Question: Singing, how to find what key my voice is

nuke_diver

nuke_diver

Riding Solo
Not sure if this is the right place but can't find something suitable so here it goes.

I like to sing but I know I don't do it so well. I sometimes find while singing to a song in the car a particular song is easier or harder so I'm guessing the key is better for my voice. So how do I go about figuring this out? Say the song is in G and I have some trouble with it. And say I make the song Gb and it's better. Does that mean I would flatten everything or just songs in G and something, say in C I would have to find what worked for that song?

I'm rather musically challenged so I'm hoping I can find some expert advice here since I've heard several of you sing and you are really good!
 
You could do a couple things....tune your guitar down a half step thus making a G "sound" like a Gb. You wouldn't need to transpose songs with this method, just play them as you normally do and it will be a half step lower in pitch.

The other method is to actually transpose songs into a more friendly key for you. This obviously requires more work but you would most likely learn a lot by doing this.
Also a capo may help. Even though it raises the pitch you can still find a key that works for your range and this also has the added bonus of being able to play the songs using the same chord shapes as the original only in a different place on the neck.
 
Believe it or not I used to have a great singing voice….when I was a freshman in high school and younger. When my voice changed, and I mean really changed, I suck singing now. I wish I had known about taking singing lessons to help keep some of my range.

I used to be able to hit the highest notes that Brad Delp (Boston) did, no problem. Now, my range is literally 'People Are Strange' by The Doors. Quite a bit different than hitting the high notes in 'More Than A Feeling' :(


Anyways, I guess what I'm trying to say is maybe take singing lessons from a professional? It couldn't hurt, and would most probably help, at least a little bit.
 
I have been taking voice lessons for the past year. Best thing I have ever done musically. She developed my falsetto and I have a pretty good range.

No reason you cannot redevelop your singing skills, too.
 
sunvalleylaw said:
Would a good way to learn this be to sing some scales and see how it goes?
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Find a piano or use a chromatic tuner app on your phone or tablet, initially.

But yes, it's an incredibly safe bet that range can be expanded through practice and through good/safe technique, use of Alexander technique, etc., if you're a beginner.
 
Flamencology said:
Find a piano or use a chromatic tuner app on your phone or tablet, initially.

But yes, it's an incredibly safe bet that range can be expanded through practice and through good/safe technique, use of Alexander technique, etc., if you're a beginner.
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I would call myself a "re-beginner" not having sung much other than in the car and shower since like college. And . . .
WAit for it.

Ok.
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I know what songs I sing along with that work for me. As an example, I generally am comfortable singing with most things Eddie Vedder sings on until he starts belting it out and skips up an octave. There, he leaves me behind. I can almost get there, but not quite. Think "Elderly Woman". I think some training could increase my range there. Not that I want to do Eddie Vedder or PJ cover songs all the time, but by way of example of what is generally comfortable. So that is a starting place.
 
Flamencology said:
Find a piano or use a chromatic tuner app on your phone or tablet, initially.

But yes, it's an incredibly safe bet that range can be expanded through practice and through good/safe technique, use of Alexander technique, etc., if you're a beginner.
Click to expand...

Sorry since as I said I'm not much of a musician...so can you explain how to proceed? I do have chromatic tuner. I'm not looking to sing in a band or anything of that nature so I don't see the need for spending money on this but it would be nice to have some idea of what I can sing, or how to modify with a capo or tuning to be able to sing something a bit easier. I'm just trying to be nicer to my wife really :grin:
 
nuke_diver said:
Sorry since as I said I'm not much of a musician...so can you explain how to proceed? I do have chromatic tuner. I'm not looking to sing in a band or anything of that nature so I don't see the need for spending money on this but it would be nice to have some idea of what I can sing, or how to modify with a capo or tuning to be able to sing something a bit easier. I'm just trying to be nicer to my wife really :grin:
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I mean this as a one-time thing: using a chromatic tuner to identify your highest and lowest notes.
 
Literally just searched YouTube for "find my vocal range" there are tons of videos. Try 2-3 and you should start seeing a pattern.

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk
 
Also, if you can find a pitch shifting mp3 player (I have it built into my DJ software) you can take a song and start bumping it up and down half steps without changing the speed and find keys that are comfortable.

If you feel a song is going too low, you can actually bump the song up but sing an octave lower than that. It has the effect of putting the vocals in a comfortable range, but the song doesn't sound lower to the audience. Like a song in E, you play up a step and a half to G, but you're singing it several steps lower in G.
 
Well, there isn't necessarily a specific "key" that your voice is best fit for, but rather a specific range of notes. Going to a piano (or guitar) and finding the lowest and highest notes you can comfortably sing will give you a good idea of your range.

As far as keys go, here's why your voice doesn't have just one "key:"

Song A is in the key of G major, and the melody has its lowest note of G and the highest note of G above that. If your range goes from that low G to that high G, then you're set.

Song B is also in the key of G major, but its melody has a lowest note of D below that low G from the previous song, going up to the D in between the low and high Gs. Your range of G to G means you can only sing about half the notes of the melody.

Most people's ranges are about an octave and a half without training, which gives you a pretty good span to work with for most pop tunes. The middle of everyone's range is generally the strongest sounding and projects the best. The solution is to find what are the highest and lowest notes in any given song, compare that your range, and adjust the key of the song up or down to slide into your comfort zone.
 
I worked with Renee's DVD lessons. Was not expensive and really taught me how to breathe properly and to be in key. Really pleased with the results. This was back in 09. She also answered all my questions. http://www.myvoicecoach.com/
 
Poparad said:
Well, there isn't necessarily a specific "key" that your voice is best fit for, but rather a specific range of notes. Going to a piano (or guitar) and finding the lowest and highest notes you can comfortably sing will give you a good idea of your range.

As far as keys go, here's why your voice doesn't have just one "key:"

Song A is in the key of G major, and the melody has its lowest note of G and the highest note of G above that. If your range goes from that low G to that high G, then you're set.

Song B is also in the key of G major, but its melody has a lowest note of D below that low G from the previous song, going up to the D in between the low and high Gs. Your range of G to G means you can only sing about half the notes of the melody.

Most people's ranges are about an octave and a half without training, which gives you a pretty good span to work with for most pop tunes. The middle of everyone's range is generally the strongest sounding and projects the best. The solution is to find what are the highest and lowest notes in any given song, compare that your range, and adjust the key of the song up or down to slide into your comfort zone.
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When they put me into Men's Chorus this year they made me a Bass 2 since I was comfortably hitting E2 and F2 with no difficulty. At one point this week they asked for someone to sing the Tenor 1 part in a section of this tune (from a previous year) that is essentially all A5 and I nailed it in my head voice louder and stronger than many of the actual Tenors in the choir so for one section (starting at 2:20) I'm a Tenor. Since I sing all kinds of stuff on my cover gigs my voice is strong for a wider range than many of the dedicated singers in the group.

 
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