Singing In A Rock Band

1st off I'd like to say please dont give me bs about this not having to do with guitar. I know its a guitar website but I put it under the Junkyard category so lay, for once. 2nd off please ignore my bad grammar and/or typos.

These tips are from my experiance as singing and helping singers. The 3 major things singers need are: there own vocal style, the ability to hit the right notes and stay on key, and performance.

Own Vocal Style

This isn't 100% necesarry but in order to be remembered and thought of as a great singer you must have this. There are 4 main styles of voice styles:

01. The Natural Voice - usually has an ugly but beutiful styling to it. There is no technique in this voice styling obivously stated in its title. This voice style works for just about any type of rock or blues. Examples of this are: Mick Jagger, Steven Tyler (in the 70's), Ronnie James Dio and Ozzy Osbourne just to name a few.

02. The Nazal Falcetto - usually has a higher pitched nazal wine. The technique is to "sing with your nose". But alot of this style comes from your vocal range. If you have you can go very high or have a naturally high or winey voice this will be easy for you. But if you can't go very high and have a low voice this can often be a struggle. This style is mostly used in Classic Rock, 80's Metal and Hard Rock. Examples of this are: Vince Niel, Robert Plant, and Bon Scott (who have high natural voices) and Axl Rose and Brian Johnson (who have low natural voices).

03. The Throat Scream - Made popular by Kurt Cobain, this style uses the a raspy throat to get the sound. The technique is to sing from the bottom of your throat with a tone much like a guitar with overdrive at 10. This is especially easy for people with medium to low voices. If you have a high voice then try to lower your voice with the throat sound. This style is used in Nu-Metal, Grunge, Alt. Rock and Speed Rock. Examples of this are: Kurt Cobain and all of his immatators.

04. The Plain Punk Style - Made popular first by Johnny Rotten (of The Sex Pistols) than updated by Billie Joe Armstrong (of Green Day). This style consists of making your voice sound as annoyingly normal as physically possible. This style if easy for anybody to do. This style is only used in Punk and Pop Punk. Examples are: Johnny Rotten, Joey Ramones (older style) and then Billie Joe and that a-hole from Good Charlotte (the newer style).

The Ability To Hit Notes And Stay On Key

This is absolutely necessary. Without this no band with brains will hire you. The ability to hit notes is hard to work on but getting a tape of piano and humming along to it as it goes up and down the keys is good practice (warning: It takes a while to notice a difference so dont be mad when your voice is still has the same range after just one try.) The ability to stay on key is fairly easy but can screw you up just as easily. The best way is to practice singing to your favorite cds and record yourself, when your done have somebody else listen to it. If you are practicing your own matierial then ask the music writer/writers if you are sounding good.

Performance

This is not important unless you plan on performing. It can take awhile to work up the confidence to do some of your moves. This is dependant on your influences and personal prefrences. Its like deciding whether you want a Strat or LP. Mike handling skills aren't very hard but it would be a good idea to move around like you would during a concert while your practicing. If you play guitar to, than this is completely unneccesary considering you wont be walking around while singing. The most important thing to know about your performance is keep it original, interesting and fun to watch and perform.

If you are still having trouble singing or want learn more about singing, contact a vocal coach. You can find phone numbers in your phone book or maybe in your local music store. Oh and another important thing is confidence but there is know way to describe it. Have fun singing and remember, music is about having fun!

Comments

[EatsP1es]

good stuff!

[Fast Rocker]

2nd, wow, now these are good tips.
p.s, finally i'm second, still hoping to be one though

[broken circle]

Not a very good article really. You didn't really mention too much about what the article was supposed to be about, and when you did it was too brief and discursive. Try again, maybe?

[PaGeHoUsEbAnDiT]

This article is really not that bad...I think.Itt all depends on his experience and what all he's done to get himself to where he is.=)

[the_cheat22]

good article, although most of this is common sense...

but im sure some noobs don't know this. good job!

[hell awaits 666]

it was good, but, many of us already knew this...
but ok.

[Super Llama]

01. The Natural Voice - usually has an ugly but beutiful styling to it.

what's this supposed to mean? good article. a good bassis for those of us who think singing is nothing more than talking with emphasis. thanks.

