Anyone Here Ever Take Voice Lessons?

[5thumbs]

Never had a voice or guitar lesson, but since Grot put himself out there, here's maybe the one I'm most proud of. I guess if I ever took it seriously enough, I'd take both guitar and voice lessons. I guess all of my life, especially with the endless hours driving over the years, I just try to mimic what I hear on the radio. I've always just tried to match the pitch of the artists. Obviously with some artists, that's impossible for me, but over the years it's seemed to help at least in small measure. Now if you pull up next to me at a red light, and I'm just getting down, you'll know why.

My Home's In Alabama by West R Lee

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West

Sounds very good to me. Well done!

 

[West R Lee]

Sounds very good to me. Well done!

Thanks 5. It's been a long time since I've sung for anyone.

West

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

. . . I’ve been taking lessons over Skype for I guess 3-4 years now and think it has paid off. . . .

I bought a block of six lessons probably five or six years ago. . . .

I have taken singing lessons. . . .

I've done some lessons with 2 or 3 persons. . . .

Yes. . . .

I've been taking singing lessons for three years. . . .

Did your teacher or teachers cover memory topics, like learning songs and remembering them on the fly?

 

[The Guilds of Grot]

Did your teacher or teachers cover memory topics, like learning songs and remembering them on the fly?

I don't remember!

 

[Midnight Toker]

First off, I’m a fan of unique voices, and not so much manufactured voices, which is where a lot of vocal coaching (imo) tends to lead some people. For me, your ear is more important than the tonal quality of your voice. A lot of famous singers hated their own voices and had to be coaxed into taking the lead. If you know your intervals (your doe ray me’s! and can sing in tune, you’re 90% there. The rest is physical. (Breathing)

I’ve never taken voice lessons but have been around enough full time touring musicians to know what preparations to take to get through 2+ hrs of belting it out. For anyone only singing 2-3 tunes a night, it’s not as big of a deal. Thankfully for me, having played violin since 2nd grade helped fine tune my ear. Then add my 10,000 hrs of singing along w/ Beatles/Beach Boys records since I was a wee lad (and STILL GOING!!) that I can pretty comfortably hold a tune. Do I have a great voice? Not by far. But I know a lot of people w/ gorgeous voices that quite literally have mush for ears, and that’s an instant deal breaker imo. Heck, there are some “professional” singers out there that have made millions of dollars doing it but couldn’t sing something as household and simple as the Beatles’ Yesterday in tune a capella if you held a stun gun to their nads! <cough-Anthony Kedis-cough>
It’s great to sing along with something…but even better for ear training to do it without! One thing I sometimes do on my commute home…put on the Beatles channel on Sirius Satellite, start singing along with a tune, then turn the radio volume all the way down while continuing to sing, then turning it back up closer to the end to see how my pitch and timing held up.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I don't remember!

What was the question?

=O.

 

[richardp69]

Good on you!!!! I love seeing people taking the steps to get where they want to be. I'm impressed.

 

[West R Lee]

First off, I’m a fan of unique voices, and not so much manufactured voices, which is where a lot of vocal coaching (imo) tends to lead some people. For me, your ear is more important than the tonal quality of your voice. A lot of famous singers hated their own voices and had to be coaxed into taking the lead. If you know your intervals (your doe ray me’s! and can sing in tune, you’re 90% there. The rest is physical. (Breathing)

I’ve never taken voice lessons but have been around enough full time touring musicians to know what preparations to take to get through 2+ hrs of belting it out. For anyone only singing 2-3 tunes a night, it’s not as big of a deal. Thankfully for me, having played violin since 2nd grade helped fine tune my ear. Then add my 10,000 hrs of singing along w/ Beatles/Beach Boys records since I was a wee lad (and STILL GOING!!) that I can pretty comfortably hold a tune. Do I have a great voice? Not by far. But I know a lot of people w/ gorgeous voices that quite literally have mush for ears, and that’s an instant deal breaker imo. Heck, there are some “professional” singers out there that have made millions of dollars doing it but couldn’t sing something as household and simple as the Beatles’ Yesterday in tune a capella if you held a stun gun to their nads! <cough-Anthony Kedis-cough>
It’s great to sing along with something…but even better for ear training to do it without! One thing I sometimes do on my commute home…put on the Beatles channel on Sirius Satellite, start singing along with a tune, then turn the radio volume all the way down while continuing to sing, then turning it back up closer to the end to see how my pitch and timing held up.

Great points. I would agree that a uniqueness of voice, as long as it can carry a tune is paramount if one doesn't have a beautiful voice. Guys like Joe Cocker come to mind (IMHO) who never had what I'd consider a beautiful voice, but when you heard him sing, you knew it was him. But Cocker sang in tune, in time and in key. There are others who I've kind of shook my head at, wondering how they became so popular......guys like Johnny Cash and Chris Kristofferson. But then there are even others who I never thought had great voices, but their songwriting made their careers, like Bob Dylan. Some of those folks, if you didn't know who they were, or heard them for the first time, you'd hold your ears. Janis Joplin is another example.....kind of like Cocker, who I never considered to have what I'd call a beautiful voice, but it was very distinct. Chris Stapleton is the same way in my opinion, not a beautiful voice, but so distinct. Tony Joe White was another......awesome distinct voice.



Feel free to disagree as I know I may have stepped on some fan's toes, but this is simply the opinion of my untrained ears. But when I think of a great voice, I think of Alison Krauss, or Josh Groban.

West

 

[Midnight Toker]

My biggest example of being drawn to unique voices is Keef w/ The Stones. Since I was a kid, I always really loved stuff like Before They Make Me Run, Happy, Little T&A, etc. Love The Expensive Winos as well. His voice is in tune, but full of guttural human emotion that simply could never be delivered by some well trained over annunciating AGT act. I have no problem w/ singers being behind the beat…or even slurring into perfect pitch. In fact, I find it much more charming than some sterile singer that hits and holds perfect pitch on every single word sung. After all, music in it’s simplest definition is organized audible tones that stir human emotion. Robotic singing, while technically perfect, does little to nothing for me.

 

[Roland]

Did your teacher or teachers cover memory topics, like learning songs and remembering them on the fly?

No, we worked mostly on breathing, scales, exercises and expanding my range to start. Then we worked on playing and singing. After six lessons I felt like I was confident enough to stand on a street corner strumming and singing. I believe there was is lot more I could learn if there were a direction I wanted to explore to a greater extent. I just didn't have very lofty goals I guess.

 

[Prince of Darkness]

My wife is an accomplished singer and gave me some informal lessons for breathing and smoothly moving from my voice to falsetto. Didn't matter, I still sound like a bullfrog.

 

[Sal]

First off, I’m a fan of unique voices, and not so much manufactured voices, which is where a lot of vocal coaching (imo) tends to lead some people.

I agree. For pure stunning voice quality two males that come to my mind are Nat King Cole and Tennessee Ernie Ford. But I really like a unique signature voice too; Warren Zevon, Tom Waits ..., remember Blind Owl Alan Wilson from Canned Heat? Now there was a signature voice!

And I think a listing of really great female singers would be far longer than a list of great male singers.