It’s a common myth that some people can sing and others can’t.
I’ve heard many people in the past tell me that they’ve never been able to sing or just haven’t got the voice for it. The fact is, unless you have certain health issues or problems with your throat which make it impossible to do so, just about anybody can sing as most of us are born with the tools we need to to the job.
The difference between those who can sing and those who can’t is merely those who can devote large portions of their lives to practicing, developing and taking care of their voice, and those who can’t – do not.
Before I decided to become a singer, I had a terrible voice and couldn’t sing for Adam. When I started putting the time and effort in and made it my goal to add vocals to my guitar skills, my voice improved and after a few months of practicing, it developed into something I could happily project in front of a live audience and actually get a good response.
But unless you take care of your voice, treat your vocal chords well and keep practicing regularly, things just don’t stay that way. Just like going down the gym, as soon as you give up exercising and stop taking care of yourself, everything goes down the pan.
So if you’ve just started singing or perhaps you’ve been practicing for a while and are starting to sound o.k, here’s a few tips that will help you on your way and keep your voice sounding great. I’ll also be mentioning a few things to avoid to ensure you don’t croak like a frog throughout your performance.
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Warm Up
First and most importantly, every singer always needs a good vocal warm up before they sing, whether practicing or getting ready to go on stage, a good warm up is vital. Many new or inexperienced artists risk doing permanent damage to their vocal chords because they either couldn’t be bothered, or are unaware of the importance of doing a warm up before they sing.
It’s simple – your vocal chords are muscles and need to be treated with respect to avoid damage. Damaging them can be extremely painful and even a minor injury to your vocal chords may stop you singing for weeks or months at a time, and in bad cases, may stop you singing altogether.
It’s a common problem and one I’ve spoken about in my Singing Success review. Either through laziness or ignorance, many artists, amateurs and professionals spend years performing without an effective warm up routine. Sooner or later problems start to appear.
After a prolonged period of time, abuse can cause nodules to form on the vocal chords due to the excessive strain of hammering your voice without properly warming up.
If you were an athlete, you wouldn’t consider running a race without warming up first. You might get away with it for a while but sooner or later you are likely to pull a leg muscle or do permanent damage to your ligaments. The same goes for your throat and vocal chords.
As you develop as a singer, you will find your vocal workload greatly increases as you tackle larger sets and more difficult songs. A larger workload, practiced more often, means you risk serious strain by not preparing yourself properly.
You should spend at least ten minutes warming your voice up before any performance. It should be more like fifteen to twenty minutes, but sometimes you just don’t have the opportunity to do this, so just do as much as you can at the time.
Warm up’s can be pretty embarrassing if done in public and you don’t want to be making all those weird noises when you are setting up your equipment before a gig, so if you’re preparing for a public performance, make sure you get your warm up done in private or somewhere more appropriate beforehand.
Don’t Smoke
A lot of people out there who want to be singers smoke, including myself, and for most people quitting is not easy – quitting for good that is.
Years ago we used to be bombarded with images of pop stars on TV and video smoking all the time, and although the impression of smoking being cool has declined somewhat in the last few years with people being more aware of the dangers of smoking, government health drives, bans on advertising and smoking in public, not only does the addiction for those who are hooked remain, but the image implanted in our heads over the last few decades – of the lifestyles that bad ass rockers and pop superstars lead, still makes many of us think it’s possible to smoke like a trooper and be a great singer at the same time.
Perhaps it is possible to smoke like a trooper and still be a great singer, but that depends on what you call a great singer.
A lot of famous pop/rock stars are considered by the general public to be great singers, but actually, many aren’t quite as good as they may seem.
Many successful artists have relatively limited vocal ranges and tend to stay within the same octave or two throughout their careers.
I’m not saying that having a limited vocal range makes you a bad singer. Even with a very limited range you can be an excellent singer as long as you make the very most of what you have and use your voice to it’s full potential – adding character and expression to your performances .
What I’m saying, is that an artist may create good songs and be very successful, but just because they have a few hit records, doesn’t make them great singers.
If the music you sing only encompasses tracks that stay within a limited vocal range, then you may be able to get away with being a big smoker get a good response without having to limit your intake, but if you want to be a versatile singer and start hitting notes all over the place, then you must keep your throat in top condition and the one habit that will massively limit your abilities is smoking.
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I’m pretty sure it doesn’t matter how much Liam Gallagher drinks and smokes the night before a gig, it probably doesn’t make the slightest difference to his singing ability as his songs don’t require a huge amount of skill to perform. All he needs is that raw vocal tone he belts down the mic. In fact for his voice, smoking and taking drugs probably helps.
Rappers are also fortunate in what they can get away with as the style of music doesn’t usually require the artist to have a voice like an angel. Apart from a few choice chorus notes, most rap songs involve spoken rhythmic wordage with a bit of a melody thrown in somewhere in the middle, so again you don’t need a 4 octave range to rap.
But if someone like Mariah Carey went out and smoked a pack of fags the night before a gig, without a doubt she’d have no chance at all of hitting the supreme high notes she performs in many of her songs. As a world class singer, her songs require such a high standard of perfection to perform that nothing less than a voice box in perfect condition will do.
Know Your Limits
I have a reasonable awareness of my limits and know that I can give my throat a certain amount of abuse and still get away with performing to a degree. But if I smoke more than a few cigs in an evening and maybe add a few pints on top, I have hell’s own trouble hitting the killer notes in my set the next day. I can still get away with most of the the easy songs, but as soon as something vocally challenging arises, I’m in trouble.