[timesignal]

c'mon people, give him 5 stars for his knowledge

[monkey chow]

v good, liked it when you said that a-hole from Good Charlotte.
did broken circle actually read the title of this artice? i think not.
thanks for some very good info, will use.

[Ramco]

Wow, who needs years of vocal training when this guy has it all figured out!

There was nothing about singing from the diaphragm, vocal warmups, proper vocal technique and care or anything else important to become a good singer. There's more to being a singer than what was said in this article, and as a trained vocalist I must say you're leading potential singers down the wrong path. 1 Star.

[birdheadfeet]

good article, nice job 4 out of 5 stars

[mr.lame]

a-hole from good charlotte. lmao. hehe. now that was funny. hehe. lol. peace to gc lovers. hehehe

[DisgruntledDuck]

So punk singers are meant to sound "as annoyingly normal as possible". Please explain what you mean, as i am at a loss as to how for example Johnny Rotten DOES sound normal. Jeez, i dont wanna meet who you talk to....

[DisgruntledDuck]

P.S *sarcastic clap* You insulted a band who are cool to hate, have a cookie.

[Tchort]

Im sorry but this is shit. No one needs your personal oppinions on band and people, your types of singing are rubbish and it seems like you just made them up just then. "Throat scream"? WTF? Kurt cobain? What happened to all the death/thrash/black metal growling? Or is that same ss Cobains whining? Basically your whole article was - to be a good singer you have to sing well. DUH!!! I can believe people actually spend time putting this up on the net...

[broken_bottles]

Where in hell did you get those 4 types of singing voice from? That's just rubbish, and so very narrow minded. I also agree with Ramco.

[SingingSabre]

Nazal? Falcetto? Aside from a few blatant spelling errors (spellcheck, bro!) there's a few issues I have whit this article.

You list 4 types of singing. If you're going for categories, there's many more than 4. There's operatic rock, sultry natural, etc. That is not an effective method of demonstrating singing techniques.

Your musical database for what you list as examples is quite narrow.

You didn't give any techniques...just told people to record themselves and have people listen over and over...

Read my articles...I have some techniques in there that could help you out.

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/columns/general_music/singing_part_1.html
http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/columns/junkyard/singing_part_2.html
http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/columns/general_music/singing_part_3.html
http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/columns/general_music/singing_part_4.html

[oldschoolrock23]

I thought it was a good article, and had some good info. I know u said dont talk about my typos but this is kinda dumb. "MIKE" handling skills??? how about Mic, or microphone. Good article though.

[any14doomsday]

booo..

[madbasslover]

hahaha! Kurt Cobain and all his "immatators"?! HAHAHAHAHA! I hate you Nirvana worshippers who think everyone that came after Kurt is trying to copy him. You don't see originality anywhere because you're too busy being wrapped up in ONE DAMN BAND to look for it. btw, crappy article, and your spelling sucks

[punge]

wow as an experianced singer all i can say is this is a crap article. all these exept for mabey punk style will cause damage to your voice. that is unless you know all the mechanics that go into voice and have been singing for a few years ,yes all the greats went through this (if they are good singers, kurt cobain was not a "good" singer and in the last months of his life his voice was starting to go. hmmm i wonder why) want to sound like these people? start from the bottom with a REAL vocal teacher (preferebly one that specializes in rock, blues, and jazz) then work your way up. you think that that chris cornell could just the sing the way he could one day. nope he had been training classicaly since age seven. im sick of people say "o yeah im just ganna go and act like axl rose and it will be really easy." wrong.


"The ability to hit notes is hard to work on but getting a tape of piano and humming along to it as it goes up and down the keys is good practice (warning: It takes a while to notice a difference so dont be mad when your voice is still has the same range after just one try.)"
hmmm guess again get a REAL warm tape a SING with it everyday. it take months to start to expand range. and this is with singing one hour a day.
there hope that helps more than this crap article

[Fade2Cobain]

cobain had a great style, i dont get why people would have a problem with immitation, or similarity, or whatever you wanna call it.

[fromage]

Ha, awesome!! I just saw that article shine when it said 'singing'. I think I sing through my nose but I don't know. I'm hesitant of singing, I guess this helps. Its cool that this article exsists on this website.

[Rivers]

the quality of articles these days is definitely diminishing

[IlIk2plygUItAr]

you pretty much stated the obvious. kinda like my baseball coach. " if the ball is down the middle, swing. if it is heading for your head, move."

