How to Use Your Chest Voice

So you want to know how to use your chest voice? Great, you’ve come to the right place. In this post I’m going to go through the different aspects of the chest voice, what it is, how to access it, and how to improve it.

Ready? Let’s go!

What is Chest Voice? 

The first that we have to deal with is what exactly is chest voice. as soon as we know what that is we will be able to start using it properly.

Essentially, the chest voice is the voice that you speak with. Whilst it’s true to say that there are exceptions, in general though, the chest voice is used for speaking.

How to Find out If You Are Using Your Chest Voice for Speaking

In order to work out if you are in using your chest voice for speaking there is a simple check that you can do.

• If there is a deep growl in your voice then you are probably using your lowest register to speak, the vocal fry.
• If you are speaking and it sounds very squeaky, then you are using a head voice or falsetto.
• If you are speaking neither high or low then you are using your chest voice.

That’s it really.

There are a number of different registers in the voice and if you want to learn more about them feel free to check out the blog post I’ve written about them. But since this post is specifically focused on how to use your chest voice, that’s what we are going to do.

What Are the Characteristics of Chest Voice?

There are some unique things that you’ll have in your chest voice that don’t exist in the other registers that you have. These include:

Chest Voice Is Loud and Head Voice Is Quiet

Perhaps a bit of an oversimplification but it is true. Your chest voice is your loudest voice, it’s where you’ll belt from and if you need to, scream from. It’s where you will get the most power in your voice and is the one that every singer who shows off their power uses. Every other register is going to be quieter. The reason why this is so is because the vocal cords are more together, aren’t stretched and are at their strongest. This in turn leads to the richest sound that you can make. So in simple terms: chest voice is loud and head voice is quiet.

Chest Voice Is Lower Than Head Voice

Have you ever held a rubber band and pinged it somewhere? Go and grab one now. Hold it between your two hands and ping it to hear what sound it makes. Now stretch it out and give it another ping. You will hear that it produces a higher pitch than the first one. Two things are happening with the rubber band to make this happen and they are both very relatable to your voice.

Firstly, the thicker the band is the lower the pitch. The same is true for your vocal cords. They are always moving when you are singing and the closer they have to vibrate to each other leads to a deeper voice.

Secondly, the bigger the gap between the two sides of the rubber band leads to a higher pitch. The same is true for your vocal cords as well. In chest voice, the cords are not stretched out at all and they therefore have less space to vibrate in. This leads to a lower voice.

In head voice however, this isn’t true and is in fact the opposite. This will do the opposite thing: your voice will be higher and it won’t be as loud.

What about Mixed Voice

A lot has been said about mixed voice and where it fits into this model. What many teachers say, particularly those who teach the SLS singing (speech level singing) way is that you should be combining both the chest voice and the head voice together.

I rarely teach this as I feel that it hasn’t really worked with my students. It can be done and sometimes should be done. However, what I like to teach is something that you are comfortable with and can feel it at the same time. I don’t and have never really subscribed to a single school of thought when it comes to the voice.

I have tried over the years to learn as much as I can about many different voice styles and singing techniques. Whether is be bel canto, SLS, open throat, or whatever.

It doesn’t really matter in my opinion. My goal has and continues to be to help you sing the best way you can without going too much into the nitty gritty of it. Singing may be a science. However, singers, myself included, are not scientists. For me, if it sounds great, then it is great.

If you like the way it feels and it’s 100% in tune and what you wanted to achieve, then I’ve done my job. I won’t disregard any method if it works and I believe that a combination of them is the best way forward for you.

Can You Sing High Notes with Your Chest Voice? 

Having already decided that your most powerful notes are going to come from your chest voice, it’s now important to know whether you can take that power all the way up to the top of your range. The truth is that you can sing some high notes with your chest voice if you prepare right for it and don’t let it go. It takes practice and effort to do so but yes, you can sing high notes with your chest voice.

Of course you can. You’ve heard many famous singers do it. So why would you think that you shouldn’t or couldn’t do it. It’s important to remember that you don’t want to be shouting at the top of your chest voice range. This first of all doesn’t sound very nice and secondly will end up hurting and perhaps even damaging your voice. So you have to know your limits as well.

Does Singing in Chest Voice Apply to All Voice Styles?

Even though in general terms the chest voice is the strongest and thickest of the voices, this doesn’t mean that only Opera people sing it. They may access more of it that in lighter singing styles such as pop and R&B. However, every singer should be using it.

Essentially it is a lot to do with dynamics or how loud and soft you are able to sing. There are some songs where you need to be extremely gentle and others where the power must come through.

It is definitely easier to correctly sing softly in falsetto than in chest voice. However, with practice you will be able to do so and you have to learn how to do so.

How Can I Increase My Range with My Chest Voice?

Before you try and increase the range of your chest voice, you have to know what your chest voice range is.

In order to determine where your chest voice is I want you to sing and try and notice what the chest voice sounds like. Here are some pointers to make sure you’re getting it right:

• Resonance: Does the sound resonate and reverberate round your head or your chest. Make sure you listen to your body here as it will give you the clues you need.
• Tone: Is the tone rich or shallow. The richer it is, the more sure you can be that you are singing in chest voice.
• What notes are you singing? This should be in the lower and middle areas of your range. As you go higher up, you may notice a switch and your voice changes. You need to stop before there.
• Strength: Do you feel strong or a big weak when singing the note? If you are feeling strong then you are probably in the chest voice.
• When in the scale are you singing: For men it will be between F2 and A3 and for women it’s about G3 to E4. (I’m using C4 as middle C here)

The Exercises to Increase Your Chest Voice Range

In order to increase your range, try the following:

Exercise 1

1. Sing an ingh sound on one note at a time going up the scale, preferably in semitones.
2. Hold the notes for at least five seconds
3. Concentrate on ensuring that the note is coming from down there and don’t let it slip.
4. As soon as you get to the note that you feel is hard, make a note of it and stop.
5. Do the same note again a few minutes later.

The goal of this is to get you singing the whole time in your chest voice and nothing else apart from it. It’s important to realize that this will be difficult. You are essentially lifting weights with your larynx. This takes time and should be done with care and attention. You want to increase the size of the muscle but you don’t want to end up hurting yourself. So please be careful.

Exercise 2

1. Sing a five note scale with one, two syllable word for every note. The word can be any one just as long as it starts with a consonant and has two syllables.
2. Slowly go up with the top note always being the first.
3. At the top you may want to be screaming but try to avoid it.
4. You will quickly find that the lower notes on the scale are far easier to sing than the ones higher up.

What you are trying to do is give the same feeling to the top notes as you do to the bottom ones. A lot of singing has to do with feel. If you feel that you are singing in chest voice then you are singing in it.

In Closing

Learning how to use your chest voice is exciting and a little bit scary. You are building muscles that you may not have thought you had. And building muscles can oftentimes hurt. But don’t worry. As long as you do it slowly and carefully, being mindful of your limits you will be able to increase your chest voice range. I hope you have enjoyed this post and as ever, feel free to leave a comment below. Till next time!