Even the songs I can get away with are much more of a struggle to perform.
You try singing the last few notes of Muse’s Plug in Baby after a heavy night on the cigs… you won’t stand much of a chance.
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We never realise how difficult a song is to sing, or how good the original singer really is, until you try and perform it yourself.
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Stop
It doesn’t matter how good or bad you are, stop smoking and your voice will improve.
Even if you can’t stop or don’t want to, cut down to one or two a day. This can be done over a period of time and soon you will become conscious that every time you have a cigarette, it will affect your voice – making it harder to hit the notes you strive for every time you practice.
Stopping smoking seriously reduces the chances of developing lung cancer, throat cancer, mouth cancer, gum disease, heart attacks, strokes and emphysema. Keeping on top of your addiction will keep you feeling healthier and help you conquer any vocal challenge that arises.
Save yourself from yellow teeth, smelly breath, premature ageing and countless throat infections, colds and flu you might catch throughout the year. It is well known that cigarettes practically nullify all the vitamin C supplies in your body every time you have a fag. How can your body fight infection under these conditions.
Stopping smoking has countless other health benefits as well as well as saving you a shed load of money, but even more importantly, ditching the cigs will stop you from polluting those around you, including your loved ones and children.
It’s also a sad fact that every cig you have takes you one step closer to death.
If you can’t hack it, get nicotine patches, gum or an electronic cigarette, they are pretty good nowadays.
Alcohol
Alcohol is almost as bad as smoking, so the same goes as above. If you can’t give up, then try to cut down.
Often, drinking and smoking will go together, so if you go out and get drunk, you will probably smoke a whole lot more and increase the damage being done to your throat. Even if you don’t smoke when you are out drinking, the strain you put on your voice, shouting over the local band or dance floor to your mates until three in the morning, won’t help your cause.
The chances are, next day you’ll be so hung over you won’t be able to practice singing. Your voice will be knackered and you’ll have a stinking headache, ultimately reducing the time you can spend practicing, lessening your vocal ability.
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You don’t have to ruin your social life completely, but just tone it down a bit. You often hear singers on TV saying they have to behave themselves when preparing for a performance and have to leave parties early to gig the next day. It’s a drag, but the best singers out there keep the partying to a minimum and save everything they’ve got for a great performance. That’s the real prize, getting a buzz out of your performance, not a few beers and a sore head.
Guitarists might get away with having a bender the night before a gig if they can still hold down a good rhythm or tricky solo, but a singer’s voice is not so forgiving.
Look at the state one of our nation’s favourites, Amy Winehouse used to get herself in when she’d go on stage or live TV after a heavy session the night before. She would try and wing it because she had a gruffy voice anyway, but you could hear it straining and croaking under the stress she was putting it through to hit the notes, rendering her unique, God given voice that led her so successfully to fame, sounding awful.
Sadly, because of her personal problems with drugs and alcohol she would often be intoxicated on stage and she used to regularly embarrass herself in front of huge audiences and national TV, doing herself no favours at all.
Mind you…because of her character it was almost expected and she would pretty much get away with it. Some stars just have the popularity and charisma to get away with anything and in her prime she had great success and didn’t give a damn anyway. So perhaps some people can get away with it, but most of us can’t.
If you want a good strong, clear voice and a great vocal range, cut the alcohol and cigarettes. If you want to yell down the mike like a strangled cat, keep partying.
Hydration – Water
One of the most important rules a singer should adhere to is to keep fully hydrated at all times. The best drink in the world is simply – water.
If you are one of these people who never drink water on it’s own without some sort of squash or cordial involved, then you need to start right now and get into it. People who don’t drink water often comment that it makes their throat ‘bitty’ and I used to think just the same.
When you start drinking plain water, it can have an effect on your throat and may taste very bland for a couple of days, but very quickly your throat will adapt and that sense of ‘bittiness’ will soon disappear. You will really start to appreciate the simplicity of life’s greatest drink and will notice the benefit that being well hydrated has on your singing. Your body will have all the water it needs to keep it’s organs and muscles working well and efficiently. As well as keeping your vocal chords fully lubricated you will find you have a greater sense of well being, general alertness and more energy than before.
Tea – Coffee – Caffeine.
Coffee and tea are diuretics and both contain caffeine. Caffeine has a negative effect on the vocal chords, dehydrates your throat and stimulates the production of phlegm, especially coffee. Try not to drink either just before you sing. If you do, make it a couple of hours before your session.
Better still, avoid these altogether and drink plenty of herbal teas or decaffeinated tea.
Many singers advocate drinks such as decaf tea with hot lemon and ginger (not too hot to avoid burning the vocal chords), hot lemon and honey, hot water and lemon etc.
Try some combinations out yourself and see which ones work well for you.
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Green Tea
Green tea is amazing stuff, bursting with antioxidants that help fight illness, ageing and cancer, mentioning just a few of it’s many health benefits. Unfortunately most green teas contain caffeine. However, the caffeine in green tea works in a different way than coffee as the tea also contains tannin and L-theanine which together have a calming affect on the body and allow the caffeine to be absorbed more slowly.
The benefits of drinking green tea greatly outweigh any issues regarding the caffeine content and most green teas contain half the caffeine content of coffee anyway, so I would advise drinking green tea regularly but obviously not just before a gig.
