Voicing My Opinion

First off, I'll be honest. I have never particularly liked the sound of my voice. I am a good guitarist, bass player, I'm a reasonable pianist (for what I need to do), and can fake my way through a 3-minute song on bongos and congas. I can drum, but only if I don't use my feet; this is one of the reasons that I program my synth to play my lines. Oh, and I can clap to a 4/4 beat.

I have been writing and recording my own albums (easier to write than "group of songs") for 15 years, and outside of band projects I've only had ONE person play ONE bassline on ONE of my songs. Part of it is my controlling nature, part of it is my wanting to pitch this as "all me, good and bad," and part is artistic respect: I don't feel right telling another musician or artist exactly what to do. So, I know how I want my words to be presented and have to do it myself.

After 15 years, I have just arranged for singing lessons. I have a few go-to notes that I regularly use in my songs, but they're pretty weak. Singing my own songs is not a problem - I write the music around my vocal limitations. But I can almost never sing someone else's song. Most of the time my voice wavers close to the right note, and sometimes it flies off into left field. I want to gain a few more notes in my repertoire, improve my delivery, and find a better way to start on pitch. I've got a good teacher, and I'm really looking forward to starting next week.

So who knows? Along with a set of songs i'm REALLY loving, this upcoming project could sound quite different...