How to Sing Better if You Think You Are Bad

• Improve your voice immediately by standing with tall posture and breathing with your diaphragm. Keep your whole body relaxed, including your jaw.
• Warm up before singing sessions with stretches, humming, lip trills, and other exercises. Focus on keeping your larynx low to eliminate voice cracks.
• Practice daily to refine your technique and keep improving. Aim to sing about 30 minutes or more per day and rest when your voice feels tired or strained.

Refining the Fundamentals

Use your diaphragm to take deep breaths and support your voice. The diaphragm is a large, flat muscle under your lungs that controls how you inhale and then exhale through your vocal cords. Practice breathing with your diaphragm by standing tall with one hand on your stomach and one on your chest. Inhale deeply and slowly—focus on your stomach filling with air and watch your hand move outward (your chest hand should be still). Exhale slowly through your mouth to complete the breath. Do 10-15 slow diaphragm breaths before you begin your vocal warmups to remind yourself what it feels like to breathe for singing. Keep your chest and shoulder muscles relaxed so that you’re only using your diaphragm and lungs to facilitate the breathing.

Feel what it’s like to sing in the different registers of your voice. A register is a range of notes (within your full range) that share similar tone quality and production technique. Sing, talk, or warm up in each register so you know what each one feels and sounds like—this smooths out transitions between them and blends your voice throughout your range. The main registers are: Chest register: This is the lowest part of your range where you usually speak from. The tone here is naturally warm and resonant for low voices but breathy for high voices. These notes resonate largely in your chest. Middle register: This is the middle of your range and tends to be resonant for most singers. As you get higher, the tone may get breathy or pinched if the throat constricts. This is a middle ground between your chest and head voices. Head register: This is the upper end of your range where strain and tension are most likely to occur. These notes come most easily to high voices and resonate largely in your head.

Stand and sing with tall, relaxed posture. Look straight forward and keep your shoulders low, relaxed, and a little pulled back so that your chest is open and elevated. Let your hands hang relaxed at your sides and hold your abdomen flat and firm. Stand with your feet slightly apart, making sure not to lock your knees. To practice the right posture, stand against a wall with your heels, calves, buttocks, shoulders, and head touching it. Shift your weight slightly forward, closer to your toes.

Keep your head and neck in a natural position for better airflow. Level your head so that your chin is about parallel with the floor and you can look directly forward. Sing without dropping or raising the chin—when it moves, your airway can become constricted and your tongue muscles can tighten up, which makes your voice sound thinner and less supported. Try talking to yourself while you raise your head high and low. Notice how your voice sounds open and natural when you're level, but muffled when it’s not. Sing in front of a mirror so you can correct your head position and posture until they're a natural part of your technique.

Keep your jaw open and relaxed when you sing vowel sounds. Look in a mirror and say the vowels' sounds out loud: “aah-eeh-eee-ooh-ooo” (A-E-I-O-U). You might notice that your jaw closes on some of the vowels. Try speaking the vowels again, this time using your fingers or a small object like a wine cork to prop your jaw open. The goal is to get used to speaking and singing with your jaw open longways (not wide). Do this exercise a few times and then practice singing A-E-I-O-U on one pitch, focusing on keeping your jaw open, until you can do it comfortably. Remember to keep your jaw relaxed when you sing actual lyrics so your vowels and vocal tone sound open and resonant. This small fix helps you sing louder and fuller without having to strain your voice. Most of the time, you’ll be able to hear the difference right away!