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Avoid fizzy drinks such as cola and energy drinks as they are crammed with caffeine and very addictive. You might get a quick buzz out of them but they will drop you like a stone soon after, leaving you feeling low and lethargic, needing more.
Dairy Products & Chocolate
Dairy products like milk and cheese coat your throat and the mucus membrane of your vocal chords, affecting your voice and making it much harder to sing. Make sure you stay away from them for a few hours before you sing.
Chocolate is another no go. Coating your vocal chords in chocolate before a performance is a bad idea and will close your throat, definitely affecting your ability to sing. Try to avoid until after your set.
Spices & Curry
Spicy foods inflame the vocal tract and will screw up your voice. Avoid
Peanuts & Bitty Foods
Try to avoid bitty foods like nuts or oats before practice or performance. They can easily leave remanence, causing irritation from small pieces left in the throat.
Even after brushing your teeth or swilling your mouth out with water, small remanence can easily remain undetected, finding their way down your throat just when you are in full swing, leaving you hacking for breath in the middle of the song.
Avoid Singing Loudly or For Long Periods of Time
Being a busker means I am often forced to elevate my voice so it can be heard over a busy street for long periods of time. Even when I’ve been training well and busking regularly, playing daily street sessions for at least three or four hours a time, even once you achieve a rock solid vocal ability and think you can sing for as long as you like and as loud as you want, I have often returned home with a strained throat thinking ‘ Oh no ! – I’ve over done it, Again !’.
It could be for a number of reasons …because the background noise of the street was too loud, or the cash was rolling in nicely on a good pitch and I wanted to make the most of it, or because I was having a great day and was getting a real buzz out of performing – pushing my vocals too loud and to their limit. Or it maybe simply because I wanted to get my practice done, and get as many songs out as possible.
When you’re having a great time belting out songs and feeling good about your singing, it’s hard to stop and think ‘Hang on, this is fun but am I doing damage to myself ?’. It’s no different than getting down the gym and overdoing it, pulling a muscle or becoming obsessed with playing the guitar and knackering your tendons from too much shredding.
Enough is Enough
You need to know when enough is enough. Save it for tomorrow, rest your voice and allow yourself to keep singing in the long run, rather than over doing it now, and knackering your voice for the next two months.
Take Regular Breaks When Practicing
Taking a 20 minute break every hour or two will give your voice the chance to rest and recuperate. Regular breaks will ultimately allow you to practice for longer, build stamina and lessen the chance of over straining.
When I’m busking, I find it hard to take a break and stop for 20 minutes, but taking time out to relax, adjust, stretch your neck, back, arm and finger muscles and give the set up a tweak will definitely pay off. If you think you can improve your pitch, move to a new one and start a new case. Relaxing and stretching for a bit will ultimately improve your chances of not sustaining an injury in the long term.
You wouldn’t spend two hours down the gym without resting every now and then and allowing your muscles to recuperate, so why hammer your throat muscles for two hours without a break also ?
Regular Exercise
Being fit and healthy will hugely help your ability to be happy and perform. Cardiovascular exercises like running and swimming will improve your lungs and breathing ability, enabling you to sing better. Frank Sinatra was an avid swimmer and used the breath techniques he gained from swimming to perfect his singing.
Vitamin and Mineral Supplements
Supplements provide the body with nutrients and the minerals it needs to have a healthy immune system. Taking the correct supplements, including Vitamin C, will lessen your chances of cold. Make sure you get a good base mineral supplement also.
Stress
Avoid stress. Try not to worry about things which will ultimately put you and your vocal chords under stress. Thinking about nothing but problems in your life will only bring you down. Just be happy you’re alive and keep singing as much as you can.
Consider the fact that half the world’s population live in poverty and millions of those suffer terribly on a daily basis, living in dreadful and dangerous conditions unfit for any human being – you’ll soon realise how lucky you are.
Think about those living in third world, war or disaster zones or those suffering huge loss in their lives.. then look at yourself and see what you really have to complain about.
Be a glass is half full type, not half empty and thank your lucky stars you have a decent life.
Sleep
It is important that everyone gets enough sleep. You need to recharge your batteries and missing out on sleep will eventually wear you out. Keep burning the candle at both ends and sooner or later you’ll go down with exhaustion or illness. Try and get 7 – 8 hours a night.
If you can’t manage to get enough sleep throughout the week, try and hit the sack really early at least one night a week. You’ll feel much better for it.
Water
Try to drink at least two litres of water a day. Although your body gets enough water from the food you eat, keeping yourself well hydrated will help keep your vocal chords in good condition.
Change your Set
Don’t get used to practicing just one set, no matter how difficult it is. Even if you’ve not perfected it yet, give it a break and change to something totally different every once in a while. This will keep you on your toes and give you insight into new music, inspiring new direction and also revealing weaknesses in your voice your usual set may have hidden.
Singing something completely different every now and then will keep you from getting bored and help prevent you getting stuck in that rut.
Keep Adding New Songs
Keep learning new songs. As you progress, the songs you play will undoubtedly change, eventually leading your music to find it’s own way. Make sure you play your own songs aswell. Don’t get stuck playing the same set all year.
Strive to Improve
Always try to better yourself. The more you keep singing, the better you’ll get, until you really will be a great singer.
Oral Hygiene
Clean your teeth 2 – 3 times a day, floss and upkeep them well. Clear but don’t rinse your mouth out after you have brushed your teeth. You will wash away all the protective barriers and fluorine in your toothpaste – tip from a top dentist.
