Improving your singing voice should be the goal of every singer on the planet. There is never a time in a singers life where you shouldn’t aim to sing better, perform better onstage and continuously work on improving your craft. Even the top singers in the world are always working on how to improve their singing so that they stay the best! Beyonce didn’t become Beyonce without a lot of work and focus on being the best. Trust me!
Learning to become a great singer isn’t a sprint – it’s a marathon, and by following this guide and learning the correct ways to improve your singing you are setting yourself up with the necessary foundations to ensure you have a long and lasting career.
How to Improve Your Singing Voice: 18 Best Singing Tips to Improve Vocals
Take care of your voice – (even when your not singing)
Sometimes singers can get in the mindset that it’s all about the singing and make the mistake of thinking that the way to improve your singing is to sing more. This is somewhat true – YES practice is important (more on that later) but so is rest when it comes to training your voice to sing.
Your voice is a muscle and just like when you go to the gym your muscles need rest days, this is also true for your vocal chords. Remember to give yourself a day of rest so that your body can relax and not be in a constant state of strain.
Other important ways to take caer of your voice when your not singing:
Quit smoking (so many reasons why this is bad for you – just quit already!).
Stay hydrated – drink the recommended 2 litres (half a gallon) of water a day, and stay away from drinks that dehydrate you like coffee and tea.
Minimize your talking. If you really want to rest your throat so you can improve your voice quality for singing just stop talking. Take one day of the week where you minimize the amount you talk and give your body the rest it deserves.
Always Warm Up to Improve your Voice Quality for Singing
how to improve your singing voice – how to improve your voice quality for singing
Singing teachers can sound like broken records telling their students that they need to warm up properly in order to improve vocals, but it’s 100% true! The amount of time you take to properly warm up your vocal folds can vastly imrpove your singing voice in quality of your sound, in the length of time you can sing for, and whether or not you can hit the high notes.
If one of the main questions you have is how can I improve my singing voice? Then start with the fundamentals and warm properly before any signing session. You would never run a race without strectching your muscles first – so give your voice muscles the same amount of care and warm them up thoroughly.
Trust me, you’ll see a huge improvement in your singing voice.
Learn How To Breathe
Breathe: how to improve singing voice – improve singing voice
Breathing when you sing isn’t like everyday breathing and you need a good set of lungs if you are wanting to improve your voice and train your voice to sing. The good news is this doesn’t have to be something you are born with – it taks time, and it takes training to sing with the correct breath. Another thing you might not realize is that you need to learn different breathing techniques to sing different styles. An opera singer breathes differently to someone who croons because there is less projection and power needed in the different styles. BUT both need breath to support their voices. If you’ve ever wanted to know how to sing high notes better and for longer? Start with your breathing technique!
Support – The Way You Stand Makes A Difference
Slouching on a couch singing karaoke does not make a great singer. Have you ever heard someone hit an incredible high note while slouching, or sitting down? No! They stand up, plant their feet firmly on the ground a bit more than shouldner width apart in a power stance, they pull their shoulders back, lift their chin up, and belt out that top note.
You’re asking how do you improve your singing voice? The way you hold yourself while singing is so important! And it’s probably one of my biggest singing tips. Not only is your body in a position where you can breathe properly, and cleanly, but you are in a stance of confidence, giving yourself the basic building blocks to improve your singing voice and improve your singing tone.
If you are slouching and taking a non confident stance you’ll never hit the notes you want. Be confident, know you can hit the note (because you’ve put into practice everything I’ve mentioned about how to improve your singing – warmed up, stayed hydrated, taken lessons and practiced for this moment), and show that you’ve got this in the way you stand on stage.
Extra Singing Tips: People will also take you more seriously as a singer if you stand tall and look confident in everything that you do.
Reduce Muscle Tension
I know singing can sometimes be nerve racking but being relaxed is one of the best ways that you can improve your voice quality for singing. Being all tense doesn’t go well with smooth velvety vocals so relax your jaw, lower your shoulders, give your body a shake, take a deep long breathe in….and let all the tension out.
Perhaps consider doing a meditation before you sing so that you are already in a relaxed state of mind and ready to take on the stage!
Know your singing style
One very important way to learn how to improve your singing voice is by knowing what your singing style is. Not every singer has the physical capabilities to nail every single singing style out there. And while you might want to sing a style with all your heart and soul, when you are starting out it’s best to know what styles work best for you!