Determine your vocal range and voice type. Play a Middle C (C4) on a piano or virtual keyboard app and match the pitch on an “ooo” or “aah” sound. Sing and play a scale downward until it no longer feels comfortable and record the lowest note you hit. Do the same going upward from Middle C and record the highest note. Your lowest and highest notes define your current range. Your range might fit a different voice type than you previously thought you were. Remember, gender does not determine which type your voice is. Try this exercise when no one else is around so you can approach your lowest or highest notes without being self-conscious. The typical ranges for the most common voice types are: Bass: E2-E4 Baritone: A2-G4 Tenor: C3-C5 Alto: F3-F5 Mezzo-soprano: A3-A5 Soprano: C4-C6

Stay hydrated and rest your voice. Drink lukewarm water throughout the day and keep a water bottle on you during lessons and rehearsals. You can’t hydrate your vocal cords directly, but keeping your body hydrated keeps them lubricated and ready to sing healthily. If you’re sick or your voice is tired, go on vocal rest for a day—no singing, talking, or whispering. Keep your home humidified so you’re not breathing dry air and irritating your throat, especially if you’ve got an important performance coming up. Avoid smoking or vaping (it will dry out and irritate your vocal cords). Limit alcohol and sugary mixers since they are dehydrating and inflammatory. Never sing if it hurts. Listen to your body and rest, drink water, and get good sleep. Pushing through the pain can result in permanent damage.

Improving Your Voice Fast

Practice singing daily to reinforce good habits and build stamina. Improving your voice takes more than good fundamentals and warmups. Sing every day to get to know your voice’s strengths and weaknesses and to work on specific issues you want to overcome. To avoid overuse or injury, try to sing a little bit every day instead of cramming in a few hours at the end of the week. If you’re a brand new singer, sing about 10 minutes a day. If you’re in high school or above and have some experience, aim for 30 minutes per day. Monitor the health of your voice—if it’s tired or you feel pain, take a break or go on vocal rest (there is such a thing as over-practicing!).

Hum scales and arpeggios. Humming is a very gentle way to wake up your vocal cords without even singing. Hum the first 5 notes of a major scale, up and then down (do-re-mi-fa-sol-fa-mi-re-do). Do this for about a minute or so before moving on, as this will improve the quality of your singing voice. When you’re humming, keep your lips closed and use an “mmm” sound. Start on a comfortable beginning note, then raise or lower the starting note by half steps to explore your upper and lower ranges. A scale is a sequence of notes moving by step (do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti-do). An arpeggio is a pattern with skips between the notes (do-mi-sol-do).

Do lip trills to relax your lips and warm up your diaphragm. Take a deep breath, then exhale fast air through your loosely closed lips until they begin “flapping” (it’ll sound like you’re mimicking a motorcycle). When you can do this consistently, practice “trill singing” scales or short tunes by adding pitch to your trills. In singing, loose lips are a good thing—they help clear up your diction (pronunciation) and open up your vowel sounds. Lip trills force you to breathe deeply and use your diaphragm to control the speed of your air.

Check for a low, relaxed larynx position while you do vocal warmups. While you’re singing, place a finger on top of your larynx to check its position in your throat. Ideally, it should be lower than it is at rest, but higher than when you’re yawning. Breathe deeply, keep the vocal tract wide, and maintain tall posture to help the larynx settle lower. As you go to sing higher notes, keep your throat relaxed so the larynx doesn’t rise very much with the pitch. This keeps your tone open and full as you get higher. A low, stable larynx smooths out the transition between your chest and head voices (AKA where your voice is most likely to crack).

Loosen up your entire body before practicing or performing. Tension is the #1 cause of bad or unhealthy singing. Start with a quick facial massage—rub your forehead, cheeks, nose, chin, and jaw in small circular motions to relax. Follow this with head rolls and shoulder rolls to eliminate stiffness in your neck, shoulder, and chest muscles (this helps your breathing, too). Focus on releasing tension in the jaw specifically by opening and closing it slowly a few times. Try incorporating light yoga into your warmup routine twice a week or before big performances. It relaxes, stretches, and aligns your entire body.

Do scales, glissandos, or arpeggios on a “zzz” sound for 3-5 minutes. Hold a buzzy “zzz” sound on one pitch and notice how you use your diaphragm to sustain the sound and how the buzzing loosens up your singing and facial muscles. Perform some scales, arpeggios, or glissandos (sliding notes) on this sound to quickly improve your vocal agility. This is an easy warmup to do on your way to karaoke or even while you’re doing some chores at home.

