Hey Justin, I am a returning guitar player using your iPhone leasons app and am on module 9 now. Will you have any singing with guitar lessons on your app?
Thats such bulls***. People trolling you about your singing. Meanwhile youre giving high quality lessons of your lifes work for free. My favorite part if your lessons is when you sing the chord voicings.
lol welcome to youtube, there could be a 5 star professional who made millions, giving a lesson and there still gonna be ppl saying they suck and are doing it wrong
Pay no attention to the very few negative people who have nothing better to do. Huge amount of positive responses to read and are well earned. Justin is an absolute gem
this is one of the better start to sing vids I have ever seen. and he is a good singer, yes comments are often attacking on any music 🎵🎶 or artistic videos. thanks for calling them out!!!!
I can’t sing very well, but I can’t just play a song without singing lol. Nirvana and everlast. A lot of their songs work well enough for my voice to not send everything in earshot running
OMG, when you started the “quiet singing” and the “talk singing” I literally teared up a little. This is the advice I’ve been looking for. I wish I would have had this video 36 years ago. Thank you. ❤️
The point at the end about confidence is sooooo valid, as is your earlier point about feeling comfortable. I used to “sing in my head” because I thought my voice was so bad, but then I realised I wasn’t playing the tune I was “singing”. I’m a woodworker and I made a really nice guitar hanger that I was proud of, then, shortly afterwards we had a couple of very close friends over for dinner and they remarked on the guitar hanging on the wall. They asked if I would play something and I made all the excuses about singing, but they insisted and as they are good friends I decided I didn’t mind sounding like a clown - I knew they wouldn’t be too harsh on me, so I cracked out Streets of London and was both surprised and pleased when they all (including my wife) started clapping. I was happy that my friends were being kind to me, but then they asked me to sing another song! I was surprised, because I don’t think I would want to listen to me singing twice, but as I had the instrument in my hand I did Hotel California and got an even louder clap! The point of this tale is that I know (and so do they) that I’ll never be a great singer, BUT, what I did was to share some joy and that was the biggest motivator to make me sing more often. So, in summary (I know it’s a long post, sorry), I would say, find some songs you like, sing while you practice, play for friends and family and just be happy - happiness is what music is all about, surely? (unless you’re a Leonard Cohen fan, of course, lol).
Hi Justin, I have never commented before.Recently, I met my guitar hero by pure accident. In Melbourne, I attended the Tommy Emmanuel concert which was superb! The following morning I went for breakfast with my wife at a little restaurant near the threatre. We were seated right next to Tommy and a friend. I had a lovely exchange with him and I treasure the meeting. Your lessons are absolutely sensational!! Apart from your guitar talent and singing, your personality is a real gift. You explain thins so well and you are a champion for all us aspiring guitar players. From the bottom of my 72 year old heart, thanks mate!!
Justin’s videos are like that good friend that you can sometimes lose touch with, but when you reconnect you remember why they are such a good friend. This was a helpful video. Thanks.
I’ve been dealing w some serious depression for a long time and trying to learn guitar and sing helps me cope. I suck at both still but just watching your lessons honestly does give me hope. You’ve got a great character and refreshing honesty and directness that I love. I strive to be a little more that myself. Thank you.
Hang in there Shwen. I also find a lot of comfort in music and love Justin's videos. If you're having fun keep doing it, I also suck at both singing and playing but I don't care, it's fun. 🙂
I started playing just before I lost it with anxiety and depression. Guitar, even a few minutes a day was the only thing I could do and helped me immensely. Stick with it and know that there's always light at the end of the tunnel. You will feel better.
This is an outstanding lesson. You have hit the nail on the head. I picked up the guitar a couple of years ago and went onto many RU-vid sites to learn the basics of guitar playing. Your tutorials are by far the best I have experienced - and there have been a lot - you are a born teacher. This singing tutorial is the best advice you have given. We are not all Pavarotti, but we all have a voice. I heard that Karen Carpenter had an extremely quiet singing voice and benefited from amplification. The world would have been a poorer place if she was told not to sing.
Hey Mick! You're exactly right about Karen Carpenter. Justin's comments about not straining/pushing or singing too loudly reminded me of an excerpt from a biography called "Little Girl Blue, The Life of Karen Carpenter". Karen was being driven to the studio with one of her friends and as she was warming up and singing in the car the friend was totally surprised how quiet her singing voice really was. It was mentioned in the book that Karen let the microphone do the work. It's a great read if you like the Carpenters.
