Karaoke Forums

What is the most frustrating thing that happens to you when you are trying to learn a new song?

I have been working on this song......an old country classic...and there is one blame line in there that I can't get on key to save my life.  I have recorded it...listened to it...tried again....listened tried again.....put it away....come back to it...same thing happens and then put it away again.   The rest of the song sounds fine..(to me) but that one line or phrase is driving me crazy and it's in about 3 or 4 places in the song.  I'm just about ready to give up on it and just say...I can't sing that song!

Was just wondering what kinds of frustrations some of you face when you really want to learn a certain song.  And how do you deal with them?

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SAY IT WITH MUSIC!!!!

This happen to all the time when learning 'new' song. The pitch is not right in a few places; tempo not quite right on the next line etc.

How do I get over it? I play the song over my pc as background music as a loop and it just keep playing. This I do for days and it help in the tempo. For pitch I just have to sing it along as the song is playing. It help when there is one one at home and I am the mad singer around.

Only then I sing it in public and when I think I get it right I then try and record.

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I can neither confirm nor deny ever having or knowing anything about nothing.... mrscott

I can't recall lyrics.

Usually with me the problem is a breathing thing...I try to work on that to get that place, take a bigger breath before it, or something.  I've learned a lot of little "tricks" over the years from taking voice lessons, so they usually help on the pop songs.

You might want to take lessons, even just for fun.  They have been a huge help to me.

One of these days I am going to post a song I sung back when I really sucked !!

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~Suzanne Lanoue~

I used to be able to memorized lyric but with the advent of karaoke those ablity is gone.

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I can neither confirm nor deny ever having or knowing anything about nothing.... mrscott

Breathing is my BIGGEST problem. I tend to breathe at the wrong place. And running out of breath..... is a nightly occerence.

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I can neither confirm nor deny ever having or knowing anything about nothing.... mrscott

Karaoke has nothing to do with my inability to recall lyrics....AGE is the problem!  LOL

I get frustrated with the background singers.  Sometimes they are totally off key and throw you off as well...or make you sound as if you're off.  Or, if you have to raise the key, the background singers sound like chipmunks!!  Pardon me....just venting!

EDITED:  Fixed major spelling error!!  LOL

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If you can't have fun...why bother?

 Here's a competition I'd do quite well in !

I've found this too, atonal harmonies that break in at the strangest times !   Not to mention the tempo problems and lack of sensitivity to dynamics the bandmembers have.  You'd think these people should be an enhancement but no

I think I've had my share of frustration with all of the above!!!!!

Suzanne said.  

I really wish I had the time.  I have bought several different things on voice....cd's and videos, etc......unfortunately they are still in the package.  I keep telling myself to get them out.....Maybe before too long.

It's still nice to know that I'm not the only one who gets frustrated sometimes!  
I love it when people can actually sub their bloopers......I wouldn't dare do that...    Somehow my vocabulary gets much smaller during those times and it's filled with stuff you wouldn't want other people to hear...

Everyone.....Just Keep Singin'!!!!!!

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SAY IT WITH MUSIC!!!!

I think we should have a "blooper week"

Live lessons are way better than CD's because you get the personal feedback.

They usually are only a half hour a week...

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~Suzanne Lanoue~

Gosh, what DOESN'T frustrate me while learning a new song?  LOL

Actually, I guess there's really not THAT much... but I'd have to say what bugs me the most is when I set out with the intention of learning something new to sing I listen to the original on a loop (not necessarily paying much attention to the lyrics as much as trying to get the rhythm and pitch down in my head).  So I have that all squared away, and then it's time to try it out.  So I pop in the CDG backing and let 'er rip.... only to discover that the key is a little off from the original, the background singers are hideous, there is harmony in places it shouldn't be (if you can even call what some of those background singers are doing as "harmony") and then no backing singing where it SHOULD be.  

Sometimes I've noticed the backup "singers" are singing the wrong words as compared to what's scrolling across the screen.  This of course is not a problem if you're recording it, because you can change what YOU say to match what they're saying.  But at karaoke, it gets a little trickier because I'm always tempted to sing what's on the screen.  And all the problems with that stem from the fact that I listened to the original over and over and have it ingrained in my head.  Sometimes the backings are so completely off from the original that there's absolutely no way I would even attempt singing the song in public for fear of embarrassing myself.  That's when I go on a hunt to hopefully find a better backing for it.  Occasionally I find a better one that sounds closer... but there are MANY songs I would LIKE to sing, but don't because the backings I have for them are so awful.

It doesn't matter to me if the words on the screen are wrong as long as there is no background singers singing the wrong lyrics... because I always sing the lyrics as I know them.  For example, there's a song by The Cranberries ('Linger') that I sing at karaoke.  The particular backing for it at the place I go displays the lyrics on the screen as "But I'm in so blue, you know I'm such a fool for you...."  Blue?  BLUE???  Uh, the correct word there is supposed to be DEEP.  So I always sing the right words, the way it's SUPPOSED to go and then when it's over and I sit back down, the people I'm sitting with are like, "I noticed you sang different words, why'd you change them?"  GROAN!  I guess some people think that just because there's a word on a screen, it must be gospel.  Obvious typos and misspellings really crack me up too.

Other than those things, if I try a new song and I just can't get it right... pitch, timing, breathing, etc.  I simply throw in the towel and move on to another song.  There are some songs I was just NOT meant to sing, no matter how much I like them.

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My problem is that I don't listen to much music, so when I decide to try a new song, it usually really is new to me, even if it's been out for several (or many) years.  It's so much easier to "learn" songs that I already know halfway because I've heard them a bunch of times.

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Reward: nine yen in drawer.

For singing 'live', the biggest frustration is definitely 'forgetting the words'. I can know a song really well, try to sing it live, and stumble or lose my place from nerves. I don't know if that's still such a big problem for me, since I haven't sung live in a while, but it certainly adds to my tension when it comes to 'performing'. I got to the point where I had to set up a 'cheat sheet' just in case.

As for learning new songs, when I'm learning something really tricky where, for instance, the vocalist does some funky little thing here and there I want to capture, but can't remember exactly where it is, or (for example) the vocalist sings the chorus a little differently each time, I use my own 'notation' on the lyrics to help me along.

For example:

'If these were song lyrics,
'I would do something like this.
'A single quote, 'like the one I just used
'shows where to take a breath.

If I use ^a 'carrot' (i think that's what it's called),
that means to sing that part higher than I normally would.
If I use an __underscore, it means to sing that part lower
words-with-dashes means to squish the words tighter together
and words... with... elipses... means to space them out more.

Hope all of this helps some of you

Hi Syber!!!!   Those are some great tips!   Thank you for sharing them

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SAY IT WITH MUSIC!!!!

You sure are right about that!! That's why I sing so many oldies

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~Suzanne Lanoue~

I do something very similar, Sybey.

When I'm learning a new song and have the lyrics printed out, I put little lines to tell me whether the tune goes a particular way (different than what I expect), or if a note is held out longer, if I think a bigger breath should be taken, or a squiggly line if they do that little pop thing at the end of the line where the voice trails off in a sort of up and down way (not sure what that's called).

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~Suzanne Lanoue~