Don’t Bite Your Nails
Biting your nails is a bad habit, give it up. Eating the dirt that has collected under your fingertips is gross. You’re much more likely to get colds and flu if you do this. Everything you touch when you are out, every time you visit the loo, every hand you shake, every germ you come in contact with is likely to reside under your finger tips. So don’t stick it in your mouth and eat it. Ugh !
Get Used to Performing – Nerves
Regularly perform in front of a crowd. This will keep you on your toes and keep you enjoying being a musician. It doesn’t matter where. If you are not ready to gig, go to ‘come and have a go’ nights, go busking, perform at your mates parties or offer to do a quick set at your local pub. Do anything that is going to get you used to performing and each time you put yourself in the firing line, you’ll get more used to dealing with those nerves.
Stretching and Massage
Give or get your self neck, arm, finger (guitarists) and back massages regularly. This will reduce the tension and stress in all these important muscle groups before and after you gig, helping you relax and prevent injury. Learn to warm up your muscle groups using targeted stretching routines. Warming down after your performance is also just as important.
Warm Towels
Some singers like to wrap a towel around their neck for a few minutes to warm their voice up before they sing. Never tried it myself, but I’ve seen a few vocalists doing this before gigs. It could be that their vocal chords have been previously strained or are inflamed due to a sore throat or the onset of laryngitis and the towel trick is known to help sooth these conditions.
Cold Water
Don’t dowse your vocal chords in freezing cold water when you’re trying to sing. Keep your water bottle at room temperature at least. Athletes don’t take a cold shower right in the middle of their practice sessions, so don’t do this to your vocal chords.
Avoid Colds & Flu - People – Crowds
Don’t visit people, if you know they have the flu. Use some sense. If you catch it, that’s your singing down the pan for a week at least. Spending time in crowded places for unnecessary reasons hugely increases your chances of catching a cold.
Obviously if you’re gigging in pubs and clubs you can’t avoid certain situations and I’m not suggesting you become a recluse and avoid any public place, but close contact with mates or associates who are coughing and spluttering or spending time with people who are obviously ill or have been under the weather, will not help your cause.
Having kids really brings it home, and the colds, sickness bugs and other crap they bring home from school and nursery certainly raise your awareness of the way viruses spread and affect everyone around you.
Don’t get paranoid, but just think about cuddling that baby with a drooling nose, standing next to that bloke who’s sneezing over everyone or visiting that mate who’s dying of the plague.
Sharing
Younger generations have a greater tendency to share things like drink, cigarettes, food, drugs etc. with each other and years ago I didn’t used to care about things like that either. You know what you’re doing, but you don’t give a damn and dealing with illness or colds and flu was not a problem. Give it a few years when your income or career depends on it, you’ll soon realise a bit of caution can make a big difference to your health and wealth.
Sharing is a wonderful thing and brings people closer, but having a ‘bite of that’ or going ‘two’s up’ on that fag or having a sip on your mates pint is a nice thought, but you don’t see grown adults doing it as they generally have more sense and care about their own well being a little more.
Wash Your Hands – Take Off Your Shoes
Taking off your shoes and washing your hands when you enter your house will effectively kill 90% of the germs you’ve picked up throughout the day and prevent you bringing them into your home. Why tread the dirt from the street through your home and across your living room carpet.
They say a cash machine has more germs on it than a toilet seat. What about door handles, push buttons, cash, public handle rails etc. Imagine how many public things you touch each day and how many other people with flu’s, colds and infections have been touching. A large number of the population don’t even bother washing their hands after going to the loo.
Don’t get paranoid about germs, but use your common sense when you are out and about. Alcohol hand gels are handy and help kill bacteria, but can be addictive so use them, but don’t become obsessed with them.
Allergies – Deal with Them
Make sure you deal with any allergies you may have, i.e. hay fever, smoke, cats etc.. If you’re not on top of these, your voice has no chance. A simple anti histamine tablet combined with nasal spray will usually do the trick, but if you suspect you may have an allergy, see your doctor for advice.
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So there’s just a few things you should be aware of if you want to keep your voice in good nick.
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If you have any other tips, feel free to post them in the comments below.
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Other Posts of Interest
Complete Vocal Workout
Vocal Warm Up Techniques
Vocal Warm Up Scales
Vocal Products
The Importance of Vitamins & Minerals in our Daily Lives
I’m an unsigned rapper and for the past month i’ve been rapping and when i rap i rap real loud and ive been gettin like sharp pains in my throat and in my chest and i was wondering what is good to prevent that from happenning again and i dont drink or smoke. thank you.
Hi Juan, sounds like you are putting your vocal chords under extreme stress, every time you rap and from the sounds of it, I doubt you’re bothering with a decent warm up.
Any sign of pain, especially sharp pain means you are doing damage to your vocal chords. Keep doing that for much longer and you might end your career for good.
You need to stop, straight away and let your voice heal. Then start again slowly, with a proper vocal exercise routine that will prepare you for each practice session and live performance without placing excess strain on your voice.
It may be your style to rap very loud and hard, but really, you should focus on style and technique instead of volume and force. You will be able to achieve the same results for the rest of your life, without ruining your carreer in a few short years.
Even the best vocalists in the world cannot subject their vocal chords to extreme abuse day in, day out for years at a time without something eventually going wrong. see my Singing Success review for more on that.
You may not want to change the way you rap, but if you’re going to continue to do that, you at least need to prepare your vocal chords before you perform with an extremely good warm up. Check out the vocal category on this site and Google vocal warm ups, exercises etc.also. You should find plenty of stuff that will help you out.
