Follow these simple beginners singing tips to increase your vocal range and improve your singing voice.

When singing there are many things you can do to improve how you sound and your vocal range. 

These beginners singing tips will also protect your voice against fatigue and help prevent you from burning your voice out. 

I know that when I was singing in Spain and doing a lot of entertainment and karaoke hosting my voice became tired. I would sometimes do 5 nights a week and because it was one big party at the time I barely slept. This led to some very embarrassing and awkward singing moments. 

There of course many tips that a professional vocal coach, in depth online singing course or book will be able to provide you with. The following tips are just a few of the more popular and effective ones. 

Beginners Singing Tips

1. Stay Hydrated

Water, oh water. The magical elixir of life. One of my favorite beginners singing tips. Hydration is a huge part of your ability to reach certain notes or even sing at all. So let’s look at your vocal cords (folds) and singing voice as an engine. An engine does not work well without oil right? 

Your vocal chords are similar in a sense that they need to be hydrated and lubricated. Drinking room temperature water is one of the most important practices to keep your voice well maintained. When I say drinking water, I don’t just mean while performing or during practice, I mean all the time! 

To begin with you’ll probably be needing the toilet regularly but this will pass in time as your body becomes used to it. Try to drink between 8 – 10 glasses of water a day (8oz glasses)

I couldn’t stress this singing tip more. You’ll not only notice your voice and range improve but your whole health and wellbeing too. You skin, your hair and nails, your complex and you’ll have heaps more energy.

2. Rest & Sleep

Another important regime to follow is to ensure you get plenty of rest and more importantly sleep. Sleep is magical. As your body becomes tired so does your voice and sleep helps to heal our vocal chords and muscles. 

Sleep deprivation will effect singers in many ways for example lack of energy can reduce the energy we need for optimal breathing and in turn causes vocal fatigue. 

A good practice is to get between 7 – 9 hours of sleep a night. If you can’t hit this amount of hours or you’ve been deprived of sleep before singing, then you should talk as little as possible to rest your voice.

3. Exercise

Not only is exercise physically good for us in general it really can help with your singing. 

While exercising you are working out your cardiovascular system and your breathing. In turn this engages the diaphragm. 

A good exercise regime will increase your stamina and boost endorphins. 

If you stick to working out you will notice that you will be able to reach higher notes without straining and you’ll feel more energy, in turn more effort and emotion will go into your singing voice.

Some good exercises are walking, jogging, running, swimming and aerobics classes, anything that gives you a cardiovascular workout. Work out those lungs!

Try to exercise for at least half an hour daily to improve your singing voice..

4. Stretch your body

Stretch! Stretch everything. Stretch your face , your mouth, your legs, your arms, your body and all of your muscles!

It’s a lot more effective than you may imagine. 

Stretching gets rid of stress and tension in the muscles and body which can dramatically decrease your performance standards. Here’s some good stretching exercises for singers.

5. Sing in the Shower

Who doesn’t love a good sing song in the shower? I know I do, the neighbours also know I do!

What you probably didn’t realise is this is a fantastic place to warm up your voice.

The acoustics are often better in the shower and the steam moisturises your throat and vocal chords and in turn relaxes everything.

So sing in the shower while the bathroom is full of steam.

6. Breathing Warm Up Routine

One of the most if not most important parts of singing is your breathing, so as an athlete would warm up before competing in an athletic event, a singer should warm up.

Not just the vocal cords but your breathing too. You’re going to want to activate your diaphragm. This will help increase your vocal range and prevent unnecessary strain and fatigue on your vocals. 

Check out these beginners breathing exercises for singers.

7. Do not overreach.

Believe it or not sometimes too much practice is a bad thing. It’s also common for people to perhaps spend too much time warming..

Practice sessions should only last around 30 – 45 minutes with an adequate 5 minute warm up beforehand.

Start by singing easier to reach songs that are less demanding on your voice, build your way up to the more demanding parts of the song and then when it’s coming to an end try to warm down again. 

Some like to hum also at the end of practice.

Here’s a good 5 minute YouTube Warm Up.

8. Ask your friends & family

The best audience to practice in front of are your friends and family. Ask them to be honest with you and for constructive criticism and don’t be upset if you hear something you don’t like. 

Take all the advice and criticism on board and work to improve on these areas.

You can’t get better advice than a vocal coach. If you can afford to have lessons then I highly encourage this, your vocal coach will be able to identify the areas that need work and give you the specific exercises to help you improve.

9. Record yourself

There’s no better way of hearing what you really sound like than recording yourself. This way you can play it back and listen to the exact areas that you need improvement.

Your phone will suffice if you have no equipment, try to find a room with good acoustics. I find the bathroom has the best acoustics in my house. 

Setting up a small recording area in your home is not as expensive as you may think. A good basic setup on a budget can be found here.

Some great recording equipment can be found here.

10. Sing your heart out!

Emphasis, effort and passion are three things you need to put into your singing.

Feel the song, connect with it, throw all of your heart and soul into it. Believe it or not your facial expressions can change the way you sound, don’t be scared of looking silly.

Raw emotion and connecting with the song can drastically improve your sound, don’t overthink it all though, stay natural and relax.

Move around naturally, let the music guide you.

Singing Tips Summary

As I’ve previously said there are many beginners singing tips out there and these are in my opinion some of the most effective ones. 

Nothing will help you more than a vocal coach or singing tuition. If you can find the budget I would highly recommend it. 

I’m not a professional. The tips and Singing Guide For Beginners I write are all based on my own personal experiences. 

If you have any great singing tips for beginners, to add to this list then please use the comment area below to let us know about it.