My number 1 desire in learning guitar is not fast lead etc, but to be able to play and sing songs on acoustic to a decent standard. So I jumped on this!
i m a singer for 30 yrs .. this is good advice .. I ve given vocal lessons .. The biggest thing is that when you sing , you need project ...obviously pitch is important ..
Helpful lesson Justin. I’m 74 years . I usually sing “in my head” when I play, but of course that’s not my own voice. I found the singy / talky in a low voice method very helpful.
Me too. I'm 67, same thing. I took advice from another comment about tuning down a full step, and with my singy/talky voice, I'm having a lot of fun with it. If you try it, Sixteen Tons and Wellerman are fun. Thanks.
I'm turning 60 today and just about 5 years ago I decided to learn play guitar and sing from cero today after those years I'm still feel lost but I just want to keep going my main motivation is retirement and be able to an joy time with music I have learn basic cords but having difficulties strumming make it sound like music to my ears Singing since I have no idea what is my range I'm just jumping from all over I'm part a singing choir in my church but I want more 80 percent at list
I recorded myself despite hating my voice. My singers have all told me to start singing. I was convinced I sounded bad. To my astonishment, I'm not a bad vocalist when I pick my fights well. GL, YOU GOT THIS!!!
This is a wonderful lesson. You are one of the “demystifier”teachers that I really admire. You get down to students level and it shows your dedication as an educator. Thank you Justin.
I spent A whole afternoon, looking at a bunch of RU-vid singing coaches. All of them were giving anything but the basics which is all I wanted. Your video was a home run! Thanks so much!
Justin's the best man! I love him. 1.5 million subscribers, he's doing something right. Did his free electric guitar lessons, ended up paying for his lesson app. Best investment ever made other then my buying my first electronic guitar. Learned so much from him, opened up a whole new world. I've watched and listened to other RU-vidrs, they are great as well. Justin is the best though and I am grateful for everything he has taught me.
Regarding dynamics. You're 100% spot on, Justin. The best analogy I've heard is your first day at the gym. If you go for max weights on your first day, nothing good will come of it. If you take your time and start light, over time, you will build your muscles and the strength will come. Very similar to working out our vocal chords and voices.
Sometimes people who are good at something gives the most awful advice because they have no idea what it's like to be a beginner. This video is great and will help a lot of people.
True. You’d ask a famous singer how you can improve singing. They would say « Sing as often as possible ». Professional singers keep their secrets secret.
Thank you, I had an absolute shocker of a singing teacher "I say, you do" would not discuss anything, did not prepare me to deal with stage fright etc. I like this approach much more.
Been following you Justin since I started playing 14 yrs. ago & you made comments during some of those early tutorials that your not gonna sing because you can't, you”be since found your confidence & your voice....sounds great....cheers mate 🍻
Justin- as a preformer of 20 years plus, I have to say I have STILL learned much from your video. And yes! You have improved! Thank you for humility and approach. I'm a folk singer and while voice lessons are great,I'm not Mr. American idol. This video was the best I've seen for helping in a super practical way. Most videos I see are without the addition of the guitar. Thank you so much!!
Thank you!!! I am a classically trained vocalist who has struggled to sing pop music for years.. Thank you saying : “you don’t have to work so hard!” So many singers need to hear this.. honestly this is the best lesson for pop/rock vocalists I’ve found. I breath of fresh air.
I've always wanted to sing while playing. This was great. Hendrix was never a good singer but it fitted what he played. He was in fact a 'talk singer'.
Yes! The recording helps so much. I had to start out recording just my speaking voice at first, for a couple of months. No music, no singing. I’ve hated my voice so much for so long, but after several months of recording, I’m starting to be able to at least listen back to some of it so that I can see what needs to be worked on.
This is the best video ever for a guitarist trying to learn to sing. Most others deal with the fancy vocal coaching stuff which is probably more relevant for singer-only people. Awesome work mate.
This was an awesome lesson. I have always felt that I can’t sing and was told I was tone deaf. I sing when I play alone and no one can hear me, but I don’t have the confidence even then. I know I hit the right note once in awhile and csn sing when I am singing along with the record or someone, so I know the ability is there. Anyway, this lesson has been an inspiration for me and I will do the ‘exercises’ you have mentioned. Thank you so much and I would love a sequel lesson to this one.
I just joined a men's choir, having never been a singer. I didn't really know what I was getting into but I'm doing well enough to enjoy it and be invited to keep coming back. I'd say the conductor spends more time getting us to keep the dynamic down than push it up.
Justin this is a wonderful and encouraging lesson. I'm persisting with learning to sing along to my guitar tunes and this video helps on so many levels. You have such a genuine helpful character, simply one of the brightest stars in the universe of the internet!
