There are millions of songs that are out there that will make your practice worth it. But is that the best way to go about it? I don’t think. I believe there is an actual method to this madness.
When you are picking songs to practice you can make it easier for yourself by narrowing down the genre that you’re accustomed to, understanding the arrangement of the song, and analyzing the technical difficulty of its singing parts.
Once that is done, it’s only a matter of putting the right information and skills and mastering the song that is before you. Ready? Let’s go!
Pick a Genre
This is going to be easy unless you are into every genre which is plausible. This is not something you need to put a lot of thought into.
If you love a lot of genres then pick the one that you have been listening to lately and feel if it matches your mood and current vibes.
Pick something that is familiar as well. Something you’ve been listening to for quite a while. The reason for that is, you will be able to pick up other genre-related cues far much easier.
When you’re practicing singing, you just try to practice just singing. If you’re introduced to a new genre then it will not work as it is something you have not let yourself get used to.
Don’t overthink.
Measure Difficulty
Now, this is where you are going to gauge a song just by yourself.
Listen to the arrangement. How many times do the chorus and verse come in this song? Where is the bridge? Is there a bridge in this song? What about the solo? How many bars is it?
Once you find that you understand the arrangement of the song decently it’s a good fit.
The next thing you need to watch out for is the highest note being sung. If it is within your reach great! If it isn’t then that’s something we have to practice.
All good. Now’s the time to…
Break It Down
This means taking things in parts and sections.
Create a mental image of all things you ought to work on to make this happen. Learn the chord progression and understand the arrangement even if it is on a basic level.
Once you have done that then it is only a matter of time before you are able to do all you know about singing and apply all the techniques and incorporate those into your practice so that you are able to replicate the song that you have chosen.
But sometimes we don’t know how to do that. Sometimes we go about learning songs just by doing what we feel is right and just try to copy as is without much thought.
It is not the most efficient way to go about it.
Your ability to break down skills in singing is going to determine how you tackle all difficulties. This one singular skill of understanding how skills and techniques work and being able to break them down to that you can see how you can get to that level is going to determine how you handle difficult things that you can’t yet sing.
But of course, the question is how can you gain this expertise without having prior knowledge about it. The more you practice songs the more you will learn, right?
Not really.
Online Courses
I have written extensively about them here.
Online courses will provide you with the correct knowledge and the skills and even the techniques that you must master in order for you to understand how singing works and be able to do the ‘breakdown’ that I was talking about.
They are cheap but I have to admit you need to watch, understand and practice the lessons in order to do them successfully. But it can be done. It’s less a matter of how difficult this is to learn rather than more of showing up every day and understanding what the course is teaching you,
When you are first beginning I suggest that you try t take and internalize the knowledge more than actual practice. Because once you have understood what is being taught, you can practice whenever you want to.
That’s how it works.
So, you understand then you practice and that will give you the so-called ‘experience’ that I was talking about in the breaking down section.
Now you have gained that experience that was required of you without learning songs.
But of course, there is a huge question that we need to answer…
Where to Learn Singing From?
The medium of choice is obviously online courses but at the same time, I would like to give you my two cents and tell you about Robert Lunte’s courses.
Robert Lunte is a pretty famous guy on the internet for providing the world with his ‘The Four Pillars of Singing’ methodology based on which he teaches everyone how to sing.
I personally own it and I think you should too.
There are various other courses and you can check them out here. Prices are shown as well.
Though if you’re looking for something basic and a bit more pocket friendly. Then this warm-up course will be for you.
You’re welcome to read other articles and gain from them but remember, nothing beats real practice!