There are also loads of self tuition CD’s out there, but they can be expensive. Search Google for some vocal torrents and there’s plenty for free aswell.
Go get your vocal chords checked out at the doctors, just to make sure you haven’t got any nodes or lumps developing on your vocal chords. These can develop at random or through bad technique over a prolongued period and can cause real problems.
Whatever style of vocals you use, rap, death metal, pop, classical, it all comes down to vocal strength and protection. Make sure you cover those first, otherwise it’s pretty much game over.
Cheers
Hi,
I sing occasionally and do vocal exercise daily. I have noticed whenever I eat nuts like almonds, walnut, cashews I feel my voice feels heavy and not right. what do you think of that? I also suffer from Acid reflux so somethings trigger my acid and acid comes up and effects my vice. 30 minute before my performance I take a spoon of honey and for some reason my voice clears up my voice gets deeper and more crisper. Have you heard of that before?
Definitely. It’s a common practice to avoid bitty foods like nuts before a performance as they can easily leave remainance and cause irritation from bits left in the throat. Acid is a also a common problem and can put an early end to an artist’s singing career if it gets too bad.
Justin Hawkins, the lead singer of The Darkness had a hiatus hernia and acid reflex that caused him to cancel many tour dates and eventually had to undergo an operation to correct the problem.
The acid in your stomach, when allowed to pass through to your throat and vocal chords can easily cause pain and irritation on an occasional basis but can usually be controlled by diet or tablets. If the problem persists on a daily basis, it needs to be sorted out or can lead to permanent damage.
Honey is also a well known to have a soothing influence on the vocal chords.
Thanks for your input. I should update this post soon, still have plenty more tips to share.
Hey, I’m a vocalist in a heavy metal band that incorporates not only melodic death metal screams, but the rob halford high notes and the grittier lower style. I drink chamomile herbal tea at practice and my voice is fine. I also am a smoker yet I can hit a high C and am able to transistion it into a death scream in the same note. I obviously bring water on stage with me but I have not had many issues with the tea. I only smoke one cigarette the day of a show early on in the day and I don’t touch another til after my voice has relaxed more from being on stage
i’ve been smoking for the last 3 weeks and my voice is already deep, but im a good singer, n my voice has been cracking lately, badlyy. is it possible for it to get back to its original way
You said your voice is already deep and had been cracking lately and you’ve been smoking for three weeks, so without knowing your age it’s hard to tell whether your voice is breaking naturally (i.e. from about the age of 12 to 16) or because you’ve started smoking. If your voice is breaking naturally there’s nothing you can do about it apart from embrace and learn to sing with the new tones you will be using for the rest of your life.
If it’s smoking then stop and you’ll be back to normal in a week or two. I know we’ve all heard it a million times but it’s a fact – smoking screws your voice up, full stop. Many singers (including myself) smoke and even if it’s just a little, what ever you believe, it is detrimental to your voice. People often give the excuse that smoking helps them achieve them the tones they want, but however good or bad your voice sounds, not smoking will dramatically improve it, prolong your life and improve your overall health and ability to keep singing. Not to mention lessen gum disease and help colour of your teeth as you age, lessen the chance of throat, mouth & lung cancer, improve the rate your skin ages, increase your energy levels and a million other things.
Just quit the smoking now before you get hooked and it’ll save you twenty or so years of polluting your body before your finally give up again.
Hi, you have mentioned what we should avoid in your list, could you please tell us whats good for the vocals??
Thanks in advance
Hi Sarah, thanks for your suggestion. You are right, there’s plenty more I need to add to this post. I’ve been really busy with my artisan business lately and haven’t had much time but I’ll try and add more to my post this week if I get the opportunity.
It’s a big subject which I’ve been meaning to elaborate on for a while so thanks for the request. I’ll get back to you.
Cheers
Hello, Ive been singing for over 6 months now, sometimes without warming up. I am concerned about the trills I used to have when singing. Now I feel like that if my voice is getting weak (noticed it about a week ago). Can I do something about it? Please help !
Hi Mohammed, sorry for the late reply, been rather busy lately.
There could be a number of reasons why your voice is getting weak. You need to elaborate more about your ‘concerns about your trills’, how you sing, what sort of stuff you sing, your practice regime and what you mean by your voice being ‘weak’.
It could be you have over strained your voice and just need to give it a rest for a while and get a good warm up routine as well as concentrating on your technique. It is also possible you could be suffering from allergies or hay fever which can also have a huge affect on your voice.
If you think you may have nodes on your vocal chords, your first stop should be your local GP. He should be able to take a look at your throat and tell you if you have any lumps or problems developing on your throat. It might also be the case that you have a throat virus or infection developing.
This site has some good information which may be of use to you also.
If it continues for a while longer, get yourself checked out and once the doctor gives you the all clear on your vocal chords you can focus on other issues that might be causing the problem.
I hope that helps a little.
Cheers
Hi Kier
I was just looking through your site, which is full of fantastic articles. (Thank you very much!)
I was just making contact because I have recently started a similar site which focusses on how to practice music and I also did an article on “Amy Winehouse”, coincidentally, but from a different perspective.
Anyway, just to say it’s good to find like-minded musicians and teachers and to invite you to check out my site and, if you are interested, to perhaps write an article for each other.
Let me know what you think.
