How to Learn How to Sing On Your Own

Do you dream of seeing yourself on a stage, crooning a ballad, and sweeping your audience off their feet? Or maybe you just love singing but don’t know where to start. I’ll give you some great, easy-to-follow tips on how to learn how to sing on your own.

Even if you’re not planning on any grand performances, singing is loads of fun. And you can start slow and easy by following some simple tips. Let’s face it.

At some point, you’ll need professional coaching if you need to take things further. But you don’t have to break into a bank to get started.

Table of Contents

1. Get Your Posture Right

There is one thing you need to do way before you take a breath and croon your first syllable. You need to develop the right position for singing. Not having the right posture makes it hard to get the best out of your voice.

It is simply about aligning your body so you can bring out the best in your voice. Watch yourself in a mirror as you practice this one.

Stand tall.
Now spread your feet, so they are shoulder-width apart.
Bring your shoulders in line with your feet and hips. Make sure that you aren’t drooping.
Lift your chest up a bit. Bring your chin parallel to the floor. Keeping your neck straight is important.
Don’t lock your knees up. Keep them loose and relaxed.

Once you have this right, turn to the side and look at yourself in the mirror again. Make sure your back is straight. Practice simply holding this posture for a couple of minutes.

Even without any formal training, simply having the right posture can do wonders for your voice.

2. Diaphragmatic Breath

How you breathe while singing has a massive impact on your voice. Wrong breathing can result in a weak, breathy voice.

It can negatively impact your vocal range and tone, and make it hard to project your voice well.

Many singing teachers spend a lot of time teaching breathing techniques, but the truth is that it’s quite simple.

The trick is to breathe from your diaphragm and stomach, not your shoulders or chest.

Try the following exercise:

Stand in front of a mirror. Now turn to the side. Adopt the correct posture, and make sure you can still see your stomach and chest.
Now put your hands on the bottom of your stomach. Inhale deeply, so your stomach comes out while you are breathing in.
Exhale through your mouth. Your stomach should come back in when you breathe out.

Throughout this exercise, keep an eye on your shoulders and chest. They should be still leaving all the movement to the stomach. That’s it. Now, practice, practice, practice.

3. Learn to Sing on Pitch

Many people think that if you can’t sing on pitch, you’re tone-deaf.

Absolutely not true!

It’s just that training yourself to sing on pitch is challenging because somebody has to give you feedback and tell you whether you’re hitting the note or not.

It used to be that you needed a vocal trainer for this, but these days some apps can help you with the job, like OnPitch and Vocal Pitch Monitor.

Either way, here’s an easy exercise to get you singing on pitch:

Using a strong speaking voice, start counting from 1 to 5 and then back down, like this: “one, two, three, four, five, four, three, two, one.”
Now, find out a note at the bottom of your range. It would be wise to go for C3 for men, and G3 for women. Sing the word ‘one’ on this note.
Next, using a 5-tone scale, go up the scale singing one through five, and come back down.

It is a 5-tone scale, so the notes of the scale are extremely close to each other. If you find yourself going off pitch, work on keeping the notes closer together.

There are many other exercises you can do to learn how to sing on pitch. The internet has plenty of free resources that can help you with this.

30 Day Singer also has some excellent video tutorials for pitch that are worth checking out. You can sign up for a 14-day free trial HERE but make sure you check out their other tutorials as well.

4. Project Your Voice

You could have the best voice in the world, but nobody will know or care if they can’t hear you! And even if your voice is not weak, learning how to project further correctly can’t hurt you.

Projecting is not hard to figure out, and you can get started with a couple of simple techniques.

One of the best ways to learn how to project is to use your speaking voice.

When you speak to somebody, you are reaching out to them, trying to make them understand you. So your voice is naturally powerful, resonant, and projected.

The idea is to translate these qualities into your singing voice.

