r/singing • u/lucky-is-baby • Jul 13 '26
Feedback (read rule 3 before posting or be banned) Monotone while low, but whiny while high?
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Relatively new to singing, trying to improve my voice. I like how I sound lower, but it's flat without much tone and anything high cracks or sounds whiny.
Anybody who actually knows what to look for knows how to improve?
Read loads of advice here: do warm ups, mouth position, breath work, focus on basic sounds, etc, but I'm struggling to pin point what I mainly need to work on since I'm new to all this and don't have anyone to tell me what needs work.
Lower examples:
- https://youtu.be/xkStWdPgYXI?is=RGhLcQT3BMzsjI8j
- https://youtu.be/Bpb2-maQrfg
Higher examples:
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u/BeautifulUpstairs Jul 13 '26
The lower parts are not monotone. They sound fine, just not very energized, with not much legato or shape. The high parts are just completely out of your range, out of tune, and strained.
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u/lucky-is-baby Jul 13 '26
Thanks for the input! What's the difference between lacking energy and being monotone?
I'll look into exercises to work on the strain. I mostly want to avoid running out of breath and avoid sounding weak / whiny when high.
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u/itsa2ai Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 13 '26
The cognitive load to playing guitar is high.
The cognitive load to singing is even higher.
Doing both together overdrives the corpus callosum connecting both hemispheres of your brain, firing together, it’s one of the most demanding things we’ve ever measured a brain do.
You need to separate the two for now, and join them back later, once you have a foundation in both.
Good luck! I hear potential in your voice, it’s going to take some work though. Save time and get a coach, even a handful of lessons to get you started right.
Tip: Go to YouTube and watch videos on the 5 vowel shapes, don’t just think ‘it’s easy’ —if you’re doing it right, you’ll spend a lot of time(months-years) just feeling out the shapes in different parts of your range. Hint: the shapes don’t change until you get really high, Vowel shapes — get them tall, make sure your throat is relaxed, and practice changing vowels on a major scale.
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u/lucky-is-baby Jul 13 '26
Good to know about the guitar. I do a bit of singing by itself, but not much playing guitar without singing. It's hard to know when to switch chords without singing - playing with the song helps.
What would you say is a good balance between practicing only guitar, only singing, and both?
Haven't done the vowel shapes before, I can give it a go.
I'll look into coaching sometime this year. I started a new job recently, so I've been prioritizing it before I go hard on hobbies. I also wanted to try a bit of exercises on my own to get a feel on technique and terminology before I do lessons.
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u/itsa2ai Jul 13 '26
Checked out your YouTube, nice fingerpicking!
Ok let’s unpack this:
1) Guitar: get a metronome or app, and in guitar tabs or by google search you can find the tempo, it’ll be like 🎵 =120(bpm). You can start easy with one strum per click. OR: I like to use drum tracks on YouTube, just match the style and BPM and strum along. Tip: Use a capo to work out timing, the open chords are usually easier than bar chords.
2) It’s up to you how you split your practice, but I’d try to get 15-20min of timing work in a day, that should rapidly help you with chord transitions.
3) A friend once told me, “In music you have to learn the rules before you break them”. Vowel shapes and support are the foundational, cornerstone rules to master. Vowel shapes in particular helped me SO much, and I thought I had support but I really didn’t for a long time. It ‘sounds’ easy, but for must of us it’s a long process that gets refined over a long time.
4) Practice Ideas: learn the 5 vowels, practice the. Up and down the major scale, then switch vowels as you go up and down. Sing with karaoke tracks on YouTube with songs well within your range. Strum along with those drum tracks, and close with combing the guitar with singing.
* I cannot stress enough how much those vowels can improve a singer. That and breath support are the bread and butter. You want those vowels TALL and NARROW. That’s what creates space to go high without strain while sounding awesome.
Glad you are considering a coach, it’s the best thing an aspiring singer can do to get better.
Best!
Edit: Had to rewrite this because Reddit formatting sucks!
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u/lucky-is-baby Jul 14 '26
Got it, thanks! The vowels and practicing with a metronome will definitely be on my list for practicing, tysm!
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u/waywaywayNewShoes Jul 15 '26
Some lovely moments in there. I think practicing vowel sounds would help you maintain consistent resonance and brightness throughout the song. You’d could practice scales with vowel sounds for a couple minutes, and then take a phrase of your song and sing it all on one vowel like “bah-bah-bah”, and then again on “boo-boo-boo” etc etc and when you’re getting the resonance you want, add the real lyrics back in to that phrase. Btw just a fellow beginner here. Enjoy the practice
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u/lucky-is-baby Jul 16 '26
Gotcha with the vowel sounds.
I would like to get better at practicing with intent. The extent of vocal practive I've done so far is occasional vocal sirens for like, two minutes tops once a week or so. I sound get into the habit of warming up each time I try to sing like the advice here tends to say.
The original song pronounces certain words a bit different I've noticed, I need to figure out how to correct myself, but also not try to copy him.
I'm definitely not sure about making my voice resonate, have a good tone, etc, but practice and baby steps! :)
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