Kind regards,
Lisa
Hi Lisa, you’ve got a great site there. Thanks for your input and it would be great to swap articles some time. I’m busy building my artisan business at the moment and so don’t have much time to write but hopefully we can collaborate at some point in the future. Should be fun
Cheers.
Hi, I’ve been noticing that whenever I sing, my throat, tongue, mouth, jaw, and well, generally my whole head, just tense really tightly, and it hurts really bad.. I do warm ups, but it doesn’t help.. any advice?
Hi Gabbie,
It sounds like your singing technique is completely wrong, it certainly should not hurt to sing, in any way shape or form. Tension is the enemy of all singers and until you change the way you sing you could be risking damage to your throat and vocal chords.
When I first started singing I used to be very tense, especially when trying to hit high notes. I thought my throat would strengthen in time and conquer the problem but then I realised I was doing exactly the opposite of what I needed to be doing.
Just think about it. How can your vocal chords and throat muscles operate well if they are under extreme stress and tension all the time. You need to relax completely, concentrate on your breathing and relieving tension from your body when you sing.
Try gentle warm ups using the lip roll or tongue trill as shown on this site. You need to ditch these bad habits right now before they get worse. It might be an idea to go for a couple of singing lessons to help you over come the tension, or better still try the singing success program or perhaps a one month membership to Brett’s site for a few dollars. Once you have learned how to train yourself properly, you’ll have no problems in the future.
Whatever you do… NO MORE TENSION. If it hurts, you are doing it wrong. Just relax and take it easy.
I have got the lead in the musical Cabaret and have been rehearsing for a few months now. I have found more recently that when singing some of the big songs that my voice is cracking and now quite husky and am struggling to get through them. I am a bit concerned that it may be to do with nodules on the vocal chords and wonder if you had any advice on how I would know if it was this or something else. The songs are quite a big range and I really struggle to push through the notes now. I have just restarted my vocal lessons too and she said there was a breathy sound to my singing and I know this too can be to do with nodules?
Hi Claire, firstly, go to your doctors and get him to check your throat. He’ll be able to instantly give you the all clear or see if anything is developing on your vocal chords that may cause a problem, if so he can put you in for further checks for nodules or laryngitis etc.
You may just be placing too much strain on your voice by practicing too much and need to rest for a week or two or it may be simply down to allergies, a common cause of huskyness, especially in Summer.
Once you’ve seen your doctor, if he says your throat is fine, try some anti histamines and a nasal spray and see if that helps.
Hello! I love to sing! And I have gotten really good with your tips. But I only sing when I’m alone at home. I used to do it in the shower but my dad said he heard me and I instantly stopped singing in there. Now my brother and sister live with us and I have no time to sing alone! I’m too scared to sing in front of people, what should I do? Suck it up and do it? I’m so scared!
Hi Nikita, really glad to hear you’re doing well with your singing. Don’t worry, even if you were an excellent singer and were used to your family hearing you all the time, after a while you’ll also get paranoid they getting sick of you.
You’ve got to mix it up a bit for your own sake and theirs, here’s a few thoughts to help and a combination of all of these should get you through.
1) Forget everyone else and sing anyway. If you can’t sing infront of your own family, you’ve got no chance in a crowded pub full of drunks all taking the mick.
2) If you need some cover, whack the tunes up and sing along for a couple of weeks until your voice is good enough to start lowering the volume and replacing the real songs with your own voice. Sooner or later, you’ll be singing with no backing at all.
3) Get an ipod or mp3 player with a copy of a vocal excercises cd on and copies all your favourite tracks back to back. Check out the net for information on downloading free mp3′s if you can’t copy your cd selection onto your player.
If you can’t sing at home, get out there and go and find some really cool places you can practice and sing on your own without being disturbed. Depending on where you live this could be out in some fields around your house or on the beach or in the hills, in deserted places, car parks, multi storeys, river banks, anywhere that’s safe enough to practice and not be disturbed too much. Depending on your circumstances this could be while driving in your car or at work if you can get away with it. Just go out for an hour or two at a time and really let rip. You’ll get some good exercise too in the process and within a few weeks you’ll be the best you’ve ever been.
Use your MP3 player to take you through your exercises and then your songs, make sure the mp3′s are only barely audiable through your earphones to keep your timing and so you can really hear your own voice and work on improving it.
When I’m away from home, I hit the fields around the inlaws and get some really good practice in. Watch out for dog walkers, they’ll think you are a weirdo.
4) When you are good enough to sing loud and clear with no one around and in the house with the family around, get your best mates round and do a couple of songs in front of them. You’ll die of embarrasment, but when you’ve done that, you’ll be ready for a come and have a go night or busking in the street.
Just go for it and face those fears, or you’ll never achieve your goal.
Good luck.
Hi Kier,
My name is Steve, and thanks for this amazing site ! Learned much from what many singers are experiencing.
Kier, I am a singer in a band myself, and of late, my guitarist who’s also my band leader has been playing extremely loud now…he’s been drowning my vocals and I need to sing a little ouder as I can’t hear myslf. But I realise that i am starting to lose my voice as a result of singing louder after each nightly gig. Kier, what should I do ? He’s my band leader and I know he’s sensitive. If I tell him, he might get angry.
Really need your advise…
Thanks Kier
Hi Steve, couple of things that may help.
If you can’t hear yourself because he is drowning you out, then singing louder is not the way to solve the problem, especially if it’s damaging your throat. Are you being drowned out just through the monitors on stage or can you not be heard from the front end via the audiences perspective also ?
