Nirvana Kurt Cobain’s passionate and explosive voice is most immediately recognizable. Many vocalists aspire to have his robust vocal capabilities.
How to sing like Kurt Cobain? There are some significant elements as below:
- Prepare your voice
- Distort your vocal fry
- Build up the base
- Cross over
- Sing with feeling
This article will give you detailed information to sing like Kurt Cobain!
#1. Prepare Your Voice
It is crucial to know that it is almost impractical to sing accurately like another vocalist. It will strain if you try to imitate some of Kurt Cobain’s difficult singing habits. Here is a list of a few tips to ensure your voice are staying in check:
- Follow a program of practicing vocal warmups and doing exercises every day before you do any arduous singing. The voice is one kind of muscle, and practices will make sure that you avoid injuries as much as possible.
- Help the larynx stay lubricated by drinking enough water. Dehydrated vocal cords are likely to suffer more strains when you sing incorrectly.
- Record audios or videos of your vocal performance. The voice generally sounds relatively different when you playback through the speaker. Listening to your singing will provide you with a new idea of how your voice looks and your vocal habits.
Exercises for vocal warm-ups
Here are six exercises for vocal warmups if you want to train your voice.
Lip Rolls (or Trills)
The objective of lip rolls is to engage your vocal folds. It will not cause strains and ease the voice ready to sing.
This exercise is straightforward. You gently close the lips and then blow air throughout them so that both upper and lower lips come fast into contact.
Scales & sounds
The second exercise is the correlation with an instrument or any tool that can produce musical notes. There are various free music generators on the internet that can work if you do not have one piano or violin to hand.
Sustain the musical note
Before improving your vocal abilities, it requires you to sustain the musical note for a longer time. To do it, you should hold this note for a short time before keeping it longer.
Triad exercises
Triad exercises aim to upgrade further your capability of singing in key. You can use an instrument or a free online note generator. Look for a major triad chord of the original scale that you selected.
Expand your vocal range
It is a popular misconception that the vocal range is one kind of natural attribute that is considerably difficult to enhance through practice.
In contrast, the physical formation of the vocal folds and muscles is one factor; you can strengthen them properly.
Take an instrument or e free online note generator as the reference. You can begin with the lowest musical note on your piano and try to repeat it.
If this musical note is too low for the vocal range, move on sequentially till you can sing the lowest note.
Keep trying with the highest note on your piano. Without any strain, indicate the highest notes in your range by slowly moving down until you locate them.
#2. Distort Your Vocal Fry
Most audiences love the scratchiness feature sitting in Kurt Cobain’s vocals. Even if he sang comfortably with low musical notes, Kurt still could manage to make his voice the creaky nature. The result is to make the sound seem broken.
You can find numerous versions of Kurt’s cracked tones in a few songs, such as “You Know You’re Right” or “Heart-Shaped Box”.
Plenty of vocal instructors refer to that skill as vocal fry. Many heavy metal singers utilize this skill commonly, such as Avenged Sevenfold. It’s exactly like the name brings to mind; you will sing with a steady voice plus one “fry” or distortion to the treble of the song.
#3. Build Up The Base
It is vital to build up a singing base before you can distort your voice at the top end. Firstly, you sing with your regular voice.
Next, sing one musical phrase consisting of vowels and focus on the texture of the agent when you sustain these vowels.
Pay the most attention to projecting the voice up and coming out of the diaphragm. Install a relaxed base with your vocals and comprehend how the diaphragm works to assist that projection.
Repeat this musical phrase sometimes and sing a bit more slowly after each repetition. You will find that you sing like pulling these long vowels apart slowly as the elastic band.
Those frying elements take place in the nasal area. Attempt to transfer the core of the singing projection from the chest and go through two nasal cavities.
#4. Cross Over
Raise two cheekbones when you allow your voice to outward from your nasal cavities and mouth. Attempt to indicate differences between sounds from the chest and sounds that exit through your nasal area.
When setting up the equilibrium between chest vocals and nasal vocals, it is crucial to practice switching between them. Also, blend both voices to produce the vocal fry that makes Kurt’s performance so striking.
Because many singers try to do additional distortion or ‘’vocal fry’’ when they increase the volume, it often causes vocal strains. Instead, think about whether your vocal fry should keep consistent no matter what level of changes in your book.
The chest voice can decide your singing’s general power; still, the nasal voice can give some additional unique features and tones with regular practice.
#5. Sing With Feeling
Last but not least, keep in mind that Kurt Cobain engaged his emotions alongside plenty of vocal habits. So, you should sing with your feelings.
One of the most memorable illustrations is the irreparable “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” You could hear his irritations and disappointments with society and the music industry.
The voice becomes most robust when it is honest. You will become a powerful singer with strong delivery abilities if you know where to start in your emotional range while singing.
Your fry in singing may not offer the same result as Kurt Cobain. So remember that you probably do not have a similar voice to him.
When you try singing Nirvana’s songs, try to get engaged and keep the vocal fry along with him rather than sculpting your voice into Kurt.
If you find that this article does not offer what you need, watch this video for more information about how to sing like Kurt Cobain.
Tips for drinking enough water
Water helps you sing with a volatile voice. It is the secret weapon of all levels of vocalists. Having the proper intake of water can help the voice stay healthy, and the sound remains strong.
If you build up a routine of drinking water daily, the vocal folds will become more smooth, and you can sing more precisely and powerfully.
The appropriate intake of water for a day
The NHS encourages that it is essential to have three bottles of 500 milliliters of water for a day. One man needs to drink more with four bottles of water. Put another way, you need an adequate intake of from about 1.5 liters to 2 liters of fresh water in one day, relying on gender.
Check if you have an adequate intake of water.
There is a straightforward method to check if you have absorbed enough water. We call it the “pee’s pale” rule.
It may seem tedious and stupid to do so. Yet, you will recognize if your body gets wholly hydrated by checking the color of your urine.
When the shade gets pale and clean, you have enough water intake. If the shade gets darker yellow, it is vital to have more water.
Some ways of recording your audio and videos
Remember that you are making audio and videos to display and critique your vocal capabilities. It’s not trying to achieve one VMA award.
Here are a few practical tips to help you record audio more successfully:
- Looking into your camera. It’s like how you will do on the stage, so you need to know what you look like to the audience.
- Sitting or standing naturally. Do not tense up when you are recording.
- Not putting on distracting clothes. Clothing with a lot of colors or patterns may distract you from the task of singing. After all, you will want to concentrate on your singing, not your clothing.
- Paying attention to the background. You should choose one neutral, dull room where you can sing. It is the same with your outfit as you need to concentrate on your music.
Final Thoughts
The article has provided you with the necessary information about how to sing like Kurt Cobain. Hopefully, you can answer your questions through our sharing.
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