[Bobather_909]

Good article,but the examples of vocalists you use are limited to just a few genres of music, so some people may not really appreciate some of what you say, if you can, include some vocalists from other genres, such as Radioheads Thom Yorke for his natural voice, and perhaps Noel Gallagher of Oasis for his.. actually, I can't think where he would come into it, surly there are more classes of vocal style? So, to all the other critics, it's not as obvious as you think, hopefully I have made you all think, so that you may provide answers. I also have trouble placing Pete Doherty of Babyshambles (formally of The Libertines), and Simple Kid (although not many people will know him).

[Bobather_909]

By the way, 'PUNGE' is really up his own ass, so just ignore him, lol, he claims (and I quote), "it take months to start to expand range. and this is with singing one hour a day", in response, I would say, is this statement based on actual scientific evidence? I believe that the time it takes varies from person to person. The Gallaghers, Johnny Rotten, Johnny Ramone, Johnny Borrel ( a lot of Johnnys aye, lol), John Lennon and Paul McCartney to name just a few, have, to my knowledge', had no vocal coaching, and have started out by just singing how they want or how they have been influenced. In conclusion, "o yeah im just ganna go and act like axl rose and it will be really easy.", In some cases, CORRECT! And knowbody can say I am wrong about that statement, as it is purely fact. Some people are naturally talented, whos to say that Axl Rose can not be equaled, I think someone sooner or later could even have a better voice than him, but within the exact same style.

[psykopoo]

what about shit like trivium and chimaira??

[jeevan]

Examples of this are: Kurt Cobain and all of his immatators.

hahahahah good one

[lmthedarkman]

nice article.

[southern_stylin]

Yeah, good job man, piss on those guys who bash it. Let them write an article and we'll see what people say about it. No one is going for a ***ing Pulitzer here as far as I'm aware.

[EZLN libertad]

good but ya missed rapping

(ratm)

[SethMegadefan]

I think there are like... I don't know, roughly
A MILLION
different vocal styles you left out. Sorry, it just wasn't a very informative article for me. I'll give you a 3, though, just because of the knowledge you do have on the subject. It was decent enough but you could have gone a lot more in depth on just the four you listed. But, if you think about it, the four you mentioned probably are the most common.

[punge]

to bobather
i never said that you HAD to actually train profesion to be a good singer(its best that you do it makes you get better A LOT QUIKER). as long as you sing (NOT FUCKING SCREAM OR GROIN)very often (no im not talking about singing with your cds but instead with your guitar or band) then yes you will be eventually. john and paul were in the beatles years before they went big. thats more than enough time to expand range and be a good singer. im just saying that this article makes it seem so easy. which it is not. although im shure there are few people that do it with no problem. but not many. most of us have to work for it.

[Snipe]

You put down how to sing shitty. You did nothing but list out punk-branch vocals. What of acutal good singers like Bradlet Nowell? Or Freddie Mercury?

[Snipe]

Bradley Nowell*

[TimmyEatWorld]

well this was about as handy as solar-powered flashlight!

[metalhead296]

i noticed someone mentioned trivium and chimaira, i can figure out how they sing like that, but if u listen to the cd demigod by behemoth i want to know how HE does that voice, and i know he doesnt use effects.

[Jack3n665.5]

Pretty good but in general nor broad enough. YOu ledt out some obvious one like Rapping, Thrash Metal Vocals(not sure what they are called), Death Grunts, and oh yeah humming(not)

[wanna_lick_me?]

hmm is it a problem that the singer in my band has never actually rehearsed with us, and he normally sings opera?? hmmm i've been thinking we should get another guy (or girl) to replace this bastard...

[monkeyspks]

lol.... YEAH, opera isn't .. rock.

the article was pretty much common sense.. unnecessary crap added in. "You're going to need someone who is on key." WELL DUH.

[SethMegadefan]

monkeyspks:
"You're going to need someone who is on key." WELL DUH.

Obviously you haven't heard much of The Hold Steady, or numerous punk bands, or any rap music at all. There are quite a few singers who aren't always on key but still get credit for what they do.

[Eraserhead]

What about Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam. What's his voice?

[robyalvaro]

I Didnt learn one thing in that Article.....my common sense taught me more....

