Harmonising

G

growlingsoulpup

New member
Hi there. Is there anyone here who can teach me to sing a vocal harmony? I want to have vocal harmony parts on the originals with my band, but problem is, I'm not all too sure of how to do so myself, and my backup vocalist is equally clueless. I know of some people who can "hear" a harmony the moment they hear a melody. How do they do that? Can i get that ability? Hmm. Would appreciate all advice. Thanks!
 
I have that ability .. it was the result of regular musical training from very young. I can't say exactly what, because I just don't remember unfortunately.

I think that an important part of it is knowing the major scale (if it's major scale harmonies you want). If someone is singing Do Re Mi Re Do, then you can harmonize with Mi Fa Si Fa Mi, staying 2 notes away. To do that you need to know what Mi Fa Si are.

You also need to know where the starting point Mi is. So once you hear enough to know what key you are in, you need to be able to find Mi instantly.

So if I was making up a method to teach someone harmonizing, I would try teaching:

1. Singing major scales from different starting points, and in both directions.
2. Sing intervals after hearing the key's root note, or after hearing a chord
3. Sing simple harmonies (like the Do Re Mi/Mi Fa Si above)

I think with those 2 skills you would be pretty much set ..
 
growlingsoulpup said:
Hi there. Is there anyone here who can teach me to sing a vocal harmony? I want to have vocal harmony parts on the originals with my band, but problem is, I'm not all too sure of how to do so myself, and my backup vocalist is equally clueless. I know of some people who can "hear" a harmony the moment they hear a melody. How do they do that? Can i get that ability? Hmm. Would appreciate all advice. Thanks!
Click to expand...

Hee. Here's the non-theory way to learn it.. which I feel is more flexible, cos it's easier to harmonise by feel than to think of chords in your head..

Listen to lots of Enya. :P Ok ok I know it's a bit far fetched especially if you don't like her music but why I'm suggesting it is because

- Her music's thick with vocal layerings and harmonies, there's harmonies everybloodywhere
- the melodies are straightforward and has a simple beat to follow enough to, so you'll manage to catch it fast enough, and you can proceed to
- further dissect the melodies to its harmonies,
- easy to experiment and sing along to check if you have the right harmony, since it's full of it on simple melodies, it'll be obvious to tell if it fits or not


Get her best hits, and listen to it non-stop, it'll rewire your ears for harmonies.. I think the album is called "Paint the sky with stars"
 
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Listen to any of Ladysmith Black Mambazo's recording for some great harmonizing.
 
listen to boybands. hahah. ok secondhand serenade do alot of err i dont really if what he does is harmonising. he mixes his own voices in different pitches.
 
A7x...good guitar harmonies but M shadows also does incredible harmonies on record.Syn and Rev harmonize/backs him up live pretty well too.
 
try working out the harmony on guitar or keyboard or a glockenspiel or whatever first, then sing along to it. Eventually you'll get the hang of it. Practice is key.
 
Okay, thanks a lot to everyone. I've got one more question. Most harmonies I heard are sung in a breathy kind of tone, a softer kind of voice. What effect does this have on the overall composition?
 
Get this -

488937357353X.jpg


:mrgreen:

Well, seriously - the way harmonics are usually done, they are not sung with a breathy kind of tone. It's just that the final output do not usually shadow the main parts.

Some people advocate singing the harmonization parts yourself IF you are recording lah. Sounds better, and I kinda agree.

But hard to find guitarists/bassists who can harmonize nicely like maybe, Billy Sheehan or Paul Gilbert or Richie Sambora lah, well at least in my personal experience.

I can't tell you exactly how to do it but it does come naturally for most people I know, including me.

I'm sure it'll be quite easy if you recognize the fundamentals in music harmony - Harmony - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

:D
 
I can harmonize 2nds, 3rds easily anytime.

I am currently practising male / female duets trying to sing both parts at the same time in harmony.
 
fgl said:
I can harmonize 2nds, 3rds easily anytime.

I am currently practising male / female duets trying to sing both parts at the same time in harmony.
Click to expand...

wow. good luck.
and i've lost my voice.
down with super high fever and bad cough.
i've lost my voice i cant even speak.
:(
CANNOT SING :'(
 
digihub00 said:
the Shades can do anything

they are the Singapore Beatles !!!

3 or 4 parts no problem !
Click to expand...


hahaha .... thats long time, long gone history ...

we still are the best of friends and actual do jam at least once a year for some charity thingy here & there....

Drummer Subra is a sucessful lawyer now and bassist James playing mainly gospal stuff.

We had our day in the sun though ... :cool:
 
Hey there,

If you learn relative pitch, you should be able to harmonize without a problem. Harmonizing is just like chords, without the main note it is out of pitch, but with it it sounds awesome.

growlingsoulpup said:
Okay, thanks a lot to everyone. I've got one more question. Most harmonies I heard are sung in a breathy kind of tone, a softer kind of voice. What effect does this have on the overall composition?
Click to expand...

Harmonizing is meant to be softer, cause you can't cover the main melody. If it's a male/female duet with the female singing the main melody, and if the guy is able to, he'll use falsetto to harmonize, which is probably what you're asking about.

Nothing much, but hope it helps. I'm still learning too :)
 
cheereos said:
Hey there,

If you learn relative pitch, you should be able to harmonize without a problem. Harmonizing is just like chords, without the main note it is out of pitch, but with it it sounds awesome.

Harmonizing is meant to be softer, cause you can't cover the main melody. If it's a male/female duet with the female singing the main melody, and if the guy is able to, he'll use falsetto to harmonize, which is probably what you're asking about.

Nothing much, but hope it helps. I'm still learning too :)
Click to expand...

Hi. Yes, the main vocal parts are not meant to be overshadowed by the harmonized parts but I don't think you should use falsetto nor do I think it is the norm.

Usually, depending on the sound settings, the background singers' microphone volume and settings are set such that they are not louder than the main vocalist's microphone. This is because most of the time, it is optimal for a singer to sing and emote with a certain power and volume, to achieve the desired effect and delivery, and this applies to the harmonized parts too.

So, in a professional voice recording or even 'live' performances, the harmonized parts or the background vocals are still sung naturally but the volume output is more controlled (electronically) such that they are not louder than the main vocals.

In other words, you don't really have to sing softer, if the sound setting permits. And you don't have to sing in falsetto at all.

I guess experienced singers will know how to control each of his or her own voice output to suit the settings and the songs performed.

:D
 
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