Hi all,

For those who sing and play I’m curious to hear others views on this:

Several years back I began, and continue to have, vocal lessons. It wasn’t long before I realized that a lot of the songs I play and sing were not in the right key for me. Sure, I could hit the notes but my teacher urged me to change the key to fit my voice. Moreover, he is an advocate that you should make songs your own rather than trying to mimic, others singing and playing. Obviously I realize that this is a personal opinion.

Anyway, I am a baritone with a good range and as soon as I started changing the keys, using a capo if needed, I really began to see improvements. A good example is ‘Yesterday’ by the Beatles. I have to play that in C but if I capo and play it in G (capo third fret actuall key Bb) I really opens up my voice.

So personally, what I once thought of as the baritone curse, turns out to be not such a bad thing.

On YouTube I see people who are hellbent on playing songs exactly as the original artist does but often they are clearly struggling vocal wise.

What do others do and what do you personally believe.