Pick a song, which you would like to sing stronger, and take one phrase from it.
Say, not sing, this phrase out really loud, like you are trying to reach the audiences who are sitting in the back row. Work until you have strength and volume without yelling or whispering.
Now, speak-sing the same phrase on pitch with a similar feeling as when you plain spoke it.

As you do this, you will notice that your voice is sounding much stronger. You’ll also find that your tone is clearer and more projected.

5. Understand Chest Voice, Head Voice, and Mix

What’s all the terminology?! It’s not so terrible, really. Chest voice refers to when you sing the notes at the bottom part of your vocal range. Head voice is the top notes in your vocal range.

Often, as you sing from the bottom of your range through to the top, there is an audible ‘break’ as you shift upwards.

Mix comes in when you combine your chest and head voice in just the right amounts to sing the middle notes of your vocal range.

There are various exercises you can do to practice the chest and the head voice. Just do a quick Google search, and you’ll find plenty of free articles and videos on the topic.

And once you’re practiced those two, go ahead and work on your Mix.

6. Learn How To Belt

Now that you know the difference between chest voice and head voice, you can learn how to belt. Belting simply means singing high notes, but using the power of your chest voice to do so.

Careful, though. Too much chest voice, and you’ll just fall flat and strain. So, we come back to the Mix we talked about earlier.

Using the Mix will give you the power of the chest voice while keeping the relaxation and stretch of the head voice.

Practice this quick exercise:

Say the word ‘nae’ (as in nanny) out loud. Say it in a bratty, obnoxious way.
Next, find out an easy note at the bottom of your range. Guys try C3; ladies try G3.
Now, sing your bratty ‘nae’ on that note. Keep the sound bright and brassy.
Practice singing that bratty ‘nae’ on an octave scale, going up and down so that you repeat the top note four times.

You’ll find that the bratty ‘nae’ sound harnesses the power of your chest voice, but doesn’t push so much on the high notes. It’s a great way to practice getting to the high notes with a lot of power.

7. Check Out Online Classes

Picking up some of the basics is quite easy and doesn’t take too much effort. You can practice while you’re in the shower, doing your chores, or driving to work.

There are tons of free singing resources online, but at some point, you’ll still need professional help if you want to take things further.

One-on-one classes are the best way to learn how to sing, but they can be crazy expensive. An alternative to this is doing group lessons, but these can also be costly and aren’t always available.

So why not try online classes? While not free, they are MUCH cheaper than traditional one-on-one coaching.

There are many quality singing courses available, with a mix of reading material and videos to watch and practice along with. And you can do these literally any time, making them super convenient.

Some vocal coaches also offer online lessons. These are more expensive than pre-made online singing courses, but may still be cheaper than one-on-one lessons in person. It can be an excellent way to master more complex techniques and get invaluable insight.

If you would be interested in trying some online lessons, you should read my 30 Day Singer Review; their online singing course is our number 1 recommendation.

It offers a 30-day step by step process on how to be a good singer, on top of that you also get to extra content like learn specific singing genres, advanced level singing techniques, and warm and daily vocal exercise routines.

30 Day Singer have given our readers free access to their program for 30 days. You can claim your 14 day free trial below.

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8. Sing Away!

If you want to teach yourself how to sing, chances are you’re doing it because you love it. Well then.

Don’t let all the technicalities bog you down. Sing to your heart’s content, any time and any place you have the chance.

Singing a song is harder than doing a vocal exercise because a song is so much more complex in many ways. But practice makes perfect.

Keep what you’ve learned in mind as you sing, but don’t let it cripple you. Be patient, enjoy what you’re doing, and the improvement will happen in no time.

Final Words: How to Learn How to Sing On Your Own

I hope yoou find this post helpful and sets you on the right path to learn how to sing on your own. Each step mentioned above will help improve your voice.

If you feel you need some help and guidance, my number 1 recommendation would be to try the 30 Day Singer.

Their 30 Day process is easy to follow with excellent video tuotrials that will no doubt be of benefit to you.

There’s a 14 Day Trial worth checking out that won’r cost you a penny.

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