If it’s just a monitor volume problem. There’s a few things you could say to him to help get your message accross and get your channel turned up.
Tell him your throat’s been hurting quite a bit lately cause you’ve been singing too loud (either at home or in the band) and ask if there is any chance of turning your monitor volume up on the mixer so you can hear yourself and don’t have to strain too much. …Any band leader worth his salt would want to protect his singer’s voice at all costs, so notching up the vocal channel’s monitor voulume is nothing and should be the first thing he’d want to do. It’s not like you are stealing the show cause it has virtually no effect on the front end.
Or you could try the ‘bum note theory’ and say you don’t want to take the mick, but you’re finding it difficult to hear yourself and if you are singing bum notes then it’s not going to go down too well. Ask if there is any chance of turning your monitor channel volume up or getting a seperate monitor on stage so you can hear what you are singing.
Another option could be to either buy your own monitor speaker and place it on stage so you can mess with the volume control yourself when you need to, or you could get an in ear monitor which only you can hear for a bit of back up.
If you really don’t want to ask or are afraid it may cause a scene, just point out at the end of a practice session that you are thinking of getting a monitor cause you are having trouble hearing yourself and it’s affecting your singing. That should prompt a response of, ‘Don’t worry, how about we just turn your monitor up instead’.
If he’s drowning you out from the audiences perspective aswell, as long as you have a good monitor volume, can hear yourself well and the performance sounds good to you on stage, it’ll keep you happy throughout the gig. Sooner or later people will eventually point out to him that your vocals need to be turned up.
Lastly, I’m not suggesting he is, but if he’s the sort of band leader that everyone has to tread on egg shells around or if you put this to him and it creates a problem, the guy’s an arsehole anyway. Ditch the band and start one yourself, then you are your own boss and can do what the hell you like.
Sorted
Hi Kier !
Kier ! I seriously have to thank you for your amazing advice !!! After reading your reply, I realized you were absolutely right…no band leader should be the least disinterested in his band members conditions right esp after feedback on my voice getting hoarse was recurring after each performance ? So I picked up the courage to call him over the phone and tell him a moment ago about my plight….but he went all defensive on me….and said i was shouting which is why i lost my voice…and i was like huh ??? Isn’t it obvious I had to sing louder to hear myself ? Duh !!!
But prior to my phone call to my band leader, I did look up some of our regular customers who I had befriended and who frequented the pub on Facebook and messaged them, and many had told me they love my voice and that i was really good….they enjoyed my version of Sweet Child of Mine by Guns and Roses, Don’t Stop Believing & Separate Ways by Journey, Pour Some Sugar on Me by Def Leppard (of which most of these songs were of high head registers / high notes). Some of them highlighted to me in their messages that when they told my band leader how good I was but didn’t say anything about his guitar playing, they replied that he appeared a little jealous. I now realize that he has been lowering my mic levels so that customers in the pub would hear his guitars clearly but not the vocals…gosh what kind of band leader is this ? Does he want the limelight only to himself ? I realised he got me in the band cos he needed someone who could sing songs from Journey, Guns & Roses, Def Leppard, Scorpions, etc. so that he could impress the audience with his guitar licks and riffs…..but he forgot that the audience was focused on me instead !
So in my phone conversation to him , I told him to get yourself another singer cos I’m history !!!
And thanks to you Kier, I’m off to start my own band !!!
Thanks Kier, you’re my new proclaimed mentor !! Full of respects for you Sir !!!!
Yours faithfully,
Steve
Ha Ha ! Hey Steve, that’s great. Respect to you for pulling off vocals like that also, people just don’t realise how hard some of these tunes are to sing and what a valueable resource a good vocalist is. Saying that, every part of the band should be just as important aswell.
It’s a band leader’s priority to keep everyone happy and to listen carefully and deal with issues that are causing problems, no matter how small or large they may be. If they don’t it can easily lead to the downfall of everything the whole group has been struggling so hard to build.
It shouldn’t be about stealing the limelight for any member. A decent sound mix should allow everyone in the band to stand out clearly and shine in their own right. There’s nothing worse than not being able to hear a section of the band or one part being to overbearing. In my opinion, whether it’s bass, keys, vocals or guitar, you’re all equals and part of a machine that won’t get anywhere unless you are all working in harmony with each other.
Good luck in your new band and give us a shout when you’ve got something going.
Cheers
Hey! Thanks for all the information!!
Just wondering though, I have a performance next week and a dress rehearsal tomorrow night.
And I was wondering, what soothes the voice the absolute most?
And do honey and lemon drinks work???
Hey kier.. Great site. Reading this Let me know ive been doing everything right. Ive been
Singing country music since i was a little kid. Im 18 years old now. I play guitar and i think i
Sing pretty great. I can even sing high notes as well for example
justin biebers music. I was going to try out for american idol but here lately my voice has
Absolutely went down hill. Its starting to be really scratchy. Shortness of breath.
This has never happened to me before and i have dipped skoal since i was
10. Could this be a problem or am i doing something else wrong. And wat are some great
Warmup exercises. Thankyou..
