Home GENERAL SINGING - Ken Tamplin Vocal Academy Forum

How hard would it be to learn Smells like Teen Spirit by Nirvana in 2-3 months?

So a bunch of friends and I have decided to perform this song at the prom this summer. I'm not particularly good at singing(yet) and wonder if it's actually possible to learn to sing this song good until that time. Obviously I dont expect a miracle but I just dont want to embaress myself too much :p
I'm a 15 year old guy btw.

What vocal exercises should I do daily?

Comments

  • highmtnhighmtn Administrator, Moderator, Enrolled, Pro, 3.0 Streaming Posts: 15,380
    This song is actually done with extreme distortion, and that can hurt your voice. To go from zero to full-on distortion in that amount of time is inadvisable. You can do a parody of it and not really trash your voice out and be safer. It's just not worth it to trash your voice for the sake of a song at your prom. So just sing it, but don't try to scream it like that without knowing how it's actually done safely by a pro. Even a lot of pro's don't know how to take care of their voices, and end up trashing them. Find a funny voice that doesn't hurt or tear up your voice to do.

    People here who are pursuing serious singing aren't ready to sing a song like that and sound similar to the original artist until much longer than 3 months.
  • HaaajHaaaj Member Posts: 4
    highmtn said:

    This song is actually done with extreme distortion, and that can hurt your voice. To go from zero to full-on distortion in that amount of time is inadvisable. You can do a parody of it and not really trash your voice out and be safer. It's just not worth it to trash your voice for the sake of a song at your prom. So just sing it, but don't try to scream it like that without knowing how it's actually done safely by a pro. Even a lot of pro's don't know how to take care of their voices, and end up trashing them. Find a funny voice that doesn't hurt or tear up your voice to do.

    People here who are pursuing serious singing aren't ready to sing a song like that and sound similar to the original artist until much longer than 3 months.

    Thanks for your answer! I appreciate it :)
    How do you mean that I should parody it? I understand that I cant sing with distortion. How do you advise that I sing it?
    Also, do you know of any specific vocal exercises that might help me reach this goal?
    Thanks!
  • highmtnhighmtn Administrator, Moderator, Enrolled, Pro, 3.0 Streaming Posts: 15,380
    The kind of distortion that Kurt Cobain used was raw, destructive distortion. To simulate that sound safely, would require you to take a singing course and learn all of the fundamentals of good singing, and then diverge off into distortion and raunchy sounds.

    You just can't go out and start abusing your voice. You need real training and technique to rely on. Otherwise, you can hurt your voice.

    By parody, I mean do it as a joke, and don't worry about trying to do the song as a serious attempt. That way you don't have to destroy your voice just for the sake of one song.
  • HaaajHaaaj Member Posts: 4
    highmtn said:

    The kind of distortion that Kurt Cobain used was raw, destructive distortion. To simulate that sound safely, would require you to take a singing course and learn all of the fundamentals of good singing, and then diverge off into distortion and raunchy sounds.

    You just can't go out and start abusing your voice. You need real training and technique to rely on. Otherwise, you can hurt your voice.

    By parody, I mean do it as a joke, and don't worry about trying to do the song as a serious attempt. That way you don't have to destroy your voice just for the sake of one song.

    I dont think it's a good idea to do it as a joke, we're all very serious about this - however I understand that singing with distortion is out of the question. So I'm wondering, what vocal exervises do you think are good to generally improve my singing? :)
  • highmtnhighmtn Administrator, Moderator, Enrolled, Pro, 3.0 Streaming Posts: 15,380
    The basic LAH scale that Ken shows in many of his free videos is the grand-daddy of all beneficial scales. You start it out low and raise it a half-step after completing each scale.

    Lip trills are also excellent.

    You can do scales on any of the vowels. AH, AA, AYE, EE, OH, Ooh.
  • HaaajHaaaj Member Posts: 4
    highmtn said:

    The basic LAH scale that Ken shows in many of his free videos is the grand-daddy of all beneficial scales. You start it out low and raise it a half-step after completing each scale.

    Lip trills are also excellent.

    You can do scales on any of the vowels. AH, AA, AYE, EE, OH, Ooh.

    Thanks alot :)
    Exactly what I was looking for!
Sign In or Register to comment.