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Hold your ears; I'm trying to learn how to sing.

Ron Plichta

Ron Plichta

May 19, 2007
1,355
34
Fairfax, VA
#1
I put this under Humor rather than Band Management because my singing is hideously funny. We lost our female singer a month ago and are in the search mode, so we're cranking up the guy songs in the interim.

Got to yacking with the missus one day about our plight when she mentioned that she sang in the school chorus and always wanted to try it again, but thought she wasn't good enough. I brought up a song on the laptop and damn if she didn't nail the notes! So I bought her the Singing for Dummies book to look through if she decided she wanted to give it a try.

Well, that piqued my interest in singing. I decided to try to sing a scale last night after I wrapped up my bass practice. I turned on my Boss TU-12 tuner, then played a note on the bass while I tried to match it. Let's put it this way - it's a good thing my mancave is relatively soundproofed. If not, my hound dog would have started baying and the kids would have been throwing stuff at me.

However, I am undeterred (or too stupid to know when to quit). I'll keep at it until either I get close enough for Autotune to take over or it's a lost cause. So don't panic if the dogs in your neighborhood start howling - it's just me.

Guess this thread is gonna come in handy: http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f67/bassists-guide-singing-173764/
 
#3
Good luck, Ron! Keep at it, it gets better!

For years, my joke was "I sing well enough to let the real singers know what I want for my own material." This all changed about 3 years ago, when the band I was in told me, "We like your material, but if you want it played, our rule is you sing what you write." So I started singing.

It takes time, and I'm far from being excellent, but it's fun. And I think I write better melodies as a result of working on my technique.
 
#4
It's not just singing the right note though, is it? Although that's hard enough - you have to remember the lyrics, use the right phrasing AND play bass! There's something about the physicallity of bass playing that just doesn't seem to lend itself to singing - rhythm guitar, keyboards and even simple drum patterns seem easier but you need two brains if you want to play bass and sing at the same time. Or one brain with an auto-pilot bass-playing function. Although not a band I like especially I suggest U2's With or Without You as a good practice number - only four notes in one hand position to play throughout the whole song!
 
#5
Sneakypete said:
It's not just singing the right note though, is it? Although that's hard enough - you have to remember the lyrics, use the right phrasing AND play bass! There's something about the physicallity of bass playing that just doesn't seem to lend itself to singing - rhythm guitar, keyboards and even simple drum patterns seem easier but you need two brains if you want to play bass and sing at the same time. Or one brain with an auto-pilot bass-playing function. Although not a band I like especially I suggest U2's With or Without You as a good practice number - only four notes in one hand position to play throughout the whole song!
Click to expand...

Absolutely...breathing is a big consideration, for example.

The funny thing is, simple bass lines trip me up more when singing than constantly moving lines do. I can rip out "We've Gotta Get Outta This Place" without thinking, but root-thumping stuff messes me up.

The trick - and I think this is mentioned in Jive1's sticky - is to find "anchor" points where bass and melody intersect. This was key to me doing BOC's "Career of Evil" on bass and vocals in an older group.

Other things I've found...projecting from the diaphragm is easier when I'm playing bass if I lightly pump my arms in rhythm...sort of like a bellows, I guess?
 
#9
I just started to sing within the last 6 months, and it can be tricky, but the more you do it, the less you have to think about it and the more it becomes natural to sing and play at the same time.

I'm certainly not a good singer by any standards, but I am what I'd call a sufficient backing vocalist, as I can hit notes well, it just doesn't sound very nice when I sing alone. I've got the ear, but I don't have the voice at this point.

I've recently considered singing the song Roadhouse Blues on my own though, as our singer has a little trouble with it, and just doesn't get the Morrison vibe at all. That's one thing I can do fairly well, bellowing and growling the blues. Good luck to you!
 
#10
Ron Plichta said:
I'll keep at it until either I get close enough for Autotune to take over or it's a lost cause.
Click to expand...

Try your best to avoid using Autotune. The main reason is it makes you a very lazy singer. Not to mention that it is immediately recognizable to anyone with a good ear. It's a good tool but was designed to be used in small clips where the vocals were just a shade sharp / flat. The farther away from pitch that you get with increasing duration of use the more obvious and bad Autotune makes your vocals sound. If you find that your engineer is constantly using Autotune on the majority of your vocals then it's time to stop and re-evaluate if you are ready to record or not. The singer in my band owns a recording studio and when a singer or band is in session and the vocals are not cutting it(mostly because singers / bands come in unprepared to record) the first thing they always say is "well cant we just Autotune it?" His response is usually "sure we can use it, but only if you don't care about your vocals sounding like crap."

I too play bass and sing on every song we have written / recorded. We are a very vocal driven band with a lot of 3 part harmonies on 99.9% of what we write and it took us a while to get our vocals to the point where we were ready to record / play live. I was lucky enough to have 2 parents that were accomplished singers so I grew up singing. But I have only recently started singing lead and let me tell you that was some adjustment. And honestly I'm still not to the point that I feel ready to sing lead on even the songs I have written. It's a process that will, more than likely, take you years to get comfortable with. But it's totally something you can accomplish if you 1) don't give up when it seems that you will never get it. 2) don't settle for sub-par vocals where Autotune becomes a necessity and not an option. 3) know your limits. 4) drink lot's of water before, during and after a session. And 5) PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!

Ask any singer and they will most likely tell you that it takes years to "find your voice". So cut yourself some slack, stick with it and remember the true singers HATE using auto tune. You can either sing it or you can't. If you can't then go practice until you can. And remember there is no Autotune when you play live. Please do yourself and your vocal cords a favor and enlist the help of a professional singing coach. Just like playing bass there are basic fundamentals that you should learn from the start and will help you develop quicker and most importantly help you avoid injuring your vocal cords due to improper / poor technique. Books and videos are great but they don't watch and hear you singing and therefore cant give you the feed back that a live coach can.

Here is a link to my bands webpage where you can listen to our 1st cd for free. I'm not going to lie, there are a few spots that got by us in the mastering phase where we used Autotune post production because the adjustments were minute and we were days from going to press with the cd so relaying vocals was not an option. That being said, listen and see if you can find where we used it...I'm betting you cant. Hope you enjoy the music and stick with singing! You will be melting faces and dropping panties before you know it! :eek
Darwins God.com and before you ask no Autotune was used on "worn out tapes"..lol
 
#11
^+1. Autotune is meant to be a correction of a bum note here and there, but when it's used as it is to cover up crappy vocals, then it becomes a very bad thing.

And another tip I was given by a professional singer: find and develop your own style. Each person who sings will sound different, even if they're given the same training, practice and material. It's up to you, just as with bass, to find what suits you in terms of style, complexity and sound. You'll also find that if you do this, it'll be easier for you to become better at it and you'll have a lot more fun.

I made this mistake singing in a worship band a while ago- the material was WAY out of my ability range and the style of the music being sang was just not my thing. I hated it as a result.
 

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