Improve Your Singing Voice Without Taking Singing Lessons
Everybody loves to sing. Some can warble like nightingales, and some think "melody" is just a town in Texas. People take singing lessons to improve their singing voice, but maybe you want to learn how to sing well without taking special lessons—you want to develop your own style, or maybe you're still too shy to belt it out in front of somebody else. We'll give you some tips on how to make the most of your voice. Read on!
Contents
Steps
Prepare Your Voice
- Practice scales. Yes, practice your party dance groove motion. It might seem boring at first, but it really will help train your ear to recognize the right notes, making you a better singer. You're probably familiar with the song "Do Re Me" from The Sound of Music, which is actually a good song to practice with. The basis of this song is something called solfège, which is great for ear training.
- In solfège, the notes in a scale are named by positional names, instead of the actual note names. This makes it easy to sing the notes, no matter what the key you're singing in. In the key of C, the first three notes are C, D, and E. In the key of F#, however, the first three notes are F#, G#, A#. In both cases, with solfège, the first three notes just happen to be, "Do, Re, Mi."
- If you have a guitar or piano, use it to help guide you and make sure you're staying in tune. If not, you can use an online resource such as Virtual Piano to assist you.
- Start easy. Sing your "do re mi"s up and down the scales. Start with the C scale, then the C# scale, and on up. It looks like this, with solfège:
- Basic scale: Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti Do
- Then mix it up: go up two notes, and down one, working your way up the scale.
- Up two, down one: Do Mi Re Fa Mi Sol Fa La Sol Ti La Do Ti Re Do
- Start slowly and deliberately, and strive to hit the right note instead of sliding into it. This will help you get control of your voice, and you can use your instrument to make sure you're staying on pitch. It's much better to be very slow, and very accurate, than fast and sloppy.
Be Your Own Teacher
- Get a microphone. It doesn't have to be fancy: it can even be the built-in mic in your laptop. If your computer doesn't have a built-in mic, they can be very inexpensive, and can be found at any electronics store. Connect it to your computer.
- Launch a sound recording app on your computer, smart phone, or on the Internet, so you can hear what you sound like.
- Play a song that you like, and know well. It might help to have the lyrics in front of you. The key is to know the lyrics by heart, so that you aren't thinking about what to sing, only how to sing.
- Click Record. When you're ready, rewind the song to the beginning, then click the Record button (usually a red dot) on your sound recorder.
- Sing along with the artist. Do the best you can, focusing on your breath and on singing the notes correctly (keeping the notes at the same pitch as the artist).
- If you make a mistake, no matter how horrible, don't stop recording—go all the way to the end of the song. There is time enough later be perfect—for now, practice is what's most important.
- When the song is finished, click on the black rectangle or press the spacebar (which stops most sound recording applications).
- Rewind your recorder, pressing the arrow button that points left and has a vertical bar at the tip.
- Click on the Play button to hear yourself singing. At first, you probably won't like it. Get over it and listen to it all; it's the only way you can understand what mistakes you make and what you need to improve about your voice.
- Listen critically, and recognize both your mistakes and where you nailed it.
- Play the original song again (no singing or recording this time), and compare your voice to the artist's. Play one part that's sung by the original artist, then play the same part, sung by you this time. Notice the differences.
- Save your recording if you can. Saving the recordings to the same song on a longer period of time helps you track your progress. When you improve (and you will improve!), listening to the old recordings will let you hear just how far you've come.
- Try again. Each time you record yourself singing this song, try to be more careful while singing. Be more passionate, or heartfelt, or whatever emotion the song is conveying—try to feel that part and make it your own.
- Unless you're practicing for a cover band, make the song your own! You don't have to sing it with the same inflections and expression as the original singer. Not all popular singers are good singers—they're just popular.
- Sing for at least a half an hour a day. More is better—as long as you're not straining your voice, which could damage it. The more you exercise your vocal cords, the better and stronger your voice will be.
- Find the different ways your voice makes sound. From the diaphragm, in the throat, in the nose: learn to isolate each type of sound you make. The more you know about how make sounds, the more you'll be able to control those sounds.
- Sing like a kitty. A great way to improve your voice is to sing "meow"" in different pitch each time. It is helpful because it contains all the major English vowel sounds (mee, ah, oo) which help when you sing aloud.
- Say "meow" very slowly, and feel where it resonates in your mouth, nose, chest, etc.
