So,
as this is the first week of me doing the blog, I’m
going to do a post every day. As I’m new to this whole blogging thing,
figured it would be appropriate to start off with a bunch of articles aimed at complete
beginners to performing vocals. So without any ado whatsoever, I give you 10
Pro Tips For Beginners To Extreme Vocals.
1) If it hurts your throat stop. This is not negotiable in
my opinion. During the first while of starting out, a small amount of dull
aching can occur, but no sharp pain in your throat should ever happen. Doing
this can lead to permanent vocal chord damage. (Though just to emphasise- this
is my opinion. Some vocalists scar up their throats and massively affect their
normal talking voice in order to get the tones they want when singing, which is
fine, but it’s a sacrifice they were willing to make. This first piece of
advice is there to prevent permanent damage to your throat, ignore it at your
own risk).
2) While you’re starting out, don’t worry about timing or
singing along with anything- just practice getting tones. Once you’ve got a
tone in your throat you like, take a break for 5 minutes, go back to it, and
try to figure out how you got that tone. Repeat this ad nauseam. As well as
training your throat and your ears, it also aids in building up stamina.
3)There is no substitute for regular practice in terms of
developing your voice. Your vocal chords are built of muscles after all and
like any muscles, they need to be developed slowly over time. Only practice until you can feel your voice getting tired then give up for at least a few hours, if not the whole day, then try again tomorrow. You wouldn’t try
lifting a stupidly heavy weight anvil before working out at the gym for a while
beforehand, so don’t try and bust out a Devourment song when you can only get
out a 2 second rasp and it hurts you while you’re doing it.
4) What you listen to influences you unconsciously, so if
you want to end up sounding a certain way, a good way of working towards that
is listening to that certain band/vocalist a lot.
5) Once you work your way onto singing actual songs, don’t
necessarily start off with songs that require lots of technicality or
particularly extreme vocals, try something easier, for example Kiss or AC/DC
are both fairly simple bands to sing along to, and can be fun to put a more
extreme spin on (even singing along
with a pop song off the radio can be a good exercise. Shock! Horror!). The
reason I suggest this is to build up stamina before you try tackling the harder
speed songs, meaning that hopefully it’ll be far easier to sing along with fast
songs after you’ve been doing it with mid paced ones for a while.
6) Use the whole of your face to get a sound when you’re experimenting
with getting a tone. It can both sound and look stupid but the way you move and
shape your face muscles can affect vocal tone, e.g. try moving your forehead
muscles when screaming, notice that as well as your voice naturally raising because
you’re thinking about moving the muscles upward, it can also add a different
overtone to the scream. And don’t worry if you’re pulling silly faces to get a
sound you like, doing it off-stage people call it weird, do it on stage and
they call it “stage presence”.
7) In my experience what I eat or drink before I perform can
affect tone, be aware of this when you’re learning. Avoid milk a couple of
hours before performing as it can coat your vocal chords and massively affect
their vibrations and hence, affect the tone of your growl. The actual problem
with milk is that it coats the vocal chords, as it’s a really thick substance,
and makes it hard to get the necessary vibration to get out a growl. By all
means experiment with different things e.g. I can get a far deeper growl when I’ve drunk a can of Coca-Cola.
8) Practice standing up and remember you can breathe through
your nose as well as your mouth, it will affect tone and allow you to breathe
far better, you’d be amazed how many people this doesn’t occur to.
9) Project your voice upwards and don’t sing at the floor,
and keep your mouth open at first. This will help you get a decent volume to
your growls and screams (I’ll discuss mouth shapes and their influence on tone
in a later post, but for now, focus on just getting a decent volume on a normal
growl or scream).
Tomorrow’s post: Warm Ups & Starting Rituals: A
Pointless Waste Of Time Or Totally Indispensable?
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