how exactly do i sing better?

[u/lanadelreyandbea]

i know you guys get this question a lot but all i see is “just practice everyday” but what do i practice? these videos are confusing to me and when i just sing i strain a lot, i sound like im talking and its just very bad. i cant afford a vocal coach at all either. this is just very difficult to me i especially lost motivation the second i sing because im just terrible. is it all just talent?

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[u/Specialist_Kick_5281]

The best advice I have for a beginner is to find a couple songs that you really like, preferably with a range that's comfortable for you to sing, and just sing them whenever you have down time. If your voice gets sore, take a break and go at it again later. Once you get a little more comfortable, try some simple exercises like scales or the long note challenge. Don't worry about your soft palate or head voice or anything like that yet, just get comfortable with your voice for now.

Think of your voice like a muscle. It will take time and effort to improve, and proper technique might not come naturally at first. Sometimes you have to strain a little to grow, and then let it rest so it can recover. And you'll be able to do a lot more once you've developed it enough and have learned more technique.

[u/SadQueerBruja]

Part of the reason this is hard to answer and people tell you you need a vocal coaches because you don’t know what you’re doing wrong because you don’t know any better. There are some basic things that you can start doing like if you know what voice part you saying, you can look up warm-ups that are specific to that vocal range, if you’re trying to further develop your head voice/falsetto or chest voice there are specific warm-ups or exercises that can help with that, there are specific exercises to work on diction, if you’re working on your belt, there are specific things for that too. Do you know what your goals are?

[u/Excluded_Apple]

Those of us who sang contently in childhood, did so without guidance, and we didn't just sing, we played with our vocals; think of all the weird noises that kids make.

My advice to new singers is to go to a private place, in the car is great because you get that reverb/sound reflection off the windscreen for immediate feedback, but bathrooms are also great, and just make sound! Experiment, play. Ooooooohs aahhhh, hold your nose, use parts of your body (chest, abs, throat) find your diaphragm, and press on it while you're singing. How long can you hold a note for? Make it go at different pitches and with different placements, make it sound breathy, make it sound tight. If it hurts, don't do it, find a way that doesn't hurt.

Sing a song, make it fun, make it sound weird and make it silly. Find what works for you. You're a biological instrument, so there's quite a lot of figuring out how you work as an individual.

Experiment to find your strengths and then find songs that support your strengths.

[u/icemage_999]

Singing is the result of a number of equally important elements: Pitch accuracy, timing, control, expression (these aren't catch all categorie, there are skills like pronunciation and breath control that span multiple categories). The net quality of your singing is typically judged by the weakest element. If you are off pitch, you can be the master of the others and it will sound bad. If you're out of time, you can have the sweetest voice and still sound like an amateur. Etc.

For newcomers starting with no natural affinity, this presents a problem because you can make gains in one area and it will still sound bad because there are other issues holding you back. You may not always know enough to even judge for yourself whether anything has improved overall. Hence, demotivation.

Everyone can get better. If you're not planning to get professional help, I suggest learning the basics of music so you can tell for yourself why you don't sound the way you want and make a plan for how to improve.

Otherwise, if you just randomly do exercises, it may not address any of the issues that apply to your specific voice, or if it does apply to some, it still may not fix other problems.

[u/generic_rarity]

Honestly that's a vague question, we don't know what exactly you are trying to fix.

You can get a vocal coach and practice, but outside of the obvious, what exactly do you want improvement

If it's tone ear training and vocal warm ups will help.

It could be a breathing issue.

You may be singing outside of your range.

But singing is just like any other instruments you just need to learn a song to get comfortable with it then you will know more about how singing works

[u/FanloenF]

If you cannot afford a teacher you need to be very observant and analytical about how you sound and how better singers sound different, and then you need to imitate aspects of how they sound - but now how they sound exactly because they have a different voice from yours.

You need to understand all the concepts and anatomy that are relevant to singing.
There are tons of tutorial videos online - you can judge them by whether the teachers themselves sound good.

One of the most important things to remember is to NOT try to force anything or you will build bad habits.
If it feels uncomfortable you're doing something wrong.
At first, focus on sounding pleasant and "musical", don't go for power or singing high.

Expect frustration. That's part of learning.

[u/highrangeclub]

Heya! Voice teacher here.

If you're straining a lot, the first step I would suggest is this

Figure out what does it feel like to change pitch only?

Even try it on a simple scale. Can you go up and down with no changes in volume, vowel. If you notice it changing, try to redo it.

If you can't, this is where I would start. The better you can chip away at this, the easier time you'll have in singing.

The reason is when we strain, it's often because we have very clumsy coordination. So when we try to "hit" the higher notes. We end up using so many unnecessary muscles.

This is something can be improved regardless of talent.

If it's of use, I talk about this is more depth and have examples of my guiding students on my Youtube/podcast. Happy to share.

[u/PaleontologistDeep21]

I have Eric Vetro course, all his lessons and exercise, plus the Christmas bonus ft Sabrina Carpenter, if you’re interested, dm me or reply here

[u/LutherHadegates]

It requires a lot of practice and hard work. And part of that journey is finding the repertoire and sound in your voice that best works for you. Research relaxation techniques are meant to loosen your facial muscles and your state of mind. This will help release the tension out of your sound, which will eventually sound much better. Take breaks and keep hydrated as well. Drinking hot water can help soothe and relax your throat. It's worked well for me. Hope that helps!

[u/fuck_reddits_trash]

Stop and think for a second, how on earth would you answer the question “how do I do this better” to literally anything? GET A TEACHER, nobody on here has a single clue what you’re doing or what you need to work on, that’s why we have teachers

They’re not as expensive as you think, you can do lessons on fiverr for like $25

[u/lanadelreyandbea → u/fuck_reddits_trash]

ye but i’m not allowed my mom dosent want me to sing. she says this is useless so i have no choice. i can afford it im just not allowed.

[u/fuck_reddits_trash → u/lanadelreyandbea]

Not sure how old you are… worst case, youtube tutorials, there’s always somebody on music subs that’ll link you to a 100 episode amazing lesson playlist that’s totally free