- Practice a belt. Everyone has to sing as though they are shouting in some point in their career, but you have to practice to get it to sound powerful and energetic, instead of desperate or screaming.
- Look for other resources to help you maximize your singing potential. For example, visit YouTube. There are plenty of resources from people who simply love to share their knowledge. Some may also be selling their products, but those aren't necessary if they aren't what you want or need.
- Ask friends and family, or your local music teacher to give you tips. Ask for their complete honesty, so they don't feel like they're required to praise you. In fact, if they do, thank them and then ask them to tell you where you need to improve.
Tips
- If other people put you down and tell you you can't sing, sing anyway! If it's something you really love to do, prove to them that you can do it.
- Don't compare yourself to other singers, as every voice is unique.
- Drink some water before recording. You don't want your voice to get crackly!
- Everyone is good at something, and if you have a heart for singing or whatever it is then don't let anyone stop you from trying or doing it!
- A good practice is to search up karaoke versions of your favorite songs on Youtube (karaoke is when the lead vocals in a song are taken out).
- Be patient. It can take a while to learn to sing as well as you would if you took singing lessons. The truth is, singing lessons give much faster results, but that doesn't mean you can't teach yourself!
- Take your time. You'll barely get anywhere if you rush yourself.
- You should know other breathing exercise to expand your diaphragm and to have a good voice.
- Even if you sing awfully, you'll improve—it just takes a little time. You will gradually learn when you're singing well—and when you're not!
- It's not advisable to start with trying to imitate the voice of a certain artist if that artist belongs to the opposite sex. If you insist on doing that, don't actually try to copy their voice; sing at your normal pitch.
- Try to not over sing. Doing so can result damaging your vocal cords.
- Never try to sing when you are feeling cold, fever, etc. as it may crack your voice.
- Don't start with an artist like Mariah Carey, for example. Extraordinary artists have awesome voices that a singing newbie can't imitate by any means. Try something easier, like High School Musical songs. Lenka is also a good start—her songs are sweet, in a natural register, and easy to sing.
- If you want to practice the voice of a certain artist, you'll need to listen to more of that artist's songs and understand his/her voice.
- Don't scream notes out because it will wreck your vocal chords.
- If you can't tell whether you sing well or not, pay attention to how your throat and chest feel when you sing. If you can hold more air in your lungs, but don't really need to use it all, then you probably sing well enough, and have practiced a lot before. If the notes don't just flow naturally, if you don't effortlessly sing each note at its pitch, you probably don't sing that well and need to improve your voice.
- If there is a certain note or pitch you are not capable of hitting cleanly, simply sing that note and hold it out everyday, it to the point where it is aching horribly, but it will improve.
- Yes,we can improve your singing voice without taking singing lessons. It will be easier if you a great lover of music and by concentrating on the music. There are only six steps that you have to perform:
- Choose such a song that is your favourite that you know well. Practice singing the full song with all of the lyrics and music.
- Record or play that song in your computer, phone, etc.
- Listen to the song many times, you have to sing the song while you are listening to it until you are satisfied with how you sing it.
- Sing the song without the music or original vocals. Record yourself singing.
- Listen to the recording of your voice. If you are not satisfied, then you have to sing and record repeatedly until you feel satisfied.
- When you feel satisfied, you will be able to sing with more confidence.
- Joining a choir helps with your voice and you learn proper techniques. You also sing with other people, which helps with your harmonizing skills.
- Relax as much as you can. Stretch, drink water, and breathe deeply before you sing. Then you will be very relaxed when you sing.
- Try to sing songs that are easy to remember and most people know so that you don't have to worry about the lyrics and can focus on your voice.
- If you're not sure if you can sing, let your friends or family hear you.
Warnings
- Don't be worried if you think your voice sounds bad. Your voice always sounds weird to you. Ask a family member or friend to listen to you sing so they can tell you how you sound.
- This may result in angry neighbors and family. Talk to your family, tell them how important is it for you, and assure them that, even if that means having to stand some horrible noises for a while, you will improve and then it will be a pleasure to listen to you. If you must, promise not to practice during their favorite TV shows.
- If you are learning to sing without a teacher, then you might be learning techniques that could damage your voice. Learning to sing properly is crucial to the longevity of your voice. A teacher can show you which techniques to avoid and which to use.
Things You'll Need
- Microphone
- Your favorite music (CDs or digital files)
