Singing

[eliselovesmusic]

I can't pitch for SH*T.

I understand that it's pretty important to be able to pitch accurately in order to get across ideas for melodies etc so you can imagine my grief in the fact that I really cannot sing AT ALL.

Can anyone give me some tips on learning how to pitch properly? I know I could just play melodies on piano and stick to playing instruments but I would love to be able actually sing (btw the singing teachers I've tried are useless.)

Help is much appreciated :-)

[OveriseFan]

The key comes to what you said in your post about how you can get others to understand your melodies: play them on the piano. Match pitch.

Start simple: one note at a time. Play it on the piano, sing it. As you are able to do this, start playing short, simple melodies. I'd post some "warm-ups" you can do that would help you match pitch - but I'm sure if you just google "vocal warm-ups" you'll find them in a format that will make more sense to you than me writing it out.

I am happy to talk about proper technique online, once you start being able to match pitch. Matching pitch is the first step to becoming a "good singer", but it's not even the most crucial part. You need to learn how to breathe properly; with that, pitch will develop even faster. There's no substitute for a good teacher - so find one. Ask around, join a choir, something. A good teacher can help you more than the internet could possibly start.

[eraserhead]

Get a teacher. A patient one.

[eliselovesmusic]

Thanks guys, I'll look into it :-)

[elisemarie]

okay, i gotta say, i absolutely love your name :]
haha; us elises are gonna takeover the music world one day!
maybe? haha :]

[imahoodlum]

Perhaps trying doing solfège. Such as: do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti. Work on hitting each note with the accurate pitch by using an instrument for guidance. Then once you get better at doing so, try skipping around on the scale. Such as: do, mi, so, mi, do, so, do.

[lbopm]

I would just start with singing pitches to a piano or a guitar. Then do intervals with the piano/guitar. Then do the root note with the piano/guitar and sing the different intervals. The only way to get better with pitch is to practice. Most of the guys in bands you like are horrible with pitch which is the whole reason autotune is so widely used in punk (of any kind) today.