I’m not saying that with the right amount of training and singing coaching that it’s not possible to learn how to improve your singing skills. I think that with dedication and the right vocal training anything is possible. But to begin with, having an idea of the styles that currently work for you will help you get into a career singing faster thus giving you time to work on improving your voice and working towards your singing goals.
Learn About Your Voice And It’s Limits
Some times when learning how to improve singing many people can fall into the trap of not knowing when to take a break. Sometimes you can be so close to getting that note, or so close to getting that part of the song right, but the more you try, the more you’ll tire your voice and the more frustrated you will get and quite often fail.
Knowing your limits, knowing when you are starting to get to vocally tired, or even when you are starting to get mentally tired are very important when training your voice and learning how to sing better. Sometimes you can take a break and give the song another try, but sometimes you have to know when your voice is done and to take a break for a few hours or even the rest of the day. Pushing yourself will only lead to injury, so know your voice and know your limits and make the choice to take good care of yourself rather than pushing through.
Don’t Strain For High Notes When Singing
Don’t Strain: singing tips – how to improve my singing voice
Have that one big song that you’ve always wanted to be able to sing…but you’re just not there yet? That’s totally fine, many of the singing tips in this post will help you to get closer and closer to learning how to improve singing. But until you get there there is no use in straining your voice and possibly damaging it permanently in order to hit the notes necessary in some songs. Know your voice and know it’s limits. If you have to tune down a song so you can sing the top note – do it! If you want to sing in the same key but have to take the high note down the octave to save your voice – do it!
I see plenty of famous artists finding work arounds on their most popular songs because it’s just too hard to hit those high notes night after night when on tour. So, they sing it down an octave, or a third, or get the crowd to sing it. They do what they have to do so that they can still get up and sing the rest of their set night after night. And you have to think about your voice in this way too.
Stamina training for the voice is super important if you what to learn how to improve your singing voice, but knowing your limits so that you don’t do permanent damage is just as important!
Open Your Mouth Wider When Singing
It might sound strange, but one of the biggest singing tips to improve your singing voice is as simple as opening your mouth wider when you sing. Why? Well when you open your mouth wider it allows for resonance in your notes which results in you being able to sing louder without force. When you can sing louder without having to force or add pressure to your vocal chords then this will help you in improving your singing voice. You can achieve a larger, longer, and cleaner note just by opening your mouth wider. Try it!
Work On Your Vocal Technique
Some people have the ability to sing well, it comes naturally to them. But if you don’t have that natural ability you can still become a much better at singing just by working on vocal technique and doing what you’re doing right now – learning how to improve your singing voice. Having the dedication and drive to work for what you want – “to learn how to sing better” is key to making it in the music industry. Scales and vocal practice might not sound like a lot of fun now, but having a solid knowledge of the voice and vocal techniques will help you to be able to improve your singing and have a long and successful career.
Discover Your Emotional Connection While Singing
Emotional Connection: how to improve singing
Have you ever heard someone sing a song that gave you all the feels and you didn’t understand why or how it resonated so much with you? That person singing expressed an emotion or a feeling vocally that you connected with and made the listening experience that much more enjoyable. You might have even got goose bumps listening to them. That’s because of the emotional connection that singer had with the words they were singing.
Anyone can sing some words on a page, but when you take the time to go through a song line by line, phrase by phrase and you sing it with a sense of real feeling and emotion then it doesn’t matter how great your singing voice is – people will listen because they feel what you feel, and you’re feeling what the songwriter was feeling and so on. Connection is what people love about music, it’s a memory, it’s a feeling or an emotion they get when they hear a song, and as a singer it’s your responsibility to convey the words into feelings vocally.
Extra Singing Tips: You can try and learn how to improve your singing voice, but if you don’t know how to connect with the lyrics you’ll never truly connect with your audience.
“The greatest respect an artist can pay to music is to give it life.” – Pablo Casals
Record Yourself Singing – And Review Yourself
One big thing I hear from a lot of people is that they hate the sound of their own voice on recordings. But how can you expect anyone else to want to listen to you if you don’t even want to? Listening back to yourself is a great way to sit down a strategically work out a plan for how to improve your singing for future recordings. You will always be your biggest critic, but if you can look at it as a trainging session aimed at improvement then it’s a great way to figure out what you are doing wrong a fix it for next time. And if you don’t know how to fix it you can reach out to a professional singing teacher for help.
