Everybody wants to be a great singer, but how do you actually know if you can sing well? We’ve put together this list of ways and methods you can use to figure out if you’re singing correctly and sound good!
The best ways to tell if you are a good singer are to record yourself and listen to it back, and get feedback on your singing. You can check your tone sensitivity and vocal range using an online test. Also, assess your stance, posture and breathing to ensure you have the proper singing technique.
5 Ways to Tell if You’re a Good Singer
- Self-assess Properly
- Get Some Feedback
- Check your Tone and Vocal Range
- Evaluate your Technique
- Take a Quiz
Let’s go through each method in detail so you can figure out the answer to the question, how well can you sing?
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1. Self-Assess
So you’ve heard yourself sing, but how do you know if you actually sound good? Well the best way to figure this out without having to sing in front of other people, is to do a proper self-assessment.
The proper way to do this, is by recording yourself. Just singing to yourself without recording it will only get you so far and won’t help you to properly analyse your voice.
You can record it using your smart phone or tablet if that’s all you have access to. But you’ll get better results if you record it using a proper device designed to record your singing.
Best Voice Recorders
- The Sony Voice Recorder ICD-PX Series is perfect for recording vocal performances. It’s really simple to use and has great battery life and clear crisp audio to help you get a good reflection of how well you can sing. Check it out on Amazon.
- The Tschisen Digital Voice Recorder is also a great option that’s perfect if you don’t want to spend to much on a higher end voice recorder. Check it out on Amazon.
Try a few different songs to get a good representation of how well you can sing.
A single song won’t give you the best idea because some people are more naturally suited to some songs than others as they fit their range and tone better. Sing along to an instrumental to get the best idea of how well you can sing.
Once you’ve recorded your voice, it’s time to listen to it back. Make sure you use the highest quality equipment to play back the recording. Headphones are always preferred, unless you have a great speaker system.
Your initial gut feeling will give you a good indication if you are any good at singing. But if you want to be more thorough, then listen to a section of the song at a time and compare it to the original version to help you figure out your strengths and weaknesses.
You’ll probably know yourself which notes are harder for you to hit than others.
Not a fan of what you’ve heard? Head over to our post on the 5 best ways you can improve your singing today!
You can also check out this Karaoke Machine on Amazon that actually scores your singing so you are able to track your improvements easily.
2. Get Plenty of Feedback
We think that the best way to find out if you’re a naturally good singer is by asking other people.Some people you ask are likely to be a bit biased and maybe tell you that you sound great even if you actually don’t sound so good because they’re trying to be polite.
But generally it’s the best way of finding out if you can sing well. But who should you ask?
Friends and Family
This is probably the easiest group of people to ask for feedback on your singing. They may have even heard you singing round the house so you won’t have to perform for them properly. You’ll probably also feel most comfortable around them too.
The only disadvantage though, is that they might say that you’re better than you are because they don’t want to hurt your feelings. Ask for honesty though and you should get some genuine feedback.
Karaoke Clubs and Venues
The second place you could ask for feedback, is from karaoke clubs and venues like bars. There is probably a venue pretty locally that has a karaoke night that you can go along to.
You don’t even have to specifically ask for feedback either. You can just judge the general reaction to see if people actually think you can sing. Plus, karaoke will help you practice your singing so it’ll help you improve too!
Online
If you’re brave enough, then you can always ask people online to give you feedback on your singing. People online tend to be honest and will tell you if you don’t sound great.
But be careful with this kind of feedback as some trolls will just give you a negative reaction even if you’re great! So take it with a pinch of salt if you get the odd person being negative.
You can ask for feedback online in a few different ways. Instagram and Facebook are good for getting feedback from lots of people you know. YouTube is a good resource for getting opinions from lots of people that you don’t know personally.
It’s really easy to upload videos, but try and use high quality equipment if you can to get the best audio possible.
Vocal Coach
Another person that you could ask for feedback from, is a professional vocal coach. This is probably the most effort and the most expensive option, but usually will give you the best answer.
There are plenty of vocal coaches out there, and some even work online to make it even more convenient. A professional is the most likely person to give you honest and constructive feedback and tell you if you sing correctly and how you can improve.
3. Check your Tone Sensitivity and Vocal Range
Another way you can find out if you can actually sing, is to do some technical tests to determine your musical ability. This will help give you an indication as to whether you have an understanding of pitch, tone and timing to see if on paper, you have natural ability.
You can check your tonal sensitivity by taking a test online at tonedeaf.com, this will help you see if you have a natural ear for music.
You can also test your vocal range too. This is one of the best tests because it helps you to find out what vocal range you have and what songs are best for your voice. Generally, singers with a larger vocal range are considered the best because they are capable of hitting a wider range of notes.For example, Whitney Houston had a huge vocal range which is why she was such an impressive singer.
You can test your vocal range in a few different ways. One of them is to use note matching with a piano. You simply play each note from high to low to see which ones you can match properly.
This will give you an indication as to whether you have a wide or narrow range. You can also download apps to test it using the microphone on your smart device.
4. Evaluate your Technique
Another way to find out if you’re a good singer, is to evaluate your singing technique. All professional singers have a good technique, which is what allows them to sing better than most other people.
If you have the correct technique, then the chances are that you’re not a terrible singer. But what is good singing technique?
Stance
The best vocal performances come from people who are stood up and definitely not sat down. You should be standing with your feet shoulder width apart and the weight of your body slightly resting on the balls of your feet.
Posture
You also need to have good posture to sing as well as possible. This means shoulders and neck back and your hips in a neutral position. Test this by standing with your back to the wall with your ankles, rear, upper back and neck all touching the wall. Then lift your arms up and have that back of your palms touching the wall near your head. If this feels uncomfortable, then keep working on it to become a better singer.
Breathing
You’ll need to be able to breathe deeply to be able to sing well. This prevents you singing from your throat instead, which causes strain and produces a weaker sound. Practice deep breathing a few minutes a day to help with this. Make sure your breathing is deep and regular as well when you’re actually performing too.
Relax
You also need to make sure you’re relaxed to be able to sing well. If you’re nervous and tense, then the chances are that you won’t sound like a great singer. Your body should be relaxed as well as your jaw and mouth. Lightly massage your jaw before singing to help with this. You can also relax your lips by exhaling forcefully pushing air through your lips causing them to vibrate.
5. Take a Quiz
The final way you can find out if you can sing or not, is by taking a quiz! This is probably one of the most fun ways and will give you an indication without actually having to perform in front of anyone else.
We’ve created a quick quiz to help you find our if you can sing correctly or not. So click the link below to find out!