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Need advice about singing: can't do harmonies.

Justinvs

Justinvs

Guest
Jul 8, 2017
167
352
64
Wise River, Montana
#1
Okay, I've been singing for years, even before I picked up a guitar. My voice is decent, noting great but I stay on pitch, follow the tune and generally people dance or at least nod their heads as if to say 'he's not altogether awful.' I've never been in a band where I didn't do at least part of the lead singing. Not a problem.

But, when it comes to singing back-up harmonies I suck. Especially when I'm playing bass. Seems I just naturally gravitate to unison, or at best an octave note. And since I'm playing in a three piece and the drummer doesn't sing, I can't blame the lack of harmony on the other guys! ;) I can get by if we're just singing, but as soon as I'm playing bass it all seems to fall apart.

So, with that in mind, any advice for teaching this old dog the trick of singing harmony parts while still thumping away on bass?
 
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#3
I don’t know if you know theory or not, but a chord only has three notes to it (sometimes 4). If the melody is one of them, that leaves 2 for the harmonists to cover. They can cover those 2 notes below the melody, above the melody, or on either side of the melody, depending on the placement of the melody, and the vocal ranges of the singers.

Now we gotta get you adept at hearing those harmonies. Start singing along to the radio, but not the melodies. Sing the background vocals. Do that for a few months, till you can start predicting them.

Next, start adding a harmony that isn’t there. Sing a line higher or lower than the other harmonists. Listen to Simon & Garfunkel and invent the missing third harmony. Do that for a few months.
 
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#4
What I do is figure the harmonies out on my bass first so I have the definite notes. Then I practice without a band or recording, singing THOSE notes, as opposed to the lead melody, until the harmony gets drilled into my head like lead the vocal. I have to be clear on exactly what I'm singing, and it has to become 2nd nature, or it isn't happening.
 
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#5
Suggested: learn to sing all the intervals above AND below.

Go to a piano, play C. Sing E above, Ab below. Thats major 3rds. Repeat thirds for all other white notes. Play D, sing F# and Bb. Etc.
Practice perfect 5 intervals: C, G and F
Now do minor thirds. Play C, play Eb above, A below. Etc.
The pefect 4s.

Practice daily. It will kick in after a week or two.
 
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#7
I have the perfect piano app on my cell phone which I use a lot for ear training. It has a chord function so you can practice 3s and 5s. It doesnt hurt to learn to sing scales and cadences while you are at it.
 
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#9
MalcolmAmos said:
Singing in harmony is a learned skill. Most guys sing lead and have a problem with singing harmony until they are taught. Save yourself some time -- find a voice coach.
Click to expand...
My son takes voice lessons during the school year and I was actually thinking about seeing if his teacher would give me a few lessons. It would be embarrassing as hell, probably, but I'd get over it!
 
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#10
Joe Nerve said:
What I do is figure the harmonies out on my bass first so I have the definite notes. Then I practice without a band or recording, singing THOSE notes, as opposed to the lead melody, until the harmony gets drilled into my head like lead the vocal. I have to be clear on exactly what I'm singing, and it has to become 2nd nature, or it isn't happening.
Click to expand...

This. Learn the harmony part as though it were the melody. Practice, don't rely on just being able to hear where the harmony should be and doing it on the fly. Repeat until it's difficult to recall the melody when you think of the song.

When my voice changed as a teenager, I started singing bass harmonies from hymnals in church. Luckily we sat up front near the piano where I could hear the pianist's left hand very clearly. For a lot of those old hymns, I barely even know how the melodies go any more.
 
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#12
Spend your next band rehearsal working on group vocals. Pick the arrangement you want (or at least one you can all agree on), figure out who sings what (use intervals and make sure everyone understands which part is which. This will not only help you, but will help your bandmates improve, too. As a rule, playing bass and singing is difficult. The more complex the music, the harder it gets. Practice and don't quit. hope this helps.
 
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#13
@Justinvs, funny you should mention... it seems as I've gotten older, the notes I sing aren't registering in my mind's ear, the way they used to, when I was younger.

There's a harmony in 'I Talk To The Wind' (King Crimson) that was giving me fits... I sang it fine, alone... I sang it fine, playing with the drummer... when the keys/vocalist chimed in, I found myself matching his part...

... I started playing the notes/chords on my bass, while singing... really helped, too. Try whistling your parts, as well...

... just make sure what you're drilling in your head is the right part.
 
#18
I saw somewhere an instructor suggest you play a note then sing that note. Now play a third above it (so if the first note was a G, play a B) and sing that. Hold that note with your voice and play the first note again (the G). If you stayed on that B with your voice, you just sang harmony. The recommendation was to do that repeatedly, and not just with the third but also the fifth. I've done it a little; I need to do that a lot.

What else I've done is sing along with songs that only have two part harmonies. I can sing each part of "One After 909" reliably, but only because I've sung along so many times I accidentally memorized both parts! Here's some Invalid Link Removed you can work with.
 
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#19
dreamadream99 said:
Start singing along to the radio, but not the melodies. Sing the background vocals.

Next, start adding a harmony that isn’t there. Sing a line higher or lower than the other harmonists. Listen to Simon & Garfunkel and invent the missing third harmony. Do that for a few months.
Click to expand...
This is more or less how I started at a very young age. I realised that the Everly Brothers were not singing the same notes yet it sounded so good. If they weren’t singing the same part and sounded so good maybe there was another part that would sound good too. I began to try to find another line I could sing that would go with theirs. It was a fun thing to do.
Along came the Beatles and the same thing again - trying to find one that neither John or Paul was singing. It became a habit and now I just do it automatically.
As far as singing while playing, if I have to learn a difficult part I slow it right down and take it apart. Bit by bit I bring it up to tempo. After a while it doesn’t seem like it was ever hard to do. Your mind and body are capable of amazing things if you give them the right training. Practice practice practice!
 
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#20
I had the same problem until I practiced singing without playing until I had it down perfect. Then I practiced the bass line until it was committed to muscle memory. Then when I combined the two I didn’t have to think about the bass line and that made harmonizing a lot easier. It worked for me.
 

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