Learning to Sing - Self Taught?

Ooooh. Watching with interest. I feel like I got a bit better by recording myself and listening back. Standing up helps. Beyond that I can't help, but interested in the responses.

Justin Guitar has recently done a bit which might suit you. Here
I think (don't currently have the time to go through it again to confirm) he links to or references another course that starts from scratch - starting with rythmnic talking through a song, which I found useful.

Edit - Yes he links to a free course from Chris Liepe

It was the recording and playback that made me realise how out i was. In my head it wasn't nearly so bad 🙂

THere's loads of tutorials online too.

It was the recording and playback that made me realise how out i was. In my head it wasn’t nearly so bad

Well that's me out right now, I sound bloody awful to myself when I sing along to anything, I don't care how awful I am personally but I feel a bit bad when other people start crying. I'd love to be able to sing properly but I don't think I'll ever get there...

Drink! Getting drunk makes you a great singer.

@bigjohn Cheers for those links

Confidence to do it is key

otherwise you'll end up just like the normal cast of characters with an open mic on stage and mumbling into it

Make everything sound worse

Proper lessons would be too much.

Are you sure?

I had lessons for a while. The sort of thing that the teacher was picking up on were so subtle that there would be no way I'd have noticed them myself. They didn't turn me into Pavarotti (beer and pies did that 😉 ), but I did end up with a few songs that I could sing confidently, and some sort of awareness of what I should be doing - what "right" feels like, etc. I stopped in the end, as I wasn't putting in the practice between lessons to make them worthwhile. Subsequently, a partial glossectomy sort of put paid to the whole thing.

I'd really recommend trying some in-person lessons - maybe 6-8 weeks worth will give you a feel for whether they're worthwhile. It takes practice, and you need to practice *correctly*.

I’ve been playing guitar for many years now but recently I’m trying to sing along on the acoustic.

I’m truly dreadful.

I don’t want to be the next Bono, just not hideously out of tune. Proper lessons would be too much.

Same here, in fact I could have written your post. I tend to sing along a lot when I'm playing just to get the chord changes in the right places.

My oldest daughter recently said that I can carry a song. 😀

Unfortunately, she said, I'm a terrible singer. 🙁 I will persist! 😀

Im trying talking the lyrics and then every so slightly turning into the guy from The National. That seems to work a bit rather than try and push for notes that just aren't there.

In the above links there is a idea of playing a string on a guitar and then trying to replicate the note using a chromatic tuner. Not an effin chance. For the whole of EADGBE i can get close to D, thats it! Urgh

I'm with nbt. At school, the teacher told me to mime! Shame, as it would be nice to sing along with my guitar playing 😕

At school, the teacher told me to mime!

Yeah, me too

At school, the teacher told me to mime!

Yeah, me too

+1.

Also, in assembly I had my head down singing whatever awful crap* we had to sing in the 70s, and when I looked up, I was the only one singing. The teacher had motioned all the other kids to stop and was peeing himself laughing at me. It's no wonder I've never had confidence in my gorgeous baritone. 😀

*Could have been Mull of Kintyre, a song which almost gives me an allergic reaction to this day.

Interesting thread. Similar to the OP but playing piano rather than guitar. Started 'trying' to sing along recently. I'm rubbish 🙂

I've found that I get marginally better once warmed up, also singing loudly seems to help, as does booze. I suspect these two things are linked somehow. The two 'voices' head/chest is also confusing. when to use which etc. I'd love to know how to accurately find my range so I know where I am. Some songs are hard to sing whilst others are easy. Others are both! Take 'We Are The Champions' by Queen for example. The verses (Cm) I find hard, the chorus (F) I find easier. So I suppose I've just kind of answered my own query there...

Anyway, tips? Umm,  a mate in a band used to drink or gargle honey water. He also used to smoke plenty of cigarettes. I've also heard you can train your voice like a muscle to extend your high and low range.  If you don't want to disturb others you can sing in the car.

Just focus on instruments, unfortunately there's always going to be a Ringo in every band 😂

One thing that makes me feel better about my bad singing is realising that i can't simply become a good singer without a degree of practice. It would be totally unreasonable to become a better guitarist/pianist without an amount of practice. Why should singing be any different? (I don't practise singing, so that's why I'm not very good)

Zdit: I seem to have lost the ability to link on this forum so have scrubbed my post

I’d love to know how to accurately find my range so I know where I am.

My teacher got me so sing a prolonged "ooooh-aaaah" to match the pitch of a piano, gradually working up / down the scale. She could tell where I was starting to strain (but I couldn't). My range was neither as broad as I thought it was, or at the pitch that I thought it was. It would be a tall order to replicate that process without outside input(IMHO) - my perception of my voice was totally different to reality. I added 3 or 4 notes to the top of my range and a couple to the bottom by regular voice exercises.

The things my teacher picked up on, I didn't even know I did, but sorting them out resulted in a gradual improvement.

Relaxation is ABSOLUTELY key - You've got to get your chest vibrating. If I was even slightly stresed, I couldn't do anything.

My ray of hope was that during (compulsory) choir practice at school, someone once commented that I "had a voice". (I still don't consider myself a 'singer' though).

My teacher maintained that she could teach *anyone* to sing.