I like punk rock. I have smoked for years and also i used to smoke bongs the English way therefore having a whole cigarettes worth of smoke in your longs in one go. Also can i draw your attention to a band called leftover crack. check this sort of stuff out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xu9lf2_hFNE&feature=related its based on a classical song that escapes my mind at the moment as i have extreme insomnia and its early at the moment. Wot would you reccomend to be able to sing gruff but also keep my voice from dying. I have been drinking lots of mint and green tea (without caffeine), but i am assuming the warm up will be most important for me. It all depends which octave i use really.
hi kier the other day i decided to start street singing, the first thing i noticed was that i couldnt hear my self ther was zero resonance and whne i sing in a room my voice sounds with power so i dont know what to do if lower the guitar half step when singin on the streets cose when i sing in a bar or when practising at home my vocal cords can handle that and i sound whit power but on the street it was terrible or maybe im singin higher than i sould , would i have to sound the same in the street than when i sing in a room, what sould i do ?
I love to sing and I always do it everyday in order to practice it but. I’m to loss my voice so that’s why always follow the right way to care my vocal chords and my precious voice. I’m so glad to found this very helpful tips its really means to me. Thanks a lot. Keep on posting more helpful tips.
Heey I’m only 13 but I really like too sing I can sing big songs like Adele is it bad for me and also if my throat is sore and rusty after is that bad?!
Hi there. Ive been singing my whole life…trained…jazz vocalist in college…many groups and bands…new problem, when I go to hit a note Ive been singing forever my voice will go a little above the note…this is happening all the time…like my voice all of a sudden has a mind of it’s own! This is causing me to pull back while performing so hence not quite the performance I am use to giving…very stressful too…any ideas on what might be going on??
hey my name is courtney and i love singing with a passion,ive been singing since i was five and im now fifteen and it seem like my soul of my voice is gone and my singing range is always changing.I love to talk and i dont know if that is the reason for my voice changing i really need your help please
i have thespians drama compositions in November. but when i sing my solo song my throat feels like its got sharp pain. and today i sang it twice in a row and my throat felt on fire
I have these funny voice am a male but sing like a female, my band leader said am not being real. I tried to be a good guy by trying to sing hard but i find it difficult and sometime feel pains. Pls tell me what to do.
Great tips. It is definitely hard to give up some of these things to be an accomplished singer. But hey, if it was easy then everyone would do it! That’s why I just stick to keyboard and guitar haha.
Whenever I practice singing, I usually go for random songs with parts in it that I can’t do but want to do (and I can usually, eventually get them right or pretty close). Like the bridge to “the Only Exception” by Paramore or “Nobody’s Perfect”, by Jessie J. But sometimes afterwards it will feel like my throat (I guess around the area of my vocal chords… I think) will feel “full” (I guess swollen, but I hope not), like someone stuck a bouncy ball in my throat. Am I damaging my voice? How can I avoid this “full” feeling? I really don’t want to damage my voice. I also wanted to try to learn some basic whistle register. Should I hold off on that for now? Is whistle register damaging?
Also, I am basically allergic to the air (all the allergens you could think of) as well as every animal that has ever walked the earth. Unfortunately, I seem to be immune to most of the allergy medicines that I take (just got a new one though, so hopefully it works). Any suggestions on that?
Hi ,ive been singing tracks 5,7,9 on the best of the kinks album ,is thier any kink like band out there who would let me sing with them please, dave hart
hey my voice has been dry and has been very off power wise, i do not struggle belting or hitting any note but sometimes through ou the year my throat becomes dray my vocals are not as strong and this deosn’t help since i perform very oftenly.
Hi. I have been singing every since I was five years old. Now that I am twenty I feel like I have a fear of singing in different octives because some people who were or are artist tell me that I need to stick with just my voice. I really don’t get it.
Hi your articles are awseome. I’m going through puberty and working for a band and i cant sing high i try not to go off limits but its frustrating and my throat is always clogged up what can i Do help!
Your tuly,
Eric
Hey..l realy like your site..when l sing my mouth kind of foams up..what do l do or is it normal
Hi! I’m Brianna and I’m 16. I have a small problem. When I sing, my voice tends to crack every now and then and I don’t know why. I drink a bottle of water every day. Even after I warm up,it still occurs. It doesn’t every second but it happens pretty often. Do you what the problem could be?
Hi Kier! I started singing about a year ago, singing very softly in my bedroom. I never took lessons or learned properly and now I have problems projecting my voice. I’m in a band with guys who can naturally sing like gods but I struggle a lot with it. We have kind of a beatles thing going (switching instruments and singers) but I can’t harmonize or keep up.
If I sing loudly I quickly lose an octave and the force behind my voice. But it doesn’t hurt.. and it comes back quickly. I really don’t know what to do… I’m afraid I’ve hurt my vocal chords and singing loudly maybe making it worse.. help
Hi there! this was SO helpful.Since the cold weather has came back ive been getting soar throats like every other day. and i cant sing:( and im auditioning for a singing contest soon soo i thought i’d educate my self on vocal chord type things and how to stay well (: i appritiate this !! hey any advice for my audition? im auditioning for the show Americas Got Talent. (:
i nead help wiht my voice corde when iam sing soung it get very hosey or block
hi, I just tried out for a musical today, and they asked me to sing nasely and bad because that is how they want the person to sing for this part in the show. Also, when we sing we hardly ever warm up. I dont understand! My teacher says she has a degree in music…but when she wants us to do these things she is damaging voices.
Anyway, in the upper right part of my throat near my jaw (where u can feel your pulse) hurts and it hurts to swallow too. What should I do? I’m scared that I will loose my voice forever if this continues. I love to sing and I dont want my vocal chords to be damaged.
HELP!
hi,
boboy from malaysia. just had my nodule remove yesterday.
my questions is:
1. what shud or should not eat for time being?
2. is there any vocal exercise shud i do such as..humming or breathing?