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Is your voice a bass?

O

oniman7

Jun 1, 2010
2,490
10
Saint Augustine, Florida
#1
I realized recently that my voice (at least my singing voice) is a very low. Some choir teacher friends of mine classified me as a high bass/low tenor (the easiest notes for me to hit are somewhere between a D2 and a B3, obviously some higher and lower). My lead singer has a Scott Stapp type baritone voice and I double some of his lines an octave down.

I guess when I learned to talk as a child, I learned to talk nasally and at the higher end of my range (think a mildly distorted fretless j on the neck position) so people are surprised when they hear my singing voice. I actually talk almost at the top of my natural range, not sure why.

Anyways, just curious if a lot of bass players speak in the same range as their instrument.
 
#5
So can you sing this (from 4:40 onwards)? :p

Haunted - Type O Negative

oniman7 said:
I guess when I learned to talk as a child, I learned to talk nasally and at the higher end of my range (think a mildly distorted fretless j on the neck position) so people are surprised when they hear my singing voice. I actually talk almost at the top of my natural range, not sure why.
Click to expand...

I've heard the same for many singers who have their tessitura in the bass region, i.e. speaking in a voice much higher than their singing voice.
 
#6
oniman7 said:
Some choir teacher friends of mine classified me as a high bass/low tenor.
Click to expand...

With all due respect, high bass/low tenor is a pretty broad range. Perhaps what you meant is "high baritone/low tenor" (the five parts being bass, baritone, tenor, alto & soprano).

oniman7 said:
Anyways, just curious if a lot of bass players speak in the same range as their instrument.
Click to expand...

I do. Speak as well as sing, that is. I would classify myself as singing primarily in the mid bass to low baritone range, with a power range that's comfortably from E to low E on the bass clef - though I can sing well into the low tenor range if necessary, and I've been known to hit a low C (two steps below the bass clef) on a good day.

A choir director in my church once tested my vocal range, and found that it's about three and half octaves - without resorting to a falsetto. I reckon that's pretty good.

Curiously, I was routinely singing low bass in the choir - and nailing the notes - until fairly recently. These days I seem to have lost a little on the low end of my range, and sometimes struggle to hit the lowest notes cleanly - or sometimes at all. I wonder why that would be? :hmm:

MM
 
#8
I am not much of a singer, but say I am singing a song at church. When I am doing this I can hear the bass line and I can't normally pick out the melody or harmony lines. I can sing in lower register because I am used to listening to it. I can't sing at all,( I should learn someday), but I can at least pick out the bass progression.
 
#9
I guess, seeing as the lowest note I can hit is the low E string and I can't sing all that high. I think in technical singing terms I'm an alto. Kind of not very helpful seeing as I'm a girl, which is why I rarely sing. Oh well, as long as I can play bass I really don't mind!
 
#10
MysticMichael said:
A choir director in my church once tested my vocal range, and found that it's about three and half octaves - without resorting to a falsetto. I reckon that's pretty good.

MM
Click to expand...

That's a very large range (I was talking about vocal ranges with my chorally trained friend yesterday). I think Freddie Mercury and Mariah Carey's ranges are four octaves, Mercury's including falsetto. Might have been a bit bigger. Still, I'd say that makes 3 and a half very good. Last time I checked mine was about 4 notes :hmm:
 
#11
Yeah, my range sucks... I can sing the low E (E open string) and only up to the G fifteen steps above it. It makes singing along to intervals for ear training very limited, especially since one program I use focuses on the C major scale and I can't sing along to anything higher than the 5th.

Also, my speaking range is somewhere in here, if I had to guess I'd say either the low G# or A.
 
#12
Emilym80 said:
That's a very large range (I was talking about vocal ranges with my chorally trained friend yesterday). I think Freddie Mercury and Mariah Carey's ranges are four octaves, Mercury's including falsetto. Might have been a bit bigger. Still, I'd say that makes 3 and a half very good. Last time I checked mine was about 4 notes :hmm:
Click to expand...

Well, I think the choir director was pushing me to find the absolute limits of my range (notes that I can actually produce - not necessarily notes that sound good). So I can't claim that the entire three and a half octaves is actually usable - unlike with Mariah Carey or Freddie Mercury, who could/can probably use their entire ranges.

My realistic usable range is probably more like three octaves - at the limits. Still, I'm pretty satisfied with that... :smug:

MM
 
#13
I sing low. I got kicked out of two or three choirs because I couldn't sing high enough for the bass parts- I sang everything an octave too low! My voice only broke a year or two ago so I guess I'm still getting used to my new range lol. I've notice my range drastically improve these past few months though, so I'm rejoining the choir next year :)
 
#14
MysticMichael said:
Well, I think the choir director was pushing me to find the absolute limits of my range (notes that I can actually produce - not necessarily notes that sound good). So I can't claim that the entire three and a half octaves is actually usable - unlike with Mariah Carey or Freddie Mercury, who could/can probably use their entire ranges.

My realistic usable range is probably more like three octaves - at the limits. Still, I'm pretty satisfied with that... :smug:

MM
Click to expand...

If I were you, I'd start a Type O Negative cover band TODAY! :p
 
#15
Emilym80 said:
I guess, seeing as the lowest note I can hit is the low E string and I can't sing all that high. I think in technical singing terms I'm an alto. Kind of not very helpful seeing as I'm a girl, which is why I rarely sing. Oh well, as long as I can play bass I really don't mind!
Click to expand...

The music doesn't care about the sex of the person singing the part - or whether it would be considered a high part for a man, or a low part for a woman. Yes, there are certain timbral differences between the female voice and the male voice, but if the music calls for a part that you're able to sing, then that's the functional bottom line. :cool:

MM
 
#17
Waster said:
I sing low. I got kicked out of two or three choirs because I couldn't sing high enough for the bass parts- I sang everything an octave too low!
Click to expand...

I've never heard of such a thing. That would be like sub-contra bass, or some such thing. Like ridiculously, incredibly deep. :eek:

If you could truly sing in that range, consistently and with power and clarity, there are any number of choirs that would be falling all over themselves to obtain your services, I kid you not. It is a rare gift indeed - very few guys have got the pipes for it... :hmm:

MM
 
#18
I'm mainly a vocalist and got accepted to an arts high school for singing, and my range is pretty much from the C two octaves below middle C (on a good day the Bb under that) up to about a D, sometimes an E just above middle C.

Also, it's worth noting I'm the only guy in this entire vocal program, so when they pick choir pieces you can see the issues with that (although there are about 3 other guys who help in).....
 
#20
I have a reasonably deep speaking voice, I'm no Barry White, but its reasonably deep, however I feel most comfortable and sound best in the top half of my pre-falsetto range. I've had no training whatsoever vocally though. I may take a few lessons to try and get a more useable low end.
 

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