Writing for your voice

1 - I can sing some songs in a certain key, not others...why?

Hey Vic

I know exactly what you are talking about. I do the same thing. On your question of the part in quotes, I think that part of it is word placement. Atleast for me it is. There are some words that come out very naturally when I sing but there are other words that I nearly choke on while I am singing. I was writing a song this week and the line starts out "Connecting hearts" and when I sing hearts I feel my throat cramp up every time.

As for your situation. maybe you could play the tune for someone else that you think can sing decently well, give them the lyrics and see how they interpret it? I'm not sure if that will help or not.

This is a great question. I hope there are alot more suggestions.

Geoo

As Paul Rodgers - then with Free - once said to Ian Hunter - then with Mott the Hoople - they were both on the same label - "you're a c**p singer why do you bother?" to which Hunter replied, "they're my **** songs and I'm going to **** sing 'em!!!!"

And if that isn't a true story, it ought to be...'cos that's the way I feel about MY songs..... they're mine, and I want to sing them....

:D :D :D

Vic

Can we hear what you have made , vic ? :wink:

sing chromatic scales along with your guitar to find out which notes you can comfortably hit at a reasonable volume. i have a normal male baritone. my range is about g to g# on the low e to about b flat on the high e... so slightly over two octaves. this is why songs in g are tough to sing. the low notes are scraping bottom, and the high notes are threatening to crack.
now, any song i sing has to be in that two octave range, so mariah carey or the bee gees will never happen for me. if there's a song i want to sing that doesn't fit there, i have to transpose it down or up until it does fit into my range. i don't actually do it with pen and paper, i just move it around until i'm comfortable with it.
now, if the problem isn't range, but just that certain keys don't "feel" right to sing in, then it probably has a little to do with the natural harmonics of your head and chest, and a little to do with lack of experience. let's say you want to sing a song in c major. a good way to get ready for it would be to simply play a c major scale and sing along with it. if it's in f minor pentatonic, play an f minor pentatonic scale and sing along with it. this will center your focus on that particular song. another thing you can do is play a song that you know you can sing in that key before you play the song you're having trouble with.

in regards to d songs having a bm, you can play it in c with a capo on the second.

What I found out at my last lot of guitar exams was roughly where my vocal range was. When the examiner asked me "Can you sing this?" for part of the pitch tests, my immediate answer was "You're having a laugh, I can't get up there". So we had a short conversation which started with him saying "thought you'd be a baritone" and the two of us trying a few points on the piano keyboard before he announced "hmmm, bass baritone" and hit a Bb for me to sing; which I did spot on.

Along the way, I got a reasonable idea of what I can really sing without any grief, and what just sounds baaaaaaaaaaaaaaad. Get yourself a coupla lessons, dude; you'll be gobsmacked the difference it'll make. I'm now happily singing along to my students' playing at lessons an octave lower then I would have tried it previously and the key is no longer important.

Best,

A :-)

Guitar exams alan , thats amazing.

Can i have a sample paper :lol:

Registry of Guitar Tutors

http://www.rgt.org.uk

They do exams for Classical, Electric and Bass (apparently, I haven't got the syllabus for bass). If you want the papers, as it were, you have to buy the course book - details on their website. They also do some for voice, and they overlap with the Royal Colleges so it's all recognised stuff.

Best,

A :-)

Rahul....

My songs are at

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=225059

:D :D :D

Vic

Vic

First of all, this is very normal for every singer.

I read this on a singing website once and have found it to be very helpful.

SING THE SONG WITHOUT AN INSTRUMENT. Just keep singing it until you find that comfortable range where you can sing the whole song well.

NOW, find that key on your guitar. It will usually be the first note you sing, but there are exceptions.

And when doing covers, get out of the idea that you have to play in the same key as the recording. There are lots of covers I can sing, but not in the original key.

For instance, we play everything in Eb tuning to begin with, because I have a deeper voice. This is more comfortable to me. The band objected at first, but after they heard the difference in my singing they went along with it.

And even with this new tuning, we play Come Together in E. It was recorded in D. So with the new tuning I am actually singing in D# or Eb. But I sing it low, almost like Mark Knopfler from Dire Straits. But it works well.

We play Hotel California in Am, a whole step down (with our tuning, it is really one and a half steps down).

But the point is, find the comfortable range for yourself first, and then play your instrument in that key.

Afterall, as real musicians we should develop the ability to play in ANY key.

This is what the pros do. The singer ALWAYS determines the key of the song. ALWAYS.