I'm sure you've seen dozens of vocal training videos out there on YouTube - support, twang, soft palate, the diaphragm, monkey sounds, ma ma ma exercises, open throat, lip trills; you've tried it all. But not of these rock singing techniques actually help you sing rock songs any better, right?
If you're looking for rock singing techniques that are going to help you hit higher notes like a total badass, I've got 4 rock singing techniques that all those YouTube gurus (who were just natural singers to begin with) really aren't talking about.
If you want to sing higher notes, these 4 rock singing techniques are going to change your life - they've absolutely changed mine.
#1 rock singing techniques - the cricothyroid
Did you know that you actually have TWO differerent pitching mechanisms as a singer? The first is air pressure - basically, pressure + vocal fold thickness equals the speed of vibration of the pitch you're trying to sing.
It's not rocket science - speed of vibration = pitch
Now, if you think about this for a moment, there's only so much PRESSURE that your delicate vocal folds can really take (they're smaller than the fingernail on your little finger/pinky).
So at a certain point, this becomes an inefficient pitching mechanism.
Most people call this pressure/thickness ratio the chest register or simply "chest voice".
What if I told you there's actually a set of muscles/ligaments/cartilage/nerves in your larynx that actually allow you to STRETCH to pitch, just like tightening the tuners on an electric guitar?
This is your cricothyroid and it's related processes.
#2 Support isn't about pushing, clenching or constipation
How many times have you seen a YouTube video of some over the top confident American guru telling you that the key to support is to push down like a bathroom movement? To really PUSH down to 'support' the voice?
What if I told you they were so wrong, that even after 15 years of experience as a vocal teacher, and 25+ years as a professional singer - my head STILL spins and my face STILL turns bright red when I hear someone give this damaging, risky, idiotic instruction?
Support is all about the vagus nerve and how it communicates with the Cricothyroid
Go and look it up on wikipedia - I'm not making this up.
This is the reason I'm able to sing Journey songs without breaking a sweat - yes, even as someone who wasn't a natural singer AND as a guy with a lower voice;
The mystical, magical 'support' or 'appoggio' that people talk about has very little to do with airflow or airpressure, and all about the vagus nerve and how you stretch the vocal folds.
#3 Forward placement and twang aren't actually "forward" or "nasal"
What if I told you that twang wasn't actually anything to do with your nose, but actually the distance between your vocal folds and the epiglottis?
What if I told you that forward placement/the singer's formant is actually the distance between the vocal folds and the supraglottis?
Go and look that shit up - forward placement is neither forward, nor is twang nasal.
It's all about resonators/speed of vibration within the vocal tract.
#4 Chest/Head/Mixed voice don't matter - it's all about vowels.
When you see those massive YouTube channels using monkey sounds, dying cat squeals and ma ma ma exercises to "unlock mixed voice" - they're actually altering their vowel, and likely have NO idea that's what's actually happening.
This is why none of those monkey sounds have actually helped you become a better singer.
Your vowel is ultimately a frequency - well, a group of frequencies, right?
So is your pitch.
DId you know the structure of your vowel and the pitch of the note you're singing actually resonate in the same formant space?
When your vowel and your pitch become mismatched - your voice breaks, you crack, you flip or you shout and push.
VOWELS are key to connecting head and chest voice into one long connected register from top to bottom with no breaks, no cracks and no strain.
If you're struggling to sing a vocal line, ask yourself these two simple questions;
What vowel am I singing?
and
How the fuck am I meant to be singing this vowel???
If you don't have the answer to these questions, or any of the above tips for rock singing - hit this link to watch my super embarrassing (but incredibly empowering) before and after and to download my FREE vocal blueprint that is going to SHOW you exactly how I've gone from less than 1 octave of range - strained, struggling and yelling; to 3+ octaves of effortless range.