I'm not a natural singer either but years ago, frustrated with a few Diva and Divo singers who thought the world revolved around them I decided to learn.

The first thing you need to do is to breathe properly. If you don't, you can ruin your voice and end up sounding like a frog. If you get nodules on your vocal cords, there is a 50/50 chances an operation will fix it. If it doesn't you won't be able to sing at all. Julie Andrews the Broadway/Movie star lost that bet. Tony Bennett breathes properly and he's in his 90s and his voice is still strong.

When you inhale, your chest should not inflate, instead your abdomen. Your navel should move away from your spine. Then as you sing, your abdominal muscles should tighten as if you were anticipating someone punching you in the gut as you exhale through your larynx. Your throat should not be tense even when singing high notes.

This is called breath support and it is the same with wind instrument players.

Then it takes a lot of practice, and I mean a lot of practice. It was harder to learn to sing than it was to learn guitar for me. On the guitar, if you put your fingers on the right frets the right note comes out, comes out clearly and is in tune. It took many hours to develop the muscles to get my voice to do that (I told you I'm not a natural singer).

I'm now in a duo with my wife who is a fantastic singer (and not a Diva) and I sing about half the songs. She sings the most demanding ones though because she has a better "instrument".

Memorizing words is another thing. I think it takes doing it, and doing it without the words in front of you.

I learn the guitar part first then the vocals, then put them together. I do the same when I accompany myself on the keyboard.

I keep a cheat sheet on a computer in front of me so I can glance at it if I trip on the words.

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Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
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