Here are some girl songs that are great for singing along with. They give you encouragement as to what you can really do with your voice. You may be surprised how easy they are to sing with. All are extremely feminine, but usually do not go above a high tenor.

"Six Underground" -- Sneaker Pimps
"Malibu" -- Hole
"High on Sunday" -- Aimee Mann
"Slow Down" -- Morcheeba
"Save Me" -- Aimee Mann
"Stolen Car" -- Beth Orton
"Duvet" -- BOA

Singing is probably one of the best ways to train your voice and another that you can try is Joan Baez.  Especially the Blessed Are album.

Avoid Kate Bush unless you want to shatter your glassware

Dennis

Quote from: Ell on May 23, 2007, 11:59:23 PM
Here are some girl songs that are great for singing along with. They give you encouragement as to what you can really do with your voice. You may be surprised how easy they are to sing with. All are extremely feminine, but usually do not go above a high tenor.

"Six Underground" -- Sneaker Pimps
"Malibu" -- Hole
"High on Sunday" -- Aimee Mann
"Slow Down" -- Morcheeba
"Save Me" -- Aimee Mann
"Stolen Car" -- Beth Orton
"Duvet" -- BOA

I managed to track some of those songs down do you know any other girl songs that are great for singing along with?

many thanks

tammy

I am at the point now where I can sing along to Amy Lee (Evanescence), and was in a cover band for them for about 6 months....

hmmmmmmmmmm, I started out singing stuff like Patsy Cline and Janis Joplin to train my voice, but found out by accident I could sing along to most guys if I pushed my voice an octave higher... weird, lol

thanks for the song suggestions though, i haven't heard the Sneaker Pimps in a while, or Aimee Mann for that matter (yeah I have weird, eclectic taste in music... I listen to everything)...

I don't know how well this is for the voice, but anything by The Waitresses certainly gets me in the right mood.

How about Kelly Clarkson? She has a decent range- though  maybe a little too high for starting out.

If you've ever listened to garbage (not some of your style, perhaps, but one of my favourites) the lead singer has a relatively low voice that should be easier for working your way up.

Quote"Six Underground" -- Sneaker Pimps
"Malibu" -- Hole
"High on Sunday" -- Aimee Mann
"Slow Down" -- Morcheeba
"Save Me" -- Aimee Mann
"Stolen Car" -- Beth Orton
"Duvet" -- BOA

May I congradulate you on your taste in music!  Six Underground is one of my faves. That chick is sex-y! Do you know how the Sneaker Pimps got their name?

I suggest that the women sing along with something that won't force them into a falsetto all of the time. Try some Melissa Etheridge or another performer with a natural, beautiful melodic alto voice. I had a GF that was always trying to force herself too high too soon. Many women can't sing first, or even second soprano well, but have wonderful alto voices. It's not so much the notes you can hit, but where you bring them from. Think nasal.

try to mimic renata tebaldi's voice.  no, i'm not joking.

Also, if you don't mind singing with a guy...try Simon & Garfunkel. They harmonize most of the time and you can pick the upper or lower range to sing along to. For FTMs like moi, working my way down to the lower ranges of the two has worked wonders for my singing voice and I would imagine that the upper range would have similar effects for MTFs.

Anything by Evanescence, but that is hard

Quote from: Rachel on May 29, 2007, 10:17:37 PM
Anything by Evanescence, but that is hard

Hehehe yeah it is a bit harder, but I have sang in an Evanescence cover band and people said I sound just like Amy Lee... *shrugs*

By the way, learning to warm up your vocal chords is an important thing too, practicing scales, it allows you more freedom and a wider vocal range. (besides, like any other muscle, you can pull something if you aren't careful and don't warm up. I lost my voice for two weeks once from not doing vocal warmups, but I do them everyday now) Here's a quick example of how to warm up: if you've ever heard this (most people have) Do - Re - Mi - Fa - So - La - Ti - Do... that's sorta what you want to do except you are going to go: Do - Re - Mi - Fa - So - La - Ti - Re - Do, the "So" note being the highest pitched note in the scale then decending back down and ending on the original "Do" note... okay, do this twice and then start a note higher, you can continue to go as high as you are comfortable with (don't force your voice). Then, do the same thing starting from the same scale and work your way back down to the first scale you sang... Ta da! you're vocal chords are now more prepared to be excersized.

You should be able to sing easily and for longer.

Drink lemon water, lemon soothes the throat and vocal chords, and if you ever start to get hoarse, gargle some warm water and take a half tablespoon of honey, straight, it will sooth the vocal chords alot more. (Hooray for honey-Lemon cough drops) Slippery Elm is good for that too... just wanted to pop by and say something...

Much love...

I rocked out to Pat Benetar and Joan Jett while training my voice.

Quote from: Renae Lupini on June 12, 2007, 09:26:42 PM
I rocked out to Pat Benetar and Joan Jett while training my voice.

Pat Benetar rocks so much
so does Janice Joplin, but her voice is hard to do and will ruin your vocal cords

Joplins voice was heading for a meltdown if she had continued. Such abuse!!

I can do it, sorta close, but I can't talk the next day ;-).

I liked to do folksy, spoken style songs, like "You were meant for me" by Jewel.
Its in between singing and speaking, good way to learn both.

Dresden Dolls-Coin Operated Boy
Bikini Kill-Rebel Girl
Julie Ruin-I want to know what love is
The Blow-What Tom Said about Girls
The Blow-Come on Petunia
Mirah-Dreamboat

And then I also listen to various female comedians.  Like Sarah Silverman and Jen Kirkman(buy her album self help!).

I went to see Joan Jett live last October. I was singing along to every song and rocking out the whole time. when I left the show i sounded like minnie mouse. lol It was insane how the pitch off my voice was. It was back to normal in the morning but was still funny as hell at the time.

That's strange since Joan Jett doesn't have that high a voice.
Where you were singing with her one octave higher?

I wonder how she still has a voice since she's always belting hard and you
hear the strain on her vocal cords (singing a long time, I've got a god ear for those things).
Her cords are probably made of steel :-).

Quote from: Keira on June 13, 2007, 12:45:51 AM

Joplins voice was heading for a meltdown if she had continued. Such abuse!!

I can do it, sorta close, but I can't talk the next day ;-).

I liked to do folksy, spoken style songs, like "You were meant for me" by Jewel.
Its in between singing and speaking, good way to learn both.

janice joplin had such soul to her singing though

Aimee Mann is like my hero, there are SO few strong songwriters like her any more, and singing with her records is one of my favorite passtimes!

I'm going to check out all the artists you guys mentioned in this thread, I trust you!