Sing arpeggios on exaggerated “aah” or “ooh” sounds. Start each arpeggio with a hard “ah” or “oh” syllable so your sound starts immediately. As you sing, think about keeping the sound “down” (using your diaphragm and chest to resonate and project) rather than pushing the sound upward. Keep your hand in a low position or point downward as a reminder to stay relaxed and steady rather than tensing up and pushing the sound. This exercise helps you start notes with a clear attack and keeps the sound forward in your throat instead of falling back.

Place your hands in front of your ears and sing to work on projecting. Flatten out your hands and put them in front of your ears so your pinkies are touching your head. Sing a few bars or just speak a few sentences—the voice you hear is the voice that other people hear. Keep your hands up, breathe deeply, and project into the room until your voice sounds smooth and supported. Compare the sound of your voice with and without your hands up. Frequently, we think our voices sound louder than they actually do.

Warm up your chest-to-head voice transition with sirens. Use an “oh” or “ooo” syllable and sing your lowest comfortable note. Without breaking the sound, slide up to your highest comfortable note and back down again (like a fire truck siren or a slide whistle). Sirens warm up the extremes of your range and help connect your registers together for a smooth, blended voice. This warmup is very effective if you struggle with voice cracks when you shift to your head voice.

Exercise your chest voice with descending “ha-ha-ha’s.” Sing a descending pentascale (sol-fa-mi-re-do) and use “ha” for each note. Make each “ha” short and crisp with a little bit of space between each note. This forces you to focus on pitch, plus it strengthens your chest voice and helps you increase your downward range. Start on a comfortable note in your mid-upper chest voice and move a half step lower for each repetition.

Continuing Progress over Time

Work on extending your vocal range up and down. Maintain good technique—tall posture, diaphragmatic breathing, a low larynx—while you experiment with notes outside your normal range. Yelling, straining, or constricting your throat will lead to frustration or injury. Be patient and practice low-impact exercises consistently to expand your range. Focus on short scale exercises, like ha-ha-ha’s and sirens, to practice hitting new notes safely. Don’t try too hard for extra high or low notes, especially during warmups. Your voice is a muscle and pushing it too hard results in fatigue and injury. Even if you can’t hit that epic high note yet, working towards it will improve your voice in its lower range, too.

Do ear training exercises to develop your sense of pitch. Cup your hands over your ears and turn to face a piano or speaker playing music. Notice how the cupping helps you hear the music and your own singing voice easier. Practice matching the exact pitches and intervals you hear with your voice. If you play piano, practice singing new melodies while you play them on the keyboard to train your voice to sing in tune. If you struggle to hear tiny differences in pitch, enlist the help of a musically-inclined friend or a voice teacher.

Record and listen to yourself singing as often as possible. Listen back to practice sessions or performances to identify your voice’s strengths and weaknesses. It can feel cringey to listen to yourself, but regular recording helps you monitor your progress and improve faster. Your voice often sounds different to the room than it does to your own ears. If you think a recording sounds bad, remember that it’s just one moment in time and it doesn’t reflect your true talent or potential. You don’t need fancy recording equipment to evaluate yourself. A voice note on your phone is good enough to show you how you sound.

Performing with Confidence

Perform songs that fit comfortably in your vocal range. When you’re nervous, your focus on deep breathing and good technique gets fuzzy. As a safeguard, pick songs that fit in your chest voice comfortably. You’ll be able to sing louder with less force, and you won’t have to strain for very high or low notes while you’re nervous.

Sing songs that you know like the back of your hand. When you first start performing, do songs with familiar lyrics and melodies—that way, you can put your energy into singing with good technique and a beautiful tone. Save difficult pieces that challenge you for when you’re more confident in your voice and abilities. If you’re still nervous even though you know the song, focus on a point or object that’s slightly above the audience instead of looking right at them.

