You've probably spent some time in the shower belt-singing your favorite track, only to record yourself later and feel a soul-crushing wave of disappointment. It’s a universal experience. Most people think they "can't sing" because they weren't born with the vocal cords of Adele or Freddie Mercury.
That’s mostly nonsense.
Singing is a physical coordination. It’s muscle memory. Just like you wouldn't expect to bench press 200 pounds without hitting the gym, you can't expect your larynx to handle complex riffs if you haven't trained the tiny muscles involved. Learning how to get better at singing isn't about uncovering a hidden magical gift; it's about understanding the mechanics of air and tension.
Honestly, most beginners are just fighting their own bodies.
Stop Trying to "Reach" for High Notes
One of the biggest mistakes people make when trying to improve is "reaching." You know the look—chin tilted up, neck veins popping, looking like you’re trying to grab a bird out of the sky with your mouth.
It feels intuitive. High note equals up, right? Wrong.
When you tilt your head up, you’re actually constricting your throat. You’re making it harder for the air to flow. Top-tier vocal coaches like Seth Riggs—who worked with Michael Jackson and Ray Charles—preach the "Speech Level Singing" method for a reason. The goal is to keep your larynx neutral, exactly where it sits when you’re just talking to a friend about what you had for lunch. If you can keep that throat position stable, the high notes come from a change in vocal cord vibration, not from physical straining.
Try this: Put your hand on your Adam’s apple (or where it would be) and swallow. Feel it jump up? Now yawn. Feel it drop? You want to find the middle ground. Stay there.
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The Breath Support Myth
People talk about "breathing from the diaphragm" like it’s some mystical yoga move.
The diaphragm is an involuntary muscle. You can’t actually "feel" it or consciously move it independently. What you’re actually doing when you practice good breath support is managing the exhalation.
If you dump all your air out on the first word of a sentence, you’re done. Your vocal cords will slam together to try and compensate for the lack of pressure, which leads to that scratchy, tired feeling after twenty minutes of practice. Expert singers use their abdominal muscles and intercostals (the muscles between your ribs) to hold the ribcage open. This creates a sort of "back pressure."
Think of it like a tire with a tiny leak versus one that’s been slashed. You want the tiny, controlled leak.
Specific exercises help. Try the "hiss" test. Inhale for four counts, then hiss out (like a snake) for as long as you can. If you're shaky or you run out of air in ten seconds, your support is weak. Most professional opera singers can hold a steady, consistent hiss for 30 to 45 seconds without breaking a sweat. It’s boring work. It’s tedious. But it’s the foundation of everything.
Your Ears Are Lying to You
Ever noticed how your voice sounds deep and resonant in your own head, but thin and weird on a recording?
Physics is to blame. When you speak or sing, you hear your voice through "bone conduction." The sound vibrates through your skull directly into your inner ear. Everyone else hears you through "air conduction."
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To how to get better at singing, you have to bridge the gap between what you think you sound like and what is actually happening. Record yourself. Every. Single. Day.
It’s painful at first. You’ll cringe. You’ll want to delete the file immediately. Don’t. Listen for pitch accuracy. Are you "scooping" up to notes? Are you slightly flat at the end of phrases because you’re running out of air? You can't fix what you haven't objectively diagnosed.
Vowels Are the Secret Weapon
In English, we love our diphthongs—vowels that change sound in the middle, like "light" (ah-ee) or "know" (oh-oo).
If you try to sing a high note on an "ee" sound with a wide, smiling mouth, it’s going to sound like a teakettle. It’s bright, piercing, and usually flat. Professional singers "modify" their vowels. They round them out.
Instead of singing "me," they might sing something closer to "mih" or "mue." It sounds weird in isolation, but to an audience at the back of the room, it sounds like a rich, full note. This is why some singers are hard to understand—they’re prioritizing tone over diction.
There’s a balance, obviously. You don't want to sound like you have a mouthful of marbles. But if a note feels "stuck" or tight, try changing the shape of your mouth. Drop your jaw. Make more space in the back of your throat.
The Mental Game and Vocal Health
You can’t overlook the "boring" stuff.
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Hydration isn't about drinking water while you sing. That water goes down your esophagus, not over your vocal cords (if it did, you’d be coughing). It takes hours for your body to hydrate the mucosal lining of your folds. If you have a gig or a rehearsal at 7 PM, you need to be pounding water at 10 AM.
And sleep? Essential.
Vocal cords are delicate tissue. When you’re tired, they swell. When they swell, they don’t vibrate cleanly. You end up pushing harder to get the same sound, which causes more swelling. It’s a vicious cycle that leads to nodules. Just look at stars like Sam Smith or Adele, both of whom had to undergo surgery for vocal hemorrhages. Even the pros get it wrong when they push too hard through fatigue.
Practice Doesn't Make Perfect
Practice makes permanent.
If you spend an hour every day singing with bad technique, you’re just getting really good at being a bad singer.
Short, focused sessions are better than marathons. Spend 15 minutes on scales. Use a piano or a pitch pipe app to make sure you're actually hitting the center of the note. Most people sing "near" the note, but not on it. This is called "intonation," and it’s the difference between a karaoke amateur and someone people actually want to listen to.
Try "lip bubbles" or "straw phonation." Blowing through a straw into a half-full glass of water while humming a scale is one of the most scientifically backed ways to reset your voice. It creates "back pressure" that takes the load off your vocal folds. It feels silly. It looks ridiculous. It works.
Actionable Steps to Improve Today
Getting better is a slow burn. There are no overnight successes in vocal pedagogy. But you can start changing the trajectory of your voice right now by following a few specific protocols.
- Audit Your Posture: Stand against a wall. Your heels, butt, shoulders, and the back of your head should touch. This aligns your airway. Singing slumped over in a computer chair is essentially like trying to play a garden hose with a kink in it.
- The 5-Minute Warm-up: Never jump straight into a high-energy song. Start with gentle humming or "lip trills" (making a motorboat sound with your lips). This warms up the muscles without slamming them together.
- Identify Your Break: Everyone has a "bridge" or "passaggio"—the spot where your voice flips from your low, chesty sound to that thinner, higher "head voice." Find exactly which notes those are. For most men, it’s around an E4; for women, it’s often around an A4 or B4. Practice sliding through that note slowly without "yodeling" or cracking.
- Use Tools: Download a pitch monitor app like Singscope or Nail the Pitch. It provides a visual graph of your voice in real-time. If the line is wavy, your vibrato is inconsistent. If the line is below the target note, you're flat. Visual feedback bypasses the "lying ears" problem mentioned earlier.
- Listen Critically: Stop just "listening" to music. Start analyzing it. Why did the singer take a breath there? Why did they make that word sound breathy instead of powerful? Imitation is a valid form of learning, provided you aren't hurting yourself to mimic someone else's natural tone.
Ultimately, your voice is an instrument you carry inside your body. It’s affected by your hormones, your hydration, your stress levels, and your physical fitness. Treat it like an athletic pursuit rather than a purely artistic one. Focus on the "how" before the "what," and the "what" will eventually take care of itself.