Why can't I sing?

[Dandelion]

I am fairly musical, I can recognise a duff note when I hear one. I have a voice, I can speak, so why can't I sing? I can hold a tune in my head and my head can talk to my mouth, but what comes out is awful. Why does my voice not listen to what it is told to do? I am not tone deaf either.

[woodster]

For the same reason you presumably can't play the Patagonian nose flute.... you've never been taught how. The voice is an instrument with its own mechanics and techniques, take a lesson and see how quickly you can make the noises you hear in your head.

[RhysP]

Confidence.

It might also just be that you can sing, you just don't have the kind of voice you'd like to have.

I'm told frequently by people who hear me sing that they like my voice & that I sound just like Glenn Tilbrook from Squeeze. Personally I find this really disheartening as if I had to write a list of people I'd like to sound like Tilbrook wouldn't be on there.

[Lw.]

Same here - my musical knowledge & ability is moderately decent, can pick out melodies easily in my mind then when I open my mouth it's like I'm listening to an entirely different piece of music that is inevitable flat.

Have you tried singing lessons? I imagine only a couple would make a big difference but at the moment, for me, it'd just be too cringe-worthy to even attempt.

[CHW]

It took me years (and I probably mean about 15) to get used to my "Man" singing voice. I was a member of a church choir until age 12 and found singing pretty natural. I had to adjust to the fact that I was now a bass/baritone and just couldn't sing along with songs in my record collection.

Everyone can sing to a certain degree, and it is about finding your natural range and tones. There may be some tools online to find this, I don't know. I probably taught myself to sing again in the car- belting out things totally in my adult range -The Hymn Jerusalem is right there for me. From there it was about picking harmonies and pushing the range.

I think the starting point is to find out where you naturally sit- so many people I hear singing badly are doing so falsetto in too high a range.

[EssentialTension]

I am similar.

I can, on odd occasions, get away with a shouty kind of backing vocal but I have even got worse at that as I get older. Many years of abusing the ear, nose, and throat areas can't have helped. But I've played fretless and upright and never had serious complaints about my intonation and I always know when I or someone else is flat or off key in some other way.

My son is vocally somewhat better than me but he has limitations too. Nonetheless, he improved his singing radically by having a few singing lessons. He has since developed a kind of cross between Tom Waits, the bloke from The Streets, and Rex Harrison in [i]My Fair Lady[/i] doing dub toasting.

[stuckinthepod]

When I sing I sound like Bernard Sumner. Which is why I don't sing.

[CamdenRob]

I've never really tried in a band situation... I assume I'd be rubbish

[xgsjx]

My singing voice has emptied pubs. Literally!

[skidder652003]

Dont sweat it. You're the bass player, you're not supposed to sing otherwise you'd end up sounding like Geddy, Lemmy, Sting or even Mark King so relax!

[EssentialTension]

A twist on this ... the vocalist in one of my bands has brilliant intonation. I've never once heard him hit a wrong note, falter over a note, or have to search for the note. He just sings with perfect intonation; he can't help it.

However, the piano player and I do, occasionally, have to put him right on his phrasing which can sometimes leave something to be desired.

[Jacqueslemac]

I've recently started to do some backing vocals. However, when I listen to the playback (I record all our rehearsals), I realise that what comes out is not what I'm hearing in my head.

I'm currently working on the howl at the beginning of Mama Weer All Crazee Now. That's about my limit!

[northstreet]

I think it's about finding the right 'pitch' for your voice. I can sing I Was Born Under a Wandering Star perfectly. Unfortunately that isn't much use in the typical covers band set list!

[fretmeister]

Lessons make a huge difference even if you only have 2 or 3 lessons to learn how to breathe properly.

Well worth it.

[Guest bassman7755]

[quote name='Lw.' timestamp='1446814001' post='2902543']
Same here - my musical knowledge & ability is moderately decent, can pick out melodies easily in my mind then when I open my mouth it's like I'm listening to an entirely different piece of music that is inevitable flat.
[/quote]

I can sing notes accurately, trouble is I have a pitch range of about 10 semitones.

