[spacehead333]

so we are about to loose our singer. he is black and an all state choir singer. he has an amazing voice, but he doesnt play an instrument and we all go to different colleges. I was nominated to become the singer, i also play guitar. ive been told i have a good voice but sometimes i sing flat. any suggestions on how to get your voice well rounded so it sounds good?

[shakedown_04092]

Not sure what him being black has anything to do w/ it, but....

Take lessons.

(sorry for the obvious answer - that's what I did anyways)

Singing is hard, though. I used to think it was easy, and still don't think I'm very good at it, but a lot of it is confidence as well. Also, one important thing I learned during lessons is learning to breathe properly, filling your lungs with air, pushing your diaphragm down and letting that process do the work, rather than trying to force the words through your passages, which is what I used to do and still tend to out of bad habit. It's important to get a deep breath before belting it out, though - it'll come out more naturally that way.

Take some lessons - it's worth it, and was kind of embarassing for me at first, singing in front of some guy in a quiet room and all, but I think that was good for me as well, and could be for you too.

Good luck.

[tigerstrat]

sing scales accompanied by your instrument, practice holding notes at pitch for a long duration, practice intervals, practice extending your range... sing along with tunes in the car or wherever you won't drive bystanders crazy... sing all the time. You'll get better.

[jdasa]

Don't hold back (aka let 'er rip...)

I find that a lot of people who maybe are a little unsure of their singing ability try to sing softly or in "coversational" volume to avoid amplifying sour notes.

You will hit a lot fewer sour notes if you are not afraid to belt it out.

Breathe deeply from your diaphragm (not the lungs) and generate the sound from your gut, not your throat.

Good luck!

[lostsailor8782]

Like he said, let it rip .... sing alot, don't have back, and DON"T try to emulate, use your own voice and do whatever it does best ... you gotta be confident and be yourself ....

[gratephulphish123]

then sing, you'll be fantastic

[jdasa]

then sing, you'll be fantastic

I'm not so sure about that.

I find (and perhaps this has to with age and cumulative effects of ), that both my range, disrupts my breathing, and decreases the time I can sing before getting hoarse.

A few brews before yodeling never hurts, though...

[gratephulphish123]

A few brews before yodeling never hurts, though...

so wanna start a yodeling group

[JONZILLA]

Listen to a recording of yourself singing. If you've never done it before, it can be agonizing. But you'll no doubt be able to hear what you're doing wrong (if anything).

[Shaggy]

It's pretty hard to begin with, and you might realise soon after that you don't have a great voice. Not many people do actually have a good singing voice but they find their own and stay with it with confidence.

It's about being confident and that will only come from singing and singing and singing.

Most of us are never going to have a voice like Tom Waits or John Fogerty, but you can get by.

[spacehead333]

"I will get bye, I will survive"

[amyjared]

I like the saying: "If you can talk you can sing and if you can walk you can dance"

All good advice. I suck at singing and only sing because the band makes me and I know all the words! What I do is try to find songs that work for me. Since I can't sing, I do Lou Reed, Dylan and the like. Sing with others and that can also help. And yea, tho I'm no good, I put my all into it and people appreciate the effort and like the energy, which accounts for a lot.

[ker1227]

You have to have soul, jerry didnt have the most proper singing voice but damn did he have soul and passion which makes him my favorite singer


also, sing into a mic, cause what you sound like and what you think you sound like are totally different