Sing in a Band

Sing in a Band

Lots of people love to perform, but some can’t play an instrument. That’s where you might want to sing in a band. If you’ve got a decent voice and can learn to sing well, you can try to sing in a band; you just need to pay attention to a few things.

1. Hearing Everything: when you sing in a band, whether it be rock, easy listening, Christian etc, a key problem – usually the number one problem – is hearing yourself. Often times, the music is too loud for you to be able to hear yourself clearly. So, the easiest solution is to route your singing through a sound system, and then pump just your vocals back to you via an earpiece. Any decent sound system can handle this, and thus you’ll be able to hear yourself, compare it to the music, and make sure the two stay in sync. Also, you can judge as to whether or not your volume is okay. Now, this brings up the next point-

2. Proper Volume: the members of a band all face the same problem – keeping their volume at the proper level when they sing in a band. As a singer, your easiest way to deal with this is in a practice session. Get a recording of the songs you’re going to be singing the vocals for, and then play them on your stereo at a very high volume and sing each song. Now, do not try to sing louder than the music; you are only trying to match the pitch of the music. The best way to check this is to have someone listen to you sing – someone with good pitch – and then have them assess how well you do. After that, get together with the band and sing in a rehearsal session. Here again, do not try to outperform each instrument; try to match the pitch of each of them. Usually, as you do that, each of the musicians will pull back – play softer – and thus the band can come together in a proper balance. If someone doesn’t do that – if they stay loud when you sing in a band – then you’ll have to talk to them about easing off on how loudly they play.

3. There is no “I” in Band: being part of a band means being part of a group, a team. So, you have to learn to not be a prima donna when you sing in a band; you’re all working together to make the band a success. Now, if you’re the only singer – or the lead singer – there may be a temptation to make you the focus of the group, but try to not let your ego get in the way. Getting a swelled head is the quickest way to cause a band to break up.

4. Match Songs to Audience: for any band to succeed, they have to be able to adjust their repertoire to fit a particular situation. If you’re performing at a rodeo, then country and western songs are probably more appropriate than heavy metal. If you’re working the cast party for a theater group, they might want to hear show tunes. So, learning as many different types of songs as possible will increase your chances of getting paying gigs to sing in a band. Also, knowing more songs in general is positive. If you perform at the same night club every day for a week, you can’t be playing the same eight or ten songs each night – people will get tired of you.

Singing with a band means being part of a group. So, be sure you’re all prepared to commit to the effort, and are able to get along. When everything clicks – and you all mesh properly – the results can be golden and you will love every time you sing in a band.