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Confession

So here's a little secret I'll share with you guys. No one knows this about me, not even my wife.

I love to sing. Holy shit, do I ever. Not only that; I have this suspicion that I might be good at it. I can't really say for sure because I've only ever heard myself from inside my own head (you know how when you hear yourself on an answering machine and say, Ewwwwww I sound like that?!). All I can be sure of is that I can hold a tune and hit the notes that I want to.

One of my favorite things to do when I get out of work is to belt out music at the top of my lungs in my car on the way home. I mean some serious, raspy voiced, Zeppelin tunes, rock n roll, all that.

All day long I'm usually singing. The thing is, it's different when people are around. If there's someone around me, I intentionally try not to sound good, or rather, I'm not doing my best. I hold everything back a bit. I figure that way, if someone makes a snide remark, i can put it down to the fact that I'm not bothering to sing well and wouldn't have to confront the fact that there's a real possibility that I sound like a diseased yak. Plus, I really hate musicals and have this thing about people breaking out into full song for no apparent reason. They look like jerks.

That's really about all I have to say on that. Is it possible that I'm a fantastic singer? I guess it is but I have no clue. Would I ever work up enough courage to give it a go for real in front of others? Most likely not. At least, not until I could record myself banging one out in private and then listening to the playback to see if it's even worth it.

Not much likelihood of that one happening either, though.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Nathan King on January 29, 2010 at 10:55am

Once upon a time, when I was a wee lad, one of my friends overheard me singing and told me it was awful.

That really messed up my confidence for a long time. I love to sing in the car, jamming out to tunes or whatnot. But get my in front of people, and something changes... I hold back for some reason. And it's taken me a lot of work to sort of erase those doubts. Still got a long way to go there, too.

And retrospectively, I think my buddy was probably referring to my choice in song back in the day.

I think you, me, and everyone else has the potential for be a fantastic singer. But it ain't gonna happen overnight. The only way it's gonna improve it is use it. A lot. And never hold back.

Heh, remember what Muddy said when he first heard his voice on playback? :-)

Permalink Reply by Cigar Box Nation on January 29, 2010 at 11:01am

I can't sing but I still do.

Permalink Reply by Josh Gayou (SmokehouseGuitars) on January 29, 2010 at 11:10am

Some people can sack up. :)

Shane Speal said:

I can't sing but I still do.

Permalink Reply by Roger Martin on January 29, 2010 at 6:19pm

Many years ago I made a living ,in front of a mic , most of the time all nite long belting out tune after tune, ( early 60's).
Now days I cant even remember what songs I sang , much less the words to them.I didnt know it at the time but the truth was, I wasnt much of a singer.But I threw everything I had into each song I sang.
It could be argued that its more important to put the feeling into a song more so then to make sure the song is sung "mechanically" correctly.
If you listen to some of the best known singers Some ( not all) are not perfect singers, but you still get lost in their song.
Your trying to get them to feel your emotion as you sing, your trying to let them in on what your "telling" them about.If you do it right, they wont be listening for every note to be perfect , or not so perfect.
But they WILL notice if you can connect with the song emotionally.
Dont worry about every note being perfect, just put the emotion there, and you'll connect with your audience.

Permalink Reply by Wichita Sam on January 30, 2010 at 6:07am

Roger,

YOu are right about that... connecting with the song.. and with the audience is more important than a perfectly played song...

I have free studio time coming to me because of a trade for a CBG, but I'm hesitant because the studio tech/owner is a "tempo nazi"... the first thing he does is lays down a beat track and gets twisted if I waver of the beat a milli-second... not my style with singing blues...

the best,

Sam

Roger Martin said:

Many years ago I made a living ,in front of a mic , most of the time all nite long belting out tune after tune, ( early 60's).
Now days I cant even remember what songs I sang , much less the words to them.I didnt know it at the time but the truth was, I wasnt much of a singer.But I threw everything I had into each song I sang.
It could be argued that its more important to put the feeling into a song more so then to make sure the song is sung "mechanically" correctly.
If you listen to some of the best known singers Some ( not all) are not perfect singers, but you still get lost in their song.
Your trying to get them to feel your emotion as you sing, your trying to let them in on what your "telling" them about.If you do it right, they wont be listening for every note to be perfect , or not so perfect.
But they WILL notice if you can connect with the song emotionally.
Dont worry about every note being perfect, just put the emotion there, and you'll connect with your audience.

Permalink Reply by Roger Martin on January 30, 2010 at 12:58pm

Hey Sam,,,
Maybe you might try doing the song with 2 different tempo's to start with, maybe he'll get off your back.
Plus you could play him some really OLD blues where the tempo might change 5 times before the songs over.
Perfect beat wasnt everything in the old days.It was about the message,Some modern "tempo-nazi"s" could quite possibly learn something about true music,"It aint all about the beat"

Permalink Reply by Wichita Sam on January 30, 2010 at 2:34pm

Thanks roger

Roger Martin said:

Hey Sam,,,
Maybe you might try doing the song with 2 different tempo's to start with, maybe he'll get off your back.
Plus you could play him some really OLD blues where the tempo might change 5 times before the songs over.
Perfect beat wasnt everything in the old days.It was about the message,Some modern "tempo-nazi"s" could quite possibly learn something about true music,"It aint all about the beat"

Permalink Reply by samsunight on January 31, 2010 at 6:19am

There are guitar players who sing, and singers who play guitar. I started singing simply because I couldn't find anyone else who would. I must confess that I enjoy it.

Permalink Reply by chris ekelman on February 3, 2010 at 10:43am

Josh,you should try out for American Idol. Take your CBG and give a shout out to everyone at the nation.

Permalink Reply by Josh Gayou (SmokehouseGuitars) on February 3, 2010 at 12:20pm

You're saying that as though American Idol is a show about music...

chris ekelman said:

Josh,you should try out for American Idol. Take your CBG and give a shout out to everyone at the nation.

Permalink Reply by chris ekelman on February 4, 2010 at 1:41am

Okay,I take that back. How about that one with Wayne Brady? You could make money at the same time.

chris ekelman said:

Josh,you should try out for American Idol. Take your CBG and give a shout out to everyone at the nation.

Permalink Reply by Joker on February 5, 2010 at 9:01am

"good singing" is a matter of opinion I think. Some folks would think that Joe Crocker, Neil Young, J mascis, Joey Ramone, Blind Willie Johnson etc.. are bad singers-other folks would diagree. I think people who think they can't sing but still do do it because they have something to say, and the message comes from real emotion and thought, rather than the folks who's pride in their abiltiies turn their music into a something thin, lacking depth and emotion.

Shane Speal said: