starting to sing

difficult question I tihnk.

Same advice as learning the guitar I suppose. Practice practice practice

But one word of advice I can give is make sure you are breathing properly. Without breathing properly you might not sing properly which can then lead to nodules on your vocal cords.

Maybe a couple of lessons from a proffesional just to get you started?

Or hopefully there is one or two singing teachers in here that could help, or someone that has had proffesional training.

Also can I say you may think you are terrible but you might not be as bad as you think. Most people if not all dont like to listen to themselves. But then maybe you are terrible and you have no hope, but I never go for that opinion. I tihnk everyone can sing, maybe not in the style they would like to but they can sing. ( if they can talk)

ken

Zurf....  this post is so funny...!   lmao 

You haven't heard us sing.  If you had, you would consider it tragic. 

Actually, there's a few fellows around the campfire who are quite good.  One fellow went to an open mic night and played a Ralph Stanley tune with his father.  The lead guy in the house band had played with Dr. Stanley for years.  At the break, he came and found my buddy and asked if he would come back up and do "Rank Strangers."  How about that?  A guy who personally knows Dr. Stanley, first time meeting and playing with this buddy REQUESTED "Rank Strangers".  He's real good.  A few of the guys are real good.  I'm not.  Everything I said about me sucking is absolutely true.  They're still nice enough to let me play with them.  In their defense, they are generally drunk at the time. 

- Zurf

So I guess alcohol increases one's confidence level?  Then you have to rely on that 1% talent to get you through. LOL

  Try singing acappella and if you can hold a note then try simpler songs to develop a feel for your voice.  I'm not sure if your playing guitar while singing or just a singer. 
  I sing and play guitar both strumming and finger picking so I definitely get the full round of challenges from the variety.  And of course the P,P,P always helps.

Drink messes up fine motor control....I have found drink makes my playing worse.

Of course you could get vocal classes....

I just sing away and let the song give me the best idea in which way to sing it.   By that I mean, if it's a folk tune, just let it out.

But, basically, I just go with the flow and do my best.   Of course the best advice here is to BREATHE.  And breathe properly.

I think I also suck at singing, but, actually I'm not that bad according to others.   When your singing for fun it's all good.

After thinking about this, if you are going to play and SING professionally then lessons may be a wise investment.  If your going to sing for your own pleasure and that of friends and family, then just sing it out, because in the long run, "The people who mind don't matter and the people who matter don't mind."  (Theodore Geisel aka Dr. Seuss)

Peace

I played for 2 years, then got voice lessons, since my goal was to be a decent campfire guitarist I didn't want to be good at playing and suck at singing.  Luckily my kids piano teacher also teaches voice.  Just doing the warm up exercises they give you teaches you the concept of staying in key, which is the first thing you must do, staying in key the whole song unless there is a key change.  I must look pretty wierd singing AAHH-AAHH, EE-EE,  OH-OH, EE-EE AAHH-AAHH EE-EE OH going down the road, but now I'm singing in key.  In my car is the only place my family will tolerate my practicing, I had my teacher sing the practice exercises while I recorded them and can play them back anytime and sing along.  Seek professional help.  Your a better singer than you think.  BTW, I took up guitar at age 47, got voice lessons at 49, your never too old, the teachers typically love older pupils and will go out of their way to help because they know your there because you want to be. Best of luck.

-Mike

Greetings Ken, (alias upyerkilt)

  Actually a forum on vocal assistance is not a bod idea, and it could be here on Chordie already hiding over there in the recording section with all those strange audiophiles.  I say strange, because over there all kinds of unusual music related stuff is going on.  Recordings are going back and forth among the followers of the section, making music, and lending aid and assistance in an audio format. 

  There is the means to move sound around the planet and constructive assistance is available.

Perhaps it would be worth a mention to Russell.

Just a thought;
Take Care;
Doug

Singing is a big leap for fairly new guitarists. For one,,, typically your brain is occupied with playing the darn guitar. So adding the voice can be a stretch. Second,,, even if you have a song you can sing, if you start singing and playing your first song, you may be very disapointed, as the key of the song will not match the key you are singing in.

It's easy to get disouraged, but don't.

I'm learning myself.  Take the song I'm working on now,,,, very, very simple. "My Hero's Have Always Been Cowboys".  First learn  a very simple strum for the song and get a feel. All downstrokes works fine. Next add words.

The song starts in the chord of "D" So start struming and put it out "I grew up dreaming.... of being a cowboy...". Your voice should match the D chord tone.   If it sounds off,,, try just rolling that D chord and and the word "I" till you get the "I" in the correct range.  The whole first line is the D chord. 4 measures in 3/4 time = DDD   DDD   DDD   DDD

Anyways,,, good luck. I've learned enough to enjoy singing on my own.   I really have no ambition to sing for people.  But I think most of us, with practice can get to a point where it's really enjoyable. Try teaching yourself. Remember the lessons you've learned for guitar can also apply to singing.

Good luck.