How to Sing for Beginners

Do you want to know how to sing for beginners quickly and easily? That’s what this post aim to do. We are going to learn about the top 10 tips you can do to get yourself singing when you have never done so properly in the past. Ready? Let’s Go!

How Long Will It Take You to Become a Better Singer?

One of the most popular questions that I get asked is how long will it take me to really learn how to sing. The truth is, I’ve been singing for more than 30 years and I’m still learning and getting better. And it’s the same with every singer who is worth their salt. Improving and getting better is part of the journey of being a singer.

More than this, to get to where you are today to being just a little bit better is completely up to you. If you follow the advice and practice the steps you need to get better, you will see improvement in just a few short hours. Record yourself singing a song now and then record yourself in a week. If you have been practicing properly there is no doubt in my mind that you will hear an improvement.

Not only will you hear it, but you will feel it as well.

Can You Learn How to Sing?

There are some that claim that you are either born with it or just not. Whilst it may be true that there are some people who are completely tone deaf and can’t and won’t ever be able to sing, the truth is that I’ve never met anyone like that. It’s very very rare. If you can hear a song and recognize that there are more than two notes, then you are not tone deaf. And if you are not tone deaf then you can learn how to sing.

You’d be surprised by how many people I’ve seen who think that they cannot hold a tune at all and after a bit of time can do so. Will they ever be able to sing the highest notes, the American national anthem and other songs like that? No. But that doesn’t mean that they will never be able to learn how to sing. And that is what I can teach you. Whatever level, I can make you a better singer.

That’s enough waffling though, let’s get down to work and point out the most important things you need to do in order to learn how to sing for beginners.

Learning How to Breathe Properly

Breathing properly is probably the single most important thing that a singer should do. I know that it sounds silly. After all, you have been breathing your whole life and obviously know how to do it. However, doing it well and utilizing your lungs properly is something that really takes your singing to an entirely different level.

If you are breathing properly you will be able to sing for longer, hit higher and lower notes, and be able to sing pretty much every single long phrase that you want to.
For more in depth instructions on how to breath properly, check out the post and exercises on the post I’ve written about singing from your diaphragm. For now though, let’s go through two simple exercises to get you started.

Exercise 1 – Feeling Yourself Breathe

For this exercise all I want you to do is lie flat on your back with your hands on your tummy.

1. Concentrate on the moment and feel your tummy going up and down as you breath.
2. Try to ensure that only your tummy moves and that your chest remains level.
3. The reason why you should do this whilst lying on the ground is because it’s just much easier to do it this way.

Especially for beginners, we try to make things as easy as can be.

Exercise 2 – Hissing

1. Standing up, put your hands on your tummy again and ensure that they are the only things moving when you are breathing.
2. Your shoulders, chest and neck should remain still and as relaxed as you can make them.
3. Now make a hissing noise like a snake
4. Time yourself doing this. You should definitely be able to get to 15 seconds with a little bit of practice. If you get really good at it, you might be able to get to 30 seconds and more.

What this exercise does is that it moderates your breath and allows you to breathe out for longer. You will be the controller of your breath, not the other way around.

Standing Up Straight – Get a Proper stance

Although not as important as breathing properly, standing up is also very important. The underlying principle here though is very simple: Give yourself the best chance. If you are bent over, then so are your lungs and your chest cavity. This obviously restricts your ability to breathe as deeply as you can. So, all you have to do is stand up straight.

Try and imagine that there is a string attached to the back of your head and is gently pulling you up by it. This will align your body properly.

This isn’t something that you should over complicate, at least in the beginning. If you are standing up straight, with a strong base, then you are doing great!

Opening Your Mouth Properly

You may have heard that it’s important to open your mouth as wide as it goes. Please don’t listen to this. It’s antiquated and simply wrong!

Put a straw/toothpick/pen in the side of your mouth and speak. You’ll see that you actually can speak pretty well.

Now try singing with it in there. You’ll see that you can do so as well.

You have to open your mouth so that you don’t mumble your words. However, you have to also not open your mouth too wide to ensure that your words are clear.

We are looking for a happy medium where you have clear, crisp words that are not mumbled and are not unclear.

Removing Tension

Singing with tension stops you from being able to sing anything properly. This isn’t the same as nerves as they can be channeled to get you to sing even better than you thought you could. Tension is where your vocal cords are restricted, your breath is out of control, and you are not able to be so resonant as you want to be.

It’s all very well me telling you to remove your tension. However, how do you go about actually doing so.

The answer is going to differ from person to person but what I find best is to just put on some relaxing Zen music or rain and breathe. Concentrate on the breath going in and out of your body and just breathe into every single second. Essentially, meditate. It doesn’t take long but it really does work. It’s just about letting go of the stresses of life concentrating on the present.

