Vocal Warm up

Marson · #1 03-02-2009, 09:59 PM

Anyone here who does vocals for their band (preferable clean and growls); how do you warm up for rehearsal and gigs?

hbarcat · #2 03-03-2009, 08:09 AM

Usually I just sing several light tunes for about 20 minutes before I go on.

vinny · #3 03-03-2009, 08:57 AM

Scales & arpeggios over my full range. It takes about 10 minutes fo me to get adequately warmed-up. I do it in the truck on the way there.

Marson · #4 03-03-2009, 08:52 PM

crazy; it's takes alot longer for me to warm up; always start trying to warm up the vocal chords to growl and sometimes it's in public like waiting with buddy's outside the door or something and I get weird looks hahaha

tom e smith · #5 03-03-2009, 10:17 PM

I don't usually warm up, but I build the set list with a few "easy" songs to start with.

5StringBlues · #6 03-03-2009, 11:33 PM

I usually make sure I talk alot during the day of a gig I know I'll be singing alot on.

Then I will sing along to something in my range on the drive to the gig,which in Houston is going to be al least a 20 min. drive.That usually does the trick.

Big Joe · #7 03-05-2009, 01:10 PM

Gargling with shards of broken glass and rusty razor blade fragments is the only acceptable way.

Deacon_Blues · #8 03-05-2009, 03:56 PM

I might, if I have the time for it, do some checkup on some of the harder songs I know there is on the setlist. It's just for the sake of technical repetition, not warming up, so I might do that some hours before the gig. Frankly, I think warming up is a bit a waste of time as long as you feel your voice is working normally.

On a gig, I don't mind that much (anymore) what songs I start with. On a recent gig I started with Chris Cornell's "You know my name", as the party had a 007-theme. It did no harm to my voice to start with that (the high distorted notes in the end included), and I don't think I embarrassed myself too much either when singing that song. I had no problems at all singing it, but I did transpose it one step down to make it a little easier and more suitable for my voice. The loud high A's with loads of distortion still requires a lot of energy to do correctly. Hold it back, and you'll damage your voice very easily. That is the case whether you have warmed up or not..

To me, there's no drawback with warming up, but no real advantage either, unless it's early in the morning when the voice hasn't "opened up" yet completely.

Lazylion · #9 03-05-2009, 08:31 PM

I carry a copy of the Stones' album Goat's Head Soup in the car, and I sing along with it on the way to the gig. Or sometimes I sing the national anthem a few times. Other times, incessant cursing at my fellow motorists provides all the warmup I need!