My latest is... NIN - Hurt.

Keep up the good work. I want to make some covers in a few months. Still relearning everything after ~8 yrs of not playing.

Killswitch Engage - "The End of Heartache"... Without vocals, because... damn... this song is out of my range, but I enjoy playing it nonetheless.

So, should I post my videos as well? Have only been recording my singing for a short time, and haven't done any piano/vocal covers, but I've done like 200 piano covers, and there's one original song so far in which I play piano as well.

Jabonator rulez!

Hell yes. You have some awesome vids. Not to mention this thread will probably get more followers

I have a couple originals as well, but am yet to get to a point where I am happy enough with them to post. Maybe eventually.

Thanks guys. Always special to get complements from fellow musicians.

I know I promised no more singing, but, well, I'm a liar I guess. I tried to incorporate some feedback (sing higher, play slower), possibly to mixed success. I hope it came out ok.

How about some Disney? 100% song free!



I threw in a tenth near the end just for you CandyKreep

Sweet job

Nice! I imagine you did it with ease I'm not so lucky. I can just barely hit a ninth. Behold my short, stubby fingers lol...

Hey OP, i noticed a lot of people posting hate for the vocals. I got this when i started posted some music on 2+2 but now my band plays to around 100-150 people at most shows in Montreal and tour on the East Coast (even went across to Vancouver). People compliment the vocals etc semi frequently.

As a side note, if you are interested in singing, keep the passion up but consider classical singing lessons they apply to everything and if someone can teach classical you know they aren't completely full of **** like most singing teachers.



If you check this track the vocal is crazy and i think it sounds good, but so many people told me to stick to playing classical piano when i started playing in a rock band. i sing classical etc with a more polished vocal tone which is achieved basically the same way as getting huge legs by doing squats or something, you don't have to have a god given talent or some secret. Not to say you don't. Just saying the mechanics of singing well (without the emotional aspect) is totally learnable.

You can hear a classical track i recorded with my phone here after about a year and a half of classical singing, going from having 0 experience singing and a tonne of haters. http://martinbradstreet.bandcamp.com/track/pieta-240413. Not perfect (this was just taken at a lesson with my phone) but i think it shows that you can really improve at this **** if you want to.

the vocal on tennessee waltz are good btw. if you whipped this out at a party and not on the internet people people would give you plenty of props i promise.

Keep fighting the good fight.

Martin

this is exactly the kind of response i would get. people have no idea how it feels to get a message like this, 'stick to the piano playing'. they think they're being kind because they think singing well is just something you're born with so they are doing you a solid by telling you to stop but thats total bull**** and you will improve massively singing more without lessons, and even more if you do have lessons. what will kill you is losing confidence because you're afraid people won't like your voice.

if you follow the advice people give you to stick to what you are good at early in life (instead of what you have a passion for or want to improve at with conviction), why even play piano, just stick to breathing in and out, and maybe eating some pizza and flipping burgers till you're dead.

end rant.

+1

I used to be horrendously shy about singing and naturally had zero confidence in my ability to do it. And while it's by no means a strong suit for me, I've come a long, long way from when I first tried to start singing. Having confidence is so key to singing. I would even say just as important as the ability to match pitches.

I appreciate the posts alexei, thanks. I guess I fall somewhere in between, in that obviously it hurt to hear that my singing was that bad, but also appreciate the honest feedback, which I (apparently) don't really get elsewhere. I'll keep singing casually, maybe I'll get better and maybe I won't. Meanwhile I don't think I'm embarrasing myself too much, although it's probably true it doesn't belong on youtube, either.

Also +1 to CK's latest post, it describes me very well, too.

Sorry I wasn't trying to be a hater. I think I've just seen about 7,000 people on American Idol over the years who were awful singers and told Simon that everyone in their family said they had a great voice. You're going to get a lot more brutal honesty on the internet than from loved ones. That's not to say he can't get better at singing - but at the same time, not everyone is a singer. Just like not everyone can play piano like Fabian. No matter how much they practice.

Don't worry A-Rod, I appreciate the feedback. And just fwiw I never meant to imply everyone in my family say I have a "great voice", they're not mental

In keeping with the Disney theme and the no singing theme, here's something I recorded yesterday:

anyone that is singing is a singer. that's all there is to it. everything else is a matter of opinion. really the only thing to tell people that are working on creative projects is 'keep it up' and maybe some gentle guidance. If they're not getting anywhere they can work that out on their own. Being prepared to tell the person the 'hard truth' does not do anyone any good. stick to mentioning positive things about the things you like or just saying keep it up. that's really the only affirmation or guidance people want in 99% of situations creative or otherwise really.

those people that went on american idol still had the guts to get up and do that which is a cooler thing than many will ever achieve. if they sucked, they know it it's not like those idol contestants would need someone to be like 'yeah don't do that anymore, stick to xyz'. even if they didn't suck they probably still think they did.

You're being way too emotional about this.

How many people who pick up a guitar ever get good? 5%? Good enough to upload multiple covers to YT and get like an 80% positive feedback rate.... 1%? Maybe less?

Same for piano. Just buying a piano does not make you a piano player. Same with drums, bass, harp, harmonica, whatever... the voice is an instrument and some people have the ability to be a great singer but almost everybody else will never been good. Just because you have vocal chords doesn't make you a singer. If you buy a guitar with 4 strings from a pawn shop - play it all you want - you aren't going to play it well enough to upload to YT.

Way too many people think they can sing just because they do it.

Stop being so emotional about this. He can probably get a lot better at singing but I bet you he'll always be worlds better at piano than at singing. Genetics, man.

Everybody doesn't get to do everything in life simply because they work at it. Natural talent has way, way, way more to do with it.

A-Rod, what you're saying is probably mostly true when it comes to singing (I do believe there's definitely "talent" in the sense that some people will sound better than others with equally great technical skill), but it's certainly not true when it comes to playing an instrument like the piano.

While just buying a piano indeed doesn't make you a piano player, playing since you're 5 years old (and basically every day for the last 6-7 years) will probably make you a piano player. Like you say, most people who try playing piano (or guitar, harmonica, etc) will probably never get that good, but it's due to a lack of practice, not a lack of talent.

Well it's both. It takes some combination of both to play any instrument (piano, vocal chords) at an elite level.

And we're just talking about covers. There is a whole other layer of complexity when you start talking about composing original music with piano keys or vocal chords. That is even harder to do than covering, which is already really hard.

It is still mighty impressive to play the piano and sing at the same time, at any level.

Piano and vocal chords shouldn't really be compared as instruments on the same level, as vocal chords are fundamentally different to musical instruments in that each person's vocal chords are unique, whereas every piano in the world sounds (well, essentially) the same. If I was singing with Josh Groban's voice, it would indeed all come down to skill (technical/musical/etc) like on a piano, but I'm not, so there are more factors in play. Which is why I'll probably never sound like Josh Groban.

When it comes to piano playing, though, we're all working with the same instrument. What matters there is technical skill and musical understanding, which comes through practice practice and practice.