Justin I am so grateful for your videos. You have made a tremendous difference for me. Now you’ve taken it to a whole other level. Proper singing has been extremely difficult for me. This video has blown up my impression of what signing could be if I stop straining to reach a note the way I hear it. I’m excited to work with these exercises. So grateful for who you are and your commitment to teaching and improving.
How do you inspire people? Prove you share or have shared in their struggles. Kudos to you, sir, for doing just that. You're already helping teach me to play the guitar; now you might start teaching me to sing as well!
Thank you,,I’ve been told over and over that I sing out of key,,luckily,at my age it doesn’t bother me,,but I want to sing better ,I picked up a uke and love it and love singing,,recording my voice and playin it back has helped,,
I wish I would have had this video years ago. It sounds like a great starting point for total beginners and people who have low confidence in their singing. I had quite the same issues like you did and thought that I'll never be able to sing. I actually committed to taking singing lessons from local teachers, because quiting was no option for me. But I only experienced a noteworthy breakthrough after I got to my fourth teacher, one that was seeing me as an individual person and focusing on my voice and not standard lessons. So it definitely depends on how well you teacher fits to you, if your teacher trains your individual voice and doesn't simply use standard vocal exercises and most importantly how persistent you are. It took me over 4 years to get to a point where I like my singing voice and am confident enough not to feel hurt by other people's opinions. I believe it could have gone faster if my start weren't so rocky. Justin you're definitely one of the best teachers out there! You can even give valuable information about matters out of your expertise.
I've been struggling to learn guitar/sing and I came across this channel and I've been down this rabbit hole for hours... but I feel like I've learned more than I have in months on my own. Thank you Justin for these videos, you have no idea how much it helps and how happy that makes me
Man! The reason I subscribed to you is because you are real. Much better for me to learn from someone who is also still learning. Much more comfortable and encouraging to learn from someone who is honest and humble about their own talent. Thank you.
Fascinating Jason. I'm still not there yet but I now think in similar terms. I try to "inhabit" a song, I spent too long trying to sing a Dylan song (for example) in his style. Much better to do your own interpretation. Unfortunately most of the stuff I like to do is by American singers and it hard to not try and effect a fake accent. As I said it's work in progress but your lesson is a huge inspiration. Many thanks.
I've found that over time, the vocal lessons do become part of you and work their magic.And your true voice comes through.Minus all that posture and ' Musical Show' tone. You are great, Justin.Mind-boggling how much help you have given to so many !Thanks
You are my favorite online guitar teacher and I have noticed a marked improvement in your singing. Thanks for sharing these tips, they obviously worked for you!
This video gives confidence. Confidence in starting to sing. Singing is like getting naked in front of people. Record your singing first, listen to it, and get used to the sound of your voice. Everything after is practice. Just in guitar! So start today, singing is as important than laughing!
You´re awesome! i paid for your beginners course this year and feel so genuinely grateful for your contribution to this space. I sincerely hope you never get tired of hearing me say ¨Thank you" Greetings from Patagonia Chile!!
I been watching your videos for at least 10 years and your singing has improved immensely...I'm am sincerely surprised how much you have improved! Well done!
I learned a lot of guitar from you as a beginner years ago. I never minded your singing , it beats guitar teachers that won't even have a go at it. It helped, so good job
I don’t care how late I am to this party, I just wanted to say, your “Hallelujah” a-la Tom Waits was amazing 😅. Made me look up if Tom Waits has ever done that song, and he hasn’t! But my memory tells me he has!
Justin, what a great lesson. I had a patient who was a singing teacher, who said everyone can learn to sing its just a language. That doesn’t mean you’ll sound like Freddie, but ALL of us can sing IF we learn. Your tips about singing softly/dynamics are Gold - Chris Smithers sings out of the corner of his mouth! My only crit - no-one is tone deaf - it doesnt exist! Thanks again I’m going to back to training and use your tips!
Love this video! Justin addresses many of the issues a lot of us struggle with. I had zero confidence after being humiliated and shamed at age 5 by a teacher in front of the entire class. Our kindergarten class was singing a song in front of the entire school and she said I ruined it. This affected music lessons I took in later years where I was required to sing.
@@nigelmadeley7798 my granddaughter sings in a school choir, they took 1st place in state and 2nd in Nationals. When she hears me sing she's embarrassed,lol. She says she doesn't think I'm tone deaf, just bad.
I’ve sung at open mics - one time a friend/coworker commented afterwards “you hit some of the notes!” It was embarrassing to hear but reflecting I realized he was right. In the end very helpful to hear. I know I was kind of phoning it in thinking about my guitar too much. I realized singing is most important and the guitar can just fade away at points. Guitar should be lead by the singer or there’s no song - f’up the playing but keep the song going and let the guitar catch up!
