would be greatly appreciated!

It's kind of hard to describe voice and breathing exercises in words. I did some searching and didn't find any videos that I really liked. As long as you're not straining, you're probably not doing any harm. Even singing scales helps you to warm up and to keep you on pitch. Most voice exercises have you singing just "ah" or "la" or some other repetitive syllable, not the names of the notes. I wouldn't say that warm-ups have to be tailored for the individual, other than that you want to include warm-ups at the bottom and top of your range. I don't care if it fits certain types of music, don't scream. That will definitely harm your voice.

Tips for not getting nervous about singing in front of an audience? Start out with a band or chorus that you feel comfortable with. There's safety in numbers. Don't expect to get out there and sing the lead for an entire song on your own. That may come eventually, but after you have been on a stage singing with a group of people, maybe just adding a bit of harmony here and there. Keep practicing and make sure you know the words and music well. The more you sing in public, the easier it gets.

Singing in front of others is often difficult cause it is quite an intimate thing to do, especially when you don't sound exactly how you want to. I would recommend just doing it as much as you can, (within context of course, nobody likes it when singers sing EVERY second of the day). Force yourself to get up and do it, the first time will be hard. But when you stop you will want to do it better. Try not to focus on how well, or not, you are singing, just sing the song to the best of your ability. At the end of the day with music, its the songs that matter, not the people.

As for technique, avoid anything that causes tension or strain, if you have to hurt yourself to hit that note or get that texture in your voice, you wont be eager to do it. I work with young children (irrelevant for now but stick with me) and I am always amazed the noises that they can make; piercing high pitched squeals and low gritty growls. And do they make any effort whatsoever? No, they don't even know how, they just do it. When we are learning to talk, and produce noises, we already instinctively know how to use our vocal mechanism perfectly, but along the line we get into bad habits and end up sounding... well depends on the person ;).

I found this guy on you-tube, he has some good exercises on warm-ups, breathing, and other things that are a bit more advanced.

http://www.youtube.com/user/RocktheStageNYC

By all means check out the advanced stuff too... but don't push it, it will be a slow delicate process finding your voice, so be prepared to put the hours in.

There's some good books out there too, but there's also some shit ones... so try before you buy.

Hope that helps,

F.Y.I.

As for stage fright my best advice is vomit before you go on stage not after :) . I've been singing for years, sometimes I'm a little nervous sometimes I'm terrified. The rush of overcoming this makes it worth it. The more you do it the easier it gets to a point. For improving your singing I suggest sing every chance you get. Sing with other people that know how to sing. I sing in a church choir and in a bluegrass gospel band. The choir has helped me tremendously. Last but not least learn and practice Solfege.

I don't have any good advice because I'm not a very good singer, but I really liked it. Yea, it needs work, but I think you can get it there. It's not bad.