How Not to Sing Week #1

I posted this in the singing forum as well, but since I am playing guitar, I thought I'd post it here as well.

Okay, so I've decided to document my journey on You Tube, I'm going to post something every week for the next year, in hopes of being able to look back and see where I've been and where I'm going. So please come along on this journey with me and subscribe to my you tube stuff, and give me pointers and help, and I will try to take that and mold it into something that I can use and improve on my singing.

Some Beach by Blake Shelton
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDKAjXpig8o

Hey man, I'm in the same boat as you are so I'm probably not the best to give advice. But anyway, I suggest you should sing louder. Your pitch is fairly steady already but you're singing so loftly your voice switches into 'talk-mode' occasionally. For the rest, if you want to improve your singing, record the guitar and sing along with that. It's hard enough to sing in pitch and think about how to phrase sentences and how to approach notes without playing guitar I guess. Finally, IMHO it's worth it to stick with one song for a while. Like the guitar your voice is an instrument and you need to learn each song as if it were an instrumental line. if you switch songs too often you won't notice whatever progress you make because you have to re-learn the songs constantly.

Looking forward to the next one!

Hey Joe,

Where u going with the guitar in your hand?..Ok bad joke. Anyway the singing isn't anywhere near as bad as you think. There are some pitch problems (to steal a line from Randy Jackson) but I think it's just about practice more than anything.

You have a decent voice and you play the song and sing it well together so that's half the battle. maybe you should just concentrate on the singing if you really want to improve.

I think Ignar is right record the guitar and then sing over that, over and over and over again. Your voice is just like an instrument and it's not going to take any less effort to singing well than it does to play well, unless of course you were blessed with a perfect singing voice.

I think u should concentrate half your time practicing your guitar and the other half just singing, then slowly meld the two together.

You have enough to work with that with time u can do it.

Congrats on the project, Joe.
Looking forward to see the coming installments.
Great intro, btw; very entertaining.
Like the others, I thought you sounded pretty good. Your voice has a really nice timbre.
I like Ignar's suggestion to 'sing out' more. Through the vid, you get the sense your confidence is sort of ebbing and flowing. The better phrases are where you're a little more forceful.
:)

you can sing. project a bit more. sing with feeling. you have guitar skills. I think you are shorting yourself by not having faith in your voice. I think it's pretty good.
I can sing way more poorly than you.
this was my secret on our tight forum. now that you mentioned it on youtube I will be revealed. cool.

I will be watching your progress.

Wow, I thought I was hard on myself. Ease up, dude! Your voice does lose its focus now and then (it gets wobbly or flabby at times), but this is not too difficult to fix. Your tone is very good when you sing on your voice (the first chorus is particularly good), and you don't seem to have pitch problems. 8)

The secret is breathing (it always is!). You seem to be singing from your throat rather than your diaphragm, and this accounts for the moments of instability.

By the way, how much have you practiced this song? I don't mean sitting around strumming and singing, but really focusing on singing--thinking about where to breath, mastering the pitches, shaping of vowels/consonants, thinking about what the words mean to you, etc. If you haven't done a lot of this, some focused practice alone will help a lot.

I like the concept here, by the way. I'm curious to see/hear how it develops. Will you be taking lessons?

Hey thanks!!

Yeah, I'm pretty hard on myself at times, but I think I fall into the group of alot of people and being told that you can't sing.

But to answer some of your questions, I am playing and singing at the same time, and with this song attempting to "palm mute" which is something that I haven't been able to do very well. So I've got some problems with my strumming and singing. I know the lyrics really well, but lose sight because I hear my strumming is going off somewhere else.

I won't be taking lessons, I don't have the time or money. I would like to, but right now, it's just not feasible.

As far as breathing control, I had thought that I was doing that, or trying to do that, which is why my voice seems to be higher than my other videos, it's more close to my speaking voice.

Thanks for looking at the video though, and thanks for the tips. This coming week I'll be working on breath control for the next song!!

Thanks everyone for their tips!

The reason I am doing different songs instead of just one song is because I would like to take the songs that I am learning to sing and play, and make them my own, and not try to sound like the artist. I think by practicing the songs and just re-recording the same song I will have learned "that" song, but not really helped me in just singing so to speak.

As far as recording guitar, then voice, I'll give it a shot, but I don't know how well that will go. I'll look at the results of that and then decide if I want to post it, I'm just recording it with my dvcam.

Thanks for watching, and I hope everyone keeps on watching and subscribing to it!

I think by practicing the songs and just re-recording the same song I will have learned "that" song, but not really helped me in just singing so to speak.
So, what is your plan for improving?
Are you getting a teacher?
Practicing scales?

I like this idea man, but you are way to hard on yourself!

Can we make requests? At the minute your staying in your comfort zone... maybe you would learn more if we give you some songs to sing that we know... then we can give you more advice too!

Keep on singing,
Nath

Yeah, I am hard on myself, but I am also trying to keep this a fun thing, and making fun of myself is the one sure fire way of not having stupid people leave me messages on you tube saying I suck when I say it upfront, and using comedy makes the video a bit more fun for the viewer. I think it's the story teller in me that finds that I have to have an intro and outro to each video.

I am not opposed to the idea of singing things by request, but I am also trying to play guitar and sing at the same time, but I can take a break from that from time to time and just sing.

That's a good idea actually.

Thanks!

I am currently practicing scales, and am trying to control my breathing.

I have no plans for taking lessons, that is kind of part of this "project". See if I can get better with tips and the internet, and not have lessons. If not, then hey, lessons will come. Plus I don't have the time or money :D .

There was an idea posted in my post in the singing forums to accept requests and sing those as well, and I may do that from time to time, but I want to play guitar and sing as well, but will take requests of just singing and post just me singing.

I merged your two identical posts into this one.

one sure fire way of not having stupid people leave me messages on you tube saying I suck
I can certainly see the logic in that, Joe. The way people tend to talk to each other over there...Ewwwww
:)