Your perspective reminds me of what Ben Folds said in his autobiography about singing. Once he stopped trying unsuccessfully to sing and just did 'talky singing' he found he could do it.
Really brilliant lesson and tips, Justin! Been singing my whole life, have had many lessons, and still learned so much from this video. Two thumbs up for listening to the original song over and over again to learn the melody and nuances, and recording yourself and listening and correcting. I do this all the time. And Capo is my best friend!😊
You are the BEST Justin. Feel like you were speaking right to me. I LOVE to sing but alas was not gifted a great voice. Love all the helpful tips! I can carry my own singing softly!
In terms of personality, modesty and empathy/care for your viewers, you are at the top of the list Justin. I have learnt countless songs off of your channel. Your accuracy and patience are so helpful to players across the ability spectrum. Do not be put off by hateful morons who get off on trying to bring loftier souls down to their level. Shine on brother as you’ve done for countless years.
When you taught Time Warp it helped me immensely and I laughed so hard. You showed your mistakes and it helped me overcome my anxiety about singing Thank you!
Thank you for this video, after playing in bands for over 30 years and never considering myself able to sing this has given me the confidence to actually have a go and at my next gig I'm hoping to sing a lead vocal for the first time ever
Perfect timing since I’ve just started to upload my videos, 🤣😭 I’ve only been playing for 2 years, but now I can change chords without thinking about it, so next stage for me is to improve my singing. So thank you 🤩✌🏻
Brilliant lesson.. nobody ever mentions these things about just trying to sing while strumming a guitar. Everyone gets so serious about the correct posture and breathing etc, which is great but, for me, i just wanted to be able to sing along with my guitar at parties and with friends without sounding terrible. This is a great video 🙏☘️☘️☘️
Singing softly to stay in tune is good advice, gradually when you are ready, increase your volume and expression, walk before you can run is the basics behind learning the guitar and the same for singing.
When I first watched your videos, I remember thinking " Just get on with it" and watched hundreds of other RU-vid tutorials. Being a three-chord wonder for like 55 years(seriously) I wanted to "get it". I had pretty much excepted guitar playing and singing was for my ears only. Now I can hear you saying "Just get on with it". OK, You have an honest real, down-to-earth approach to teaching and broke it down enough to see the basic stuff I was not doing. You Teach not only how to play but also listen, and I am so glad I finally did. I am proud to have moved up to a multiple-chord wonder who on a good day can sing a few tunes. I have you to thank for that. Still watching, Listening and learning.
5 minutes into the video, I knew it would be the best video on beginner-level singing. Support, posture, etc is extremely important for opera singers, but not that much for beginners and casual singers who sing at home and only if they are alone. Beginners should follow all your instructions in this video. I don’t have a powerful and I don’t want to sing loud. I think Folk music like Simon and Garfunkel and James Taylor’s Fire and Rain are the style most compatible with my Tenor voice and personality. Vocal coaches may have dreams of coaching future stars to get credit and recognition, so they think they need to train you as a solid professional singer.
Lots of good ideas here. I was a horrible singer a few years ago and still working on it to get better. An idea I came up with to help is to find a few songs you love to sing and challenge yourself with doing Karoke in a bar or something like that. Doing that in public alone helps you develop into a better singer and helps with eventually performing.
What a great lesson. I've just recently been trying to sing along with my guitar playing after "graduating" your beginner courses. I can actually handle quite a few but my voice is ummm...let's just say I rarely relisten to my recordings. Been considering voice lessons but this is actually what I want to do. Thanks so much!
Hi Justin! Thank you for this awesome free lessons. Learned so much from your channel and keep learning while enjoying it (isn't that the point?). What sparked my interest in your teaching was that I think your understanding of music and art in general is great. Expressing feelings via music is a gift and I think sometimes people are so concentrated on the music part and forget the feelings. Worry, fear of failure, pressure to make it sound "right" creates the strain and this is a beautiful paradox :) if you wanna sing better, don't worry too much about singing better. Let yourself to make mistakes and accept them joyfully, that's how any human learns anything. It's important to point this out because most artists and aspiring artists have a tendency to act perfectionistic and keep criticizing every mistake. That kind of behaviour can steal the joy and hinders the progress. You are very well aware of that and your videos have a therapeutic effect which fairly supports the learning journey and this is one of the prominent reasons why you are an awesome teacher. Thank you.
Excellent tutorial! Thank you! For those of us with quieter voices who also play instruments, learning how to properly use a microphone becomes imperative. That should be the next lesson.
