Tips for when you know that you have a lousy voice?

[Mr. Paul]

I found that taking just a couple of lessons noticeably improved my singing. Learning how to breathe and where your voice comes from is a big help.

[polarred21]

Originally Posted by Riverwolf

That's me.
One thing becomes clear as I record myself more, mostly to listen for mistakes, timing, etc.
I have a crappy voice.
I seem to be almost monotone.

You are not alone. I feel your pain. Good luck and let me know what helped.

[Mr. Jelly]

Maybe this has been said. Don't stretch out the words keep them short. The longer you sustain the words the more glaring being out of tune will be. If you sing in tune and don't like your voice then reevaluate the material you play. Play material to is fitting for your voice. Don't play stuff that has been created for pretty sounding voices.

[rmsstrider]

Many moons ago my Ex wife told me I couldn't sing. So, considering she had an excellent trained voice, I believed her and didn't try for another 20 plus years. Then I tried again and started recording myself on my phone. I was able to hear the problems and started practicing over and over. Sometimes I would transpose the chords to find a key that fit my voice better. Sometimes I found that tuning down a half step helped. Now if I play out somewhere I get compliments.
I would encourage you to take a few voice lessons. I wish I had and may still.

[Truckjohn]

Originally Posted by Riverwolf

That's me.
One thing becomes clear as I record myself more, mostly to listen for mistakes, timing, etc.
I have a crappy voice.
I seem to be almost monotone.

There is some famous players with less than ideal voices.
How do they do it?

Tips?

The vast majority of both Rock and Roll and The Blues is not sung with the sweet crooning vocal style like the softer sweeter pop music from the 50's was...

Think of Jim Croce, David Bowie, and Stephen Tyler from Aerosmith.... Those guys have beautiful crooning voices and really can sing... But that's not what made them money.

Think of the old Blues Men - with rough gravely voices.... Guys like leadbelly and lightning hopkins... Or even the old blues women who basically shouted....

[Nailpicker]

Originally Posted by Mr. Paul

I found that taking just a couple of lessons noticeably improved my singing. Learning how to breathe and where your voice comes from is a big help.

I found this to be true, however, for me it took 6 months of lessons and I probably should have gone longer.

Tips for when you know that you have a lousy voice?

Conversely, if you truly have a lousy voice, one beyond reasonably redemption, just stop singing, at least in public. Concentrate on improving your guitar playing. Let the guitar be your voice. Of course it depends upon if you want to truly sing, or simply shout and scream or chant like seemingly most "singers" do these days.