Professional dancers and athletes record their rehearsals all the time to look at ways they can improve their performance and improving your singing is exactly the same. Don’t cringe at listening to yourself, use it as a learning tool to improve your singing and to work towards being the best performer you can be!
Get Feedback From Professionals – (not friends and family)
Get Professional Feedback – improve your singing voice
Let’s be honest – your friends and family are your biggest support network. They’re going to love everything you do. But if you really want to get serious about how to improve your voice quality for singing then it’s best to ask someone that know what they’re talking about, to ask a singing teacher. As I mentioned in the last section it’s great to record and listen to yourself to make fixes to your singing performance but if you don’t yet have the know how to improve your voice – then you need to find someone who has that knowledge.
The main complaint I get from people is that they don’t have time to see a vocal singer, but these days with the wonderful world of the internet at our disposal you can get an online singing teacher to help you out with online singing classes to fit your personal schedule. If you are truly serious about learning how to become a professional singer then the only way to to learn from people who either are professional singers themselves, or have trained many professional singers.
Ever heard of these names? Ariana Grande, Pink, Katy Perry, and Jason Derulo? They all have one thing in common…their singing coach Eric Vetro. That’s right even super mega recording artists have singing coaches to guide them and help them improve their singing voices. Because as I said in the beginning of this article: There is never a time in a singers life where you shouldn’t aim to sing better, perform better onstage, and continuously work on improving your craft.
Practice Singing More
They say that practice makes perfect but I’m going to be honest with you, in singing there’s no such thing as perfect. Sure you’ll have a night of singing when you nail every single song and the crowd loves you, and then the next you’ll sing tons of flat notes and wonder what went so terribly wrong. Don’t get discouraged – it happens to the best of us. What you do need to do is get back out there and practice more. That could be practicing in your room so that you’re more confident with the notes, or practicing with your band so that everything is tight and together as it should be, or even practicing in front of an audience because the more you get on stage that more your confidence grows.
Extra Singing Tips: Good things comes to those who wait work their asses off and never give up!
Practice Singing With a Microphone
Microphone Practice: singing tips
You might think that a microphone is just a thing to make you sound louder. If that’s the case then you are using a microphone wrong and 100% need to practice. Microphones are a tool that can be used, yes, to amplify your voice but if used correctly it can help you improve your singing voice in ways you’ve never imagined. Microphones (and a good sound tech) are there to make your voice sound the best that it can possibly be. The use of EQ’ing and the correct microphone use can give you a richer and fuller sound that you don’t have to work hard to achieve, and save your voice a lot of stress.
Using a microphone correctly sometime seems like an art form in itself, and it’s something that many people get wrong first time around. There are so many ways that you can be ruining your own vocal quality just though the misuse of a microphone.
This includes:
Not giving an accurate sound check (i.e. singing softer in sound check than you do in real life)
Eating the mic (holding the mic too close can make your sound quality muffled and horrible)
Cupping the mic (holding the mic in the wrong place giving your vocals a muddy sound)
Holding the mic too far away. (don’t be scared of the microphone it’s your friend)
Standing in front of the PA. (this doesn’t effect your vocals but It’s certainly not a crowd pleaser if you feedback and blast the crowd with a high pitched squeal from the speakers)
Confidence
“I’ll never be perfect. Believe me I’m worth it. So take me or leave me.” – Nicki Minaj
Having the confidence to go after your dreams, to get up on a stage, to stand behind that microphone and give your all can help you realise what needs to be done in order to learn how to improve your singing. Yes you can have all of the proper foundations and the training to get your started on your journey to improving your singing voice, but without the confidence to chase your singing dreams you’ll never truly achieve your singing goals. Confidence and drive is so crucial in this industry. Lots of people want to learn how to become a professional singer, but not all have the drive to do what it takes to work hard and work towards improving their singing voice.
One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation.
Do you have what it takes? Are you ready to put in the work an improve your singing voice today?
I've worked as a full time singer and musician since 2006. My singing has taken me around the world, performing on 5 continents and getting paid to do so. I want to help you achieve your singing dreams.
