How to sing on pitch? (Beginners Start Here!)

The most important skill you can have as a singer is be on pitch. So if you can’t sing on pitch.

What can you do?

Today I want to share with you some of the common problems areas that stop you from singing on pitch AND also the exercises I use in my private lessons to fix this.

Real quick! For those of you who don’t know me. My name is Ivan, I love making music and also teaching singing to students all around the world. On this newsletter my goal is to make learning to sing simple. If that’s up your lane, consider subscribing. If you want to improve your voice faster, check out the links down below for ways to work with me

If you want to inspire our next episode! Drop in the comments below what you want me to talk about next.

Anyway! Let’s dive in.

Now the first thing is let’s make sure we’re chasing the right problem. Are you actually singing off pitch?

I’ve had many instances, where a student would come in. And they would tell me they sound flat, off pitch.

But when I would test and listen to them. Their pitch was fine.

They simply just didn’t like their sound. They didn’t like how FLAT it sounded. They didn’t like how it sounded like speaking.

So it’s important to figure this out before going down a rabbit-hole of trying to fix a problem that doesn’t exist.

If you’re not sure, getting a second ear can always be good. Posting on Reddit is a great place or if you’re ready to take your singing to the next level. Book in a voice lesson with me. Having a trained ear can make a huge different.

Now if you’re actually off pitch. Let’s break it down to some of the common problem areas/bottlenecks of pitch. And some exercises to fix this.

COMMON PROBLEM AREA #1: Mistaking the timbre for actual pitch.

What do I mean? Think of it like this.

Say if you played the same notes on a GUITAR/PIANO.

They would sound similar. But also they sound a bit different.

Why is this?

That’s because you can break down the sound into 2 things

The ACTUAL pitch and THE timbre.

Now why is this important?

I find often when people are struggling to hear the note correctly. It’s because they are confusing the timbre of the sound for the actual pitch.

They might hear a bright twangy sound. They associate this with a higher pitch.

So how do we fix this?

Let’s start to get your ear used to the difference.

One exercise I love getting my students to do is

Jumping onto a virtual piano that allows you to easily switch the instruments. And just playing the same note and comparing the sound.

And just notice, as the timbre is changing. What’s common?

COMMON PROBLEM AREA #2: The vocal folds are just too clumsy

What people don’t realise is that there is a MECHANISM involved in pitch change. It isn’t something that just magically happens.

The way the voice changes pitch is the vocal folds literally get stretched & they thin out.

Now because these movements can be very small/precise, when we don’t have good control of these vocal folds.

Changing pitch accurately can be hard.

And that’s okay.

Learning to control these muscles is a big part of developing your vocal technique. Especially if high notes are also a struggle.

So how do we improve this?

We need to learn how to feel pitch change. Because we can’t see our vocal folds, we have to rely physical sensations associated with pitch change. And the more we can observe it, train it accurately and eventually hand it off to your subconscious again. The better your pitch is.

As you can see, this is a big topic in itself. If you’d like more, I want you to write down episode 129. I want you to check it out after this episode. I cover this process in more depth there.

COMMON PROBLEM AREA #3: Finding the right complexity

This is where I’ll hear from people

“Hey Ivan, I can match notes perfectly in a scale. But I can’t seem to do it well in a song”

Now this is because a song is more complex. Beyond being on pitch. You need to be on time, you need to sing the right words.

So it can feel like patting your head and rubbing your stomach. Individually it’s fine, but when you put them together. It can be challenging.

So what are some commons ways to improve this. Ultimately you need to find way to find the right complexity. Nail it there. Before moving onto something harder.

Here are some ideas:

1) Slow down the song.

I know on Youtube you can set the speed to 0.5 or 0.75x

2) Singing the song on a HUM and getting rid of the words

3) Changing the key of a song, so it’s quite comfortable in your range.

Anyway! That’s all. If you found this episode useful, please share or give it 5 star wherever you’re listening from. This really helps spread the word and means the world to me. If you’d like to study with me, links are down in description. Take care!

Extra Links/Resources

🌍 Book Private Singing Lessons here: https://calendly.com/singingsimply 

🌍 Step By Step Singing Course: https://www.singingsimply.com/courses/singing-fundamentals 

🌍 Stream my music: https://linktr.ee/singingsimply

🌍 Business/other inquiries: [email protected]