Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I sing and play my bass pretty much every day. I have no real warm up for my voice, so I just go into it with easier songs. Somedays I can hit a really high note and somedays I blow it. It gets annoying.

Today was an ok day. I hit some higher ones, and blew out some others. Like oooAHHHHooo... it sucks.

Do any singer here have any warm up techniques they could share?

Also, the difference between a natural and falsetto voice. When is it good to switch? How can I make it seemless?

There is a vocal warm-up that sounds like a long sigh.
You start at an upper register and glide down.
Watch where you do it as the unwitting passer by might
think you're doing something rude

Nate Start by singing scales at the middle octave, move up a whole step at a time until you reach a point where you can't hit the high notes in your natural voice. Do this over and over and concentrate on breath control and using your diaphram(stomach muscle)after a while you will be warm and lose and you can increase the speed you practice this at. You are still young and invinceable, but it's nice to save your vocal chords for those future songs you'll want to sing.

Dale you are 100% correct. My vocal coach in the 60s had one mantra. "Breath control is everything"

Kewl.. should I not try for the really high notes? I should play the scales on the bass and sing along.

Natural voice? So no falsetto stuff?

Also.. some tunes I sing make me lightheaded.. like Pink Floyd's Sheep. The main verses are done in one long breath. I can do the first couple with power but after that my head starts to hurt.

Nate: that's a lack of oxygen to the brain causing your head to ache. This is why breath control is important. Once you get to a point where you can't hit the notes in your regular voice, that's when you make the transition to falsetto. It's easy once you get the technique down. One thing to remember is that your throat is made up of muscles and the more you strengthen them the stronger your voice will be and you will be able to hit those high notes with ease. The more you play and sing, the stronger your voice will get. Vocal exercises are the best way to get into voice as they say.

most rock band singers have no training and improper techniques ... if you are serious about singing then learn how to do it right ... without proper technique you will blow out your voice easier and not reach your potential as a singer ...

I'm serious. People that do hear me love it. I want to be properly trained. I want to be bass and and vocals. It'd be nice to have a band with a guitar player than sings too.. we could trade off vocals.

Gosh... i've been taught how to sing "right" some years ago (cannot say it worked in my case), and the main thing they said was: "don't sing by vocal cords, use your diaphragm" (might be not grammatically correct in English, but i hope it describes the main point).
I'd suggest you might need a very good teacher, Nate. The one who not only wants to get money from you, but who'd really care and who'd train you in the way you'll improve your vocal skills, not lose your voice completely (it may happen if the teacher is a ######). I'd rather doubt you want to sing at the opera but good training is always a fine thing.
Good luck to you and be careful.

Sheena is absolutely spot on. There is NO substitute for good coaching. I was taught many years ago & has stood me in good stead ever since. Do it Nate....get the yellow pages out NOW!

Yes knowing how to sing is one half of the equation. Knowing how to record someone singing is the other.

How true it is Peter, with all the electronics and Eventides, well Perry Como didn't need any of those cadgets. But then what one person may consider singing may not be music to anothers ears. Sheena, in the 3rd post on this page I was telling Nate that Diaphram and Breath Control are ths most important factors in learning to sing, the Vocal Chords are the tone
and pitch controls that need strong throat muscles to get it done.

Yes Dale, you're absolutely right, i was just tellin' what my teacher used to tell me (and to be true, i can hardly imagine singing WITHOUT using vocal cords at all, but so i was told He was a nice guy however, pity i'm a lousy student... 8-(
Recording... yeah, it is important, i've known guys here who recorded one of our "underground gang" in a way that on having a listen to what they had done to the initially live guitar/vocals recorded (and they had done a lot), the singer was completely knocked down, "hey, these are my songs, but WHO THE HECK IS SINGING?!?!"

Well.. with after all of this training, how will my voice compare to what I have now? I have an almost Geddy Lee kind of range... but will that be taken down after I learn to do it properly?

It depends on a teacher in a lot of ways, Nate (that's why i said "be careful" with that because what you have shouldn't be lost). My teacher managed to develop my voice up to 3 octaves something when "warmed up" (not sure i'll manage to do it now). He also said that amberat is a good thing that helps when warming up (tastes like s###, i know, and it is to be sucked not swallowed). But i understand every teacher has his own methods...