Make Sure You Warm Up

Warming up isn’t just for professional singers and athletes, it’s for everyone. In fact, it may be even more important to a beginner than a professional. Someone who only sings occasionally is always in a state of non-warmed up. But a singer who sings daily is, in some way constantly warm.

In order to warm up just sing some scales and arpeggios. If you want a more in-depth discussion and other exercise ideas go ahead and check out the post I’ve written about warming up.

Learn Your Vocal Range

Knowing what your vocal range is is important as it allows you to select the songs that you will be good at. Instead of trying to sing a song that is beyond your capabilities right now, concentrate on what you can do.

For many this may mean giving up a dream, at least for the time being. But trust me here, first of all sing what’s easy and only then start working on developing your range. A great little tool that I recommend for finding your range is a little app called sing sharp which you can find on the app store. If you want to know exactly what kind of singer you are, check out the classifications that I’ve written about.

Make Sure You Are Singing in Tune – Get the App

One of the most important things that you need to know about when you begin your singing journey is to know if you are singing in tune. This is incredibly vital. I’m sure you’ve seen people go on stage thinking they can win a talent competition only to find out that they actually can’t sing at all.

The reason for this is because they have never listened to themselves and taken a good hard look in the mirror to see whether they can actually sing or need help just to get started.

There are two different ways to listen though.

The old-fashioned way and the only way if you already know how to sing is to simply record yourself and listen back with a clear mind.

The newer way and perhaps a bit lazier is to get an app to see if you can do it. There are many different apps that you can use but the premise is the same. They play a note or series of notes.

You have to sing along and whilst you are singing the app measures your voice and tells you if you are singing in tune or not. The one I would recommend is called: Learn to sing. It’s easy to use and gives you on the spot feedback as to whether you are singing in tune or not.

Don’t Fall off the Notes

This is perhaps slightly more advanced, but I feel that it’s a good tip to have right off the bat. At the end of a note, word, or phrase it’s very easy to just stop trying and let the note fall away. It’s a bit like a sigh. At the end of it you just fall off and the sound just goes right away.

It’s important when singing that you don’t do that. Keep singing all the way to the end. You’ll notice an improvement straight away

Improving Your Tone

You want to sound the best you possibly can be. In order to do this, you need to be sure that your tone is on point. What I mean by this is that you don’t want to sound nasally or for your voice to be stuck in the back of your throat and sound muffled.

In order to simply improve your tone all you need to do is to aim. Aim that your voice is shooting straight out of the front of your mouth. Literally aim to float the voice on top of the tongue. There is nothing more than this. It’s called singing in/through the mask.

Imagine having a mask on your face. You have to sing directly through it. Where do you do so? Not from the eye holes or nose hole. Through where the mouth is. And that is the simple way of improving your tone.

Vocal Registration

You may have read a lot about the different registers and in truth, if you want to find more about them check out the post I have written. However, what’s important for now is that there are basically two; the low one and the high one. As you sing quietly and up the scale you will feel your voice change if you go high enough. They are two different things entirely and you can sing in either.

For beginners though, I would say that it’s enough just to know that they exist, don’t try and mess around with them. That will come later on in your journey.

Other Things to Remember

Aside from the actual method of singing, it’s important to know and prepare yourself with some other important topics that may not be 100% related to singing but are an intrinsic part of it.

Vocal Health

You have to look after your voice. This means getting enough sleep and rest. The worst thing to do when you are starting is to over sing. This will hurt and you may even damage your voice which is the last thing you need!
If you are sick, then don’t sing and take a break.

Make Sure You Have Plenty to Drink

It’s important to keep your voice lubricated and flexible. This means drinking plenty of water. Best is room temperature. Whilst I’m not against coffee and I’m a big drinker of the stuff, it’s not that great for your voice. If you want to know more about what drinks are good for you and what are not, then check out this post where I go into much more depth.

Practice!

You have to practice. It’s just plain and simple, the more you practice the better you will be.
However, it’s important to practice the right way. Don’t push yourself and don’t try and sing for more than 30 minutes a day in the beginning. Moreover, you have to listen to your body.

If you are getting tired, then just stop. Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day!

Confidence

One of the most common pitfalls that beginner singers make is a lack of confidence. This makes sense as you don’t know if you will be good at it. If you have to sing in front of a crowd then practice in front of a full-length mirror and watch yourself. If you are intimidated by yourself then you will be intimidated by the crowd even more. You have to get comfortable seeing yourself, hearing yourself and critiquing yourself. The more you do, the better you will be.

In closing

Learning how to sing for beginners can be confusing at first. There are so many different details that can be super confusing. But, by breaking down what you really need to do and what you don’t you will be able to make huge improvements in your voice very quickly. Here’s a quick checklist:

• Breath properly
• Stand up straight
• Open your mouth but not too much
• Reduce your tension
• Warm up
• Listen to yourself
• Sing from your mouth, not your nose

I really hope that you have enjoyed this post. If you have any questions, comments or just want to get in touch, leave something below. Till next time!