Practice performing at home. Pick a day where you have your house or apartment to yourself and sing in front of a mirror. Look at your facial expression, body language, and what your arms and hands are doing so you know exactly what you look like while singing. Hold something that resembles a microphone if you know you’ll be using one for the show. Record yourself singing so you can hear the strengths and weaknesses in your performance and work on them before showtime. Experiment with hand gestures, different emotions, and new singing techniques while you’re alone so you feel confident doing them in front of others.

Challenge yourself to get out of your comfort zone. If you’re a shower singer but have always dreamed of being on stage, now’s the time to take a chance and get up there. If you need support, ask some friends to join you on stage for karaoke or choose a silly song that both you and the audience can laugh at. For some, simply getting on stage is the hardest part of performing. No matter how it goes, be proud of yourself for doing something you’ve never done before!

Practice singing for close friends and family. Put on mini performances for a small audience you trust—this is a great way to get some performance experience without the fear of being judged. Go all out with your performance, including movements or facial expressions you’d like to do for a larger audience. Ask your mini-audience for feedback, especially if you’re preparing for a bigger show or concert later on.

Do community theater or perform at local venues to get experience. Don’t be afraid to audition for a local musical if you’re not confident in your singing. It’s OK to bring in a simple tune like “Happy Birthday” or a church hymn. If you’ve got other performance skills like acting or dancing, chances are you’ll get a role that will help cultivate your singing, too! Reach out to places like local nursing homes or children’s hospitals. They’re usually looking for volunteers to come in and share their art with their members.

Go to karaoke and have fun with your friends. Karaoke is meant to be a low-stakes place to sing without fear of judgment or perfection. Everyone there is supportive and semi-distracted, so it’s a great place to build your confidence in front of a live audience. Karaoke is a great reminder that singing is fun. It’s great to take it seriously and want to improve, but that doesn’t mean you can’t let loose now and then!

Project confidence with your body language. As you’re getting on stage, take a deep breath and smile at the audience—it’ll make you look at ease, even if you’re terrified. Relax your shoulders and clear your mind of everything except your song. If eye contact is scary, pick a point above the audience to look at while you sing. Feel free to move around, dance a little, or swing your hips while you sing. It makes you look comfortable and covers up any involuntary shaking. Beyoncé Knowles, Singer & Businesswoman Be confident in your abilities. "Your self-worth is determined by you. You don't have to depend on someone telling you who you are. Do what you were born to do. You just have to trust yourself."

Changing Your Mindset

Remember that if you can talk, you can sing. The physical mechanism for speaking and singing is the same, so relax your larynx and trust your breath support to help you sing. You don’t have to force your voice to “do something” extra—you’re already doing most of what singing is every day. Most people who think they can’t sing (or that they sing badly) are trying to sing with their speaking voice, which is a low and narrow slice of your singing range. Your singing voice sits higher than your speaking voice, so embrace the higher pitches and brighter tone of your singing—it’s supposed to sound that way. Amusia (musical tone-deafness) is an affliction that only affects 3% of people. Chances are you’re not quite as tone-deaf as you may think you are.

Think of singing as a skill to learn, not a talent. Anyone can learn to sing well if they put in the time and effort to cultivate their musical skills. It’s true that some people are born with great natural ability, but talent alone is not usually enough to become truly great or to build a singing career. Hone your skills with consistent practice and dedication. A solid foundation in fundamentals and good technique will take you a long way. Remember, even the greatest singers of all time put in lots of hours of hard work and practice into their craft.

Strengthen the mind-body connection between your brain and voice. Your brain controls all of the muscles your body needs to sing, just like it controls an athlete’s muscles. Practice consistently with good technique to expand the neural pathways that physically control your singing, and consider meditating or “mental practice” to reinforce those connections. Your body is your instrument when you sing. All you have to do is train your brain to operate your body and singing voice the best you can.