[colgraff]

It really is just practice and self-belief. I discovered that I could sing, after decades of thinking that I couldn't when I retrained as a Primary School teacher and had to give music lessons to a class of four and five year olds. Their unwavering belief and total lack of critical faculty in me combined with the fact that I HAD to do it all year in class and in assemblies in front if colleagues and parents. It was a smallish step from there to the microphone.

There are songs that I can't play and sing because the rhythms clash too much. Others, like the Live Killers version of We Will Rock You, are huge fun to play and sing.

Edited November 6, 2015 by colgraff

[bassbiscuits]

I used to sing as a kid in schools etc but only really discovered my adult singing voice after i gave up smoking about 10 years ago.

Saying that, it still took a fair bit of practice and experience of singing live etc for me to form it into something better than just shouty backing vocals. Like some of the other people here, my voice isn't particularly what I'd have chosen to sound like - strangely it's not like Bon Scott or Steven Tyler (what a bummer...) - but it's loud and has a good high range without needing falsetto, which works well alongside the other singer in my band whose voice is much lower.

Over this summer i had laryngitis which dragged on for ages, and i sort of learned a different way of singing without using my throat so much - hey presto its unlocked a whole extra dimension of my vocal range and my breathing. Its occurred to me that I'm only now finally probably singing in the correct way.

I guess the point I'm making is not to be disheartened if its not easy at first, or doesn't sound like you'd expect. It takes practice and experience like any other instrument, and giving your voice a bit of TLC doesn't go amiss either.

I few lessons to point you in the right direction would probably help.

There are singers fronting successful bands with voices ranging from the bloody awful to simply unspectacular, so don't be too down if you're not Don Henley straight away.

Edited November 6, 2015 by bassbiscuits

[Staggering on]

Our female vocalist(a "real" singer) does most most of the singing in our band while I warble my way through a few songs and sing some harmony and basically act as frontman/MC.After a gig our vocalist was receiving her usual round of compliments when a woman turned to me and said "and you have a lovely speaking voice".Ouch.However,I will continue on...lessons maybe?

[colgraff]

I bet a lot of 'non-singers' here can sing better than the early Mark Knopfler. Make the songs fit what you can do and you're halfway there.

[DrBike]

I guess that I "learnt" to sing as a choirboy (my parents were quire religious and the whole family sang in the church choir at one point or another).

However it took me a long time to master playing bass and singing (for some reason playing guitar and singing came easier). After a while I got competent enough at playing and singing to do some backing vocals and eventually lead vocals.

However ...a few years back I took some vocal coaching lessons and it was a revelation, my singing came on in leaps and bounds (shame that my playing didn't do so when I took bass lessons). Firstly you have to be able to sing/hold the melody but the main thing is "strengthening" your voice so that you're able to "project" and control it.

I'd advise to take some lessons - even if it's just checking something on Youtube first.

[discreet]

No-one should ever attempt to sing, it's just plain wrong.
And it leads to TV programmes like 'The Voice' and 'X-factor'. Eurrghh!!

[DrBike]

[quote name='bassman7755' timestamp='1446818793' post='2902625']
I can sing notes accurately, trouble is I have a pitch range of about 10 semitones.
[/quote]
You could always sing Oasis covers (assuming that it's the right 10 semitones of course)

[mattbass6]

[quote name='bassman7755' timestamp='1446818793' post='2902625']
I can sing notes accurately, trouble is I have a pitch range of about 10 semitones.
[/quote]

Love this. Laughed out really loudly and not in a mean way, I promise. Thank you

PS Tried singing in my old band once. It was recorded for a live release and upon hearing my BVs, I was horrified / mortified. Pitching would have been useful so, suffice to say, Melodyne became my very best, overworked friend I'll stick to writing the songs and playing bass.......

Edited November 6, 2015 by mattbass6

[CamdenRob]

[quote name='DrBike' timestamp='1446822670' post='2902677']
You could always sing Oasis covers (assuming that it's the right 10 semitones of course)
[/quote]

You wouldn't even need the right ones for Oasis covers...

[colgraff]

The Gallaghers and others are a triumph of enthusiasm over skill. Still it shows that enthusiasm will carry you a fair way and music would be rather one dimensional if we all sounded like Peter Autry or Charlotte Church.

Edited November 6, 2015 by colgraff