I would assume that most people here are not trained singers, I’m not. So how do we find what key to sing in? They say that G is the people’s cord. And it’s easier for me I believe. But it still doesn’t seem right.
When I searched the Internet they talked about head a chest voice and that seems advanced for what I am looking for. Does someone know of a test I could do? Maybe singing the major in scale some different keys would help.
Any help with the appreciated!
Thanks, Pat
H Pat -I’m certainly no singer either, but I don’t sing in lots of different keys 
I just use a capo to find what is comfortable for that particular song. It will depend on the melody so it’s not a case of moving all songs to one key.
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So you just for example, take the A D AND E CORDS. Slap on the capo and move it up One Fret at a time until it it’s easier to sing.
I can try that. Thanks
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Hi Pat - thinking of keys might be misleading, as it is really your range that you are comfortable singing in that’s important to get right. For example my comfortable range is from F (3rd fret 4th string) to G (3rd fret 1st string) and can get down to C (3rd fret 5th string) and up to B (7th fret 1st string) both at a push but it is more strained and then doesn’t sound so good. So any melody that touches notes outside my range at all or has too many notes that are outside my comfortable range needs adjusting and that’s independent of the key a song is set in.
I am no trained singer either beyond singing in school and other choirs growing up. And for a long time I was never too bothered about where melodies are when singing and playing guitar. But when I started to record myself I noticed that some songs just sound better than others. I searched a bit on the internet and yes, they can throw a lot of terminology at you, and in the end I don’t want to become a trained singer, I just want to know if I have to transpose a song first before I learn it so it will sound nice when I later add the singing. So the most useful thing I found is really this distinction between your comfortable range and the extended range.
Finding your comfortable range is easy: start with a note that you are comfortable singing, bang in the middle of what feels comfortable to you. Then go up in semi-tone steps (not major scale, steps can be too large) until you find the note where it stops feeling comfortable but you can still sing it. Go beyond that to see how far your extended range goes. Then go back to the starting note and go down in semi-tone steps, one fret at a time, and repeat finding the last note that feels comfortable to sing and then beyond to find the end of your range. I was surprised that my comfortable range was only just an octave - but that seems to be normal, I just hadn’t realised.
And then the fun starts. Whatever song you want to sing, try and find the key to sing and play it in so that the bulk of the melody overlaps with your comfortable range. Many songs keep the melody within an octave, sometimes less - they are easy to move as the melody range is smaller than a voice’s range. Just align to your comfortable range and it will make such a difference! You will feel instantly more comfortable singing it. Trickier to get right are the ones where the melody extends well over an octave, first you have to fit it into your range, but then you also need to look at where is the bulk of the melody, and the important parts, and try and get those into your comfortable range.
As Paul said, capo is your best friend. I use it all the time. But the guitar sound changes when the capo is placed high up on the neck and then it might be better to transpose the song altogether. Most recently I changed a song from Dm to Am - instead of playing with Dm fingering and capo 7th fret I play with no capo but fingering in Am. Base runs sound just as good.
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Thank you! That was very helpful. Now I know what I will be working on this week.
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Both these are in the key of Am. The Dm chord shape capoed the 7th fret is an Am.
You didn’t change the key you just changed the octave.
I like to do hit and trial by trying to sing and adjust the capo accordingly. But I’m still a beginner so transposing a song without using capo does not always work out for me as I can only play open chords and F chord.
By the way singing major scale in different keys is great way to test your range. I like doing it.
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Pat @pratterr
Lieven covers this in Motivation Class 10, definitely worth a look at if you haven’t already.
From my point of view and I am no expert, but I am talking singing lesson so here are my personal thoughts. I think it is essential your know your vocals range, plenty of free Apps will give you mine is G2 to E4 so that sort of fits in the Baritone Range.
You need to the Key of the Song and ideally the vocal range of the melody. The last one for popular songs can be found on the web on sites such as Singing Carrots. However, like a lot on the web you need to treat the information carefully.
That should give you an indication that you are going to be able to sing it in the original key or whether you need to change it before you sing along with the original.
As a real-life example, I am working on one of John Denver’s lessor known songs. I knew it was in the Key of D but could not find the vocal range of the song but John Denver’s vocal range is apparently G2 to C5 Singing along to the original it was very apparent that some the upper notes were above mine and most of it was quite high so not very conformable for me. To confirm this, I isolated the vocals and ran it though a pitch monitor and this confirmed my initial thoughts. I then used Anytune (there are others that will do this, including an add in for Chrome on a PC) to lower the pitch of the song in semitones until I felt comfortable singing along with it. It turned out to be in the Key of C, so I transposed the chords (not using a capo) so that is what I am doing.
Just my thoughts as a novice singer and hope it helps.
Michael
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It depends on the individual. Some will find it helpful, others not so. I’m not a ‘good singer’ but happily sing along to all the songs I learn.
I have no idea of what range my voice covers.
For me the simplest approach is always to try and sing along to the original and if I find it too high or too low in parts, I use a capo a couple of frets up and try again. I’ll transcribe if I find chord progressions easier to play.
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Just to clarify: the original song is in Dm played with no capo. Can’t sing it like that. If I use a capo I have to put it on the 7th fret - yes, implying Am but still using Dm grips. But I don’t like to have the capo up that high so I transposed the Dm song to Am so I can playwithout capo and still sing along. Using Am grips.
Brian @brianlarsen
I think you are right it does depend in the individual, for good or bad I have an Engineers mind which means I need to analyse things and understand all about it, I just find it difficult to be take things for granted.
As you say if you try to sing along with the original you will soon find out if you need to make adjustments.
Michael
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