[raise_the_dead]

Not bad... but whatever happened to metal vocal styles? They're also important!

[AimlessAmoeba]

you said axl's got a low natural whine...? there's not many that can hit the notes that he's able to...

"whooo..aooo..ah sweeet child of miiieeeiiieeennee!!!"

[GuerillaCharlie]

Uh, the voice style thing with The Natural the Nazel and what not...that was crap.

[Ryan N.]

yo im a singer for this band Ramtown, and this helps, keep it up man-joey Miller,

[danno89]

ok, ive read better, not bad tho , gt a bit bored
p.s, just to piss u off.... this is a guitar website and this is not a guitar article, ha sorry wen u sed not to it made me want to... have fun and remember if in doubt use backspin!

[SGdude452]

pretty good, some parts a little obvious. u couldve explained more but not bad. 4 out of 5 star

[Blood_Covered]

crappy article

[j.Page]

Being able to sing is not a punk singers idea of expression. All try to use a similar accent when singing, they're annoying and they almost have 0 musical talent. And the guitarist???? ... sometimes also the singer... couldn't play the guitar if he/she tried. Usually their fretting hand is bound to the power chord position and the guitars are usually trash..(sarcasm) because it's cool...(/sarcasm) punk sucks period.

[PjX71]

awesome article, 5 stars

[acoustic_weapon]

WTF. This had nothing to do with singing, just some dude telling me that there are for kinds of singing styles. What a load of bull

[Goshdangit88]

cool

[KrazyLilFairy]

i like it. very good

[dancing_jesus]

good. i think that punge just might have a bit of the old sand-in-the-vagina

[Pjking]

I didnt know they had vocal coaches. what do they do to coach your vocals? Hhhhmmmm, great i'll be thinking about that the rest of the week.

[fher182]

nobody said anything about singing and performing, if there's a guy in your band that only sings, your band Sucks!

[#1 nirvana fan]

"curt cobain and all of his immatators"... so true.

[Gothic_ed]

usually has an ugly but beutiful styling

What the hell does that mean?

[Gothic_ed]

fher182:
nobody said anything about singing and performing, if there's a guy in your band that only sings, your band Sucks!

That also makes no sense. Why does that mean your band sucks. Please explain. Perhaps it is that you think a singer who can't play guitar as well is crap. But does that not mean a someone who can only play guitar is crap?

[Gothic_ed]

a someone

lol sorry bout that

[dan_the_pie]

good article.i liked the part about the punk's annoyingness

[Pennyroyal Tea]

03. The Throat Scream -

My voice.... anyway, article was ok.

[dude12]

broken circle:
Not a very good article really. You didn't really mention too much about what the article was supposed to be about, and when you did it was too brief and discursive. Try again, maybe

um what was i thinking.... oh ya SHUT UP! If you can't read don't even bother posting extremely retarded comments. wow. the article can be whatevr the author wants it to be about! anywho good article and i think that your review of singing styles was helpful

[dude12]

tchort
Im sorry but this is shit. No one needs your personal oppinions on band and people, your types of singing are rubbish and it seems like you just made them up just then. "Throat scream"? WTF? Kurt cobain? What happened to all the death/thrash/black metal growling? Or is that same ss Cobains whining? Basically your whole article was - to be a good singer you have to sing well. DUH!!! I can believe people actually spend time putting this up on the net...

well throat screaming is s-c-r-e-a-m-i-n-g. Ok got that? and if you want to deny Nirvanva as one of the greatest bands of all time, you suck! And Cobain does whine, he screams. so you made yourself look pretty dumb.

[dude12]

opps Nirvana*
doesn't scream*

wow this thing needs spell check

[DRoboWHOids06]

ok good one i like it cuz ya give tips to people who play GUITAR>>>>but some may sing to so 4*

[Swinger]

pretty good article with a couple of nice tips but very obvious.

[graveln'steel]

hmmm. nice generalization for the contmpt styles. but there wasn't any tips helpful tips on how to achieve them. i gotta ask everybody's opinion on what do u think a female vocal sounds like with this guy's label of "throat screaming".

[pinheadslts75]

Ever heard of Dave Insurgent? Listen to his band Reagan Youth on tracks like Jesus Was A Communist than tell me what you think about punk vocals.