Oh this is just a brilliant video, Justin. This could have been specifically to/for me - everything in it resonated, from vocal coaches, strumming a bit too hard and therefore straining to match the volume, negative feedback from people, the lot. Tips like working out the melody on guitar - so obvious once you say it, "copying" singers you like in the way you'd lift a guitarist's licks etc, are incredibly helpful. Thanks so much - I''m going to keep coming back to this one. Well done, fella!
I have been playing guitar for about 10yrs (thks to your lessons) but was not able to sing much less sing/play. Now working on improving my singing, this lesson really helps.. Thank you!!!
What great timing for this video. I have just started to sing and play at the same time and have discovered my singing sucks LOL. Hopefully these tips help.
Its something I've always struggled with. I know I can sing a bit and I can play basic chords a bit, but to do both etc etc has always been a huge challenge. I will try these tips for sure and hopefully have the balls to post a video. Great video. It really hit home. I've neglected my guitar for 2 years now as I thought that was as good as it gets.
Great tutorial Justin. What I like about your videos, is that you always come across as genuinely wanting to help people. You have a warm personable style and that allows people to be able to really understand what you are saying. In that way, you are a true communicator. Keep up the good work.
Bobbie Gentry is a great example of talk-singing. If you listen to "Ode to Billy Joe", you'll hear she only uses vibrato fairly rarely. She just tells the story and lets that give the drama. Same on "Fancy".
I was watching the video and was wondering when you were gonna mention proper key for your voice. Glad you got to it at the end. I find it to be the most essential step (second being, finding and knowing the melody). At jams I hear very good guitar players singing in a key that’s much too high for them. Of course some songs just have a big range and would be a challenge in any key, but most don’t and the performer is just not picking a key for a particular song that suits them. It seems many are married to the idea of playing in the original key. #1 tip- Gotta play with the song and pitch it just right for you.
Great video Justin. This totally reflects my experience of having to learn to sing after avoiding it for 40 odd years! I found myself as frontman of a band about 3 years ago so did a Udemy singing course which was brilliant but based on, as you put it, the "classical" style of singing. Still, all the basics were there. The big thing I noticed when I started singing live was that nobody listens to your guitar playing - it's the singing that counts. It had always been about the guitar to me so this was a bit of a shock. I now do daily vocal exercises and concentrate on my singing almost as much as playing guitar. I would say that breathing is very, very important but luckily I've always had a high level of fitness so I can tend to focus on control of the breathing. The other thing is that I always stand up when playing now as it opens everything up. Finally, you are so right about reviewing your performances. There's always someone who has recorded you at an open mic or gig and to me, they are the recordings that count rather than the ones I do in my room. Once again, thanks.
Hey Justin, thank you so much for your tutorials in general and your help!! Without your videos I wouldn't have learned how to play the guitar so quickly! This video is also perfect and excactly what I was missing on my guitar journey atm!! You're absolutely correct: Most people just want not to suck at singing (including me). It seems to me that many tips you find elsewhere in the internet assume that you already know how to hit every note. You said so many true things in your video that reminded me of that I'm not alone with this problem. So thank you for that! It's also comforting to know that even you had some issues with your singing in the beginning and it is a long process to become a good singer. Some are more talented than others, but it also can be seen as an instrument that needs some practice to be learned. Anyway the most important thing I wanted to say (besides thank you) is: I highly appreciate it when you sing in your videos to demonstrate the songs. It just makes much more sense that way and I think you have a beautiful voice! So please keep it up!!
When we were getting married, we took dance lessons for the wedding waltz. I can't dance! The teacher was trying to teach us something that an advanced couple would have had problems mastering in a competition. (Well, maybe not, but the routine was competition worthy) As the wedding day drew near, and it was obvious that I was not going to be able to do the routine, the teacher said, well you can just end it here, and repeat. But then I didn't have time to make the adjustment. The wedding dance was a disaster. The videographer was even laughing. So, Justin I fully appreciate that you are sharing what most of us want, just how to sing along. If I wanted to sound professional, I would go to a professional teacher. This vid. was perfect!
Great lesson. Your singing has definitely improved over the years. You were obviously a guitar player just having to sing back in your earlier vids, now you sound like someone that sounds perfectly fine singing anything if you had to.
Thank you Justin. It really helps me when you sing with the lesson. I appreciate the guitar lessons and I love to sing. Any time you help with singing it's a huge bonus. Thank you so much.
Thank you. I have had lessons from a well known Opera singer. He teaches in a well known music school. He would be a great teacher for an advanced student. He was not the right teacher for me. Thanks for giving me your thoughts
