Welcome!

Hi, 

My name is Z'Nai-Ja . I am 14 years old.I want to become a better singer, and get over the fear of singing in front of people. Good luck to you all !

Best of luck, Michael and Z'Nai-Ja! Here's an article to help you out as you get started. 

Hi all, my name is Kevin, and I am just learning how to play guitar at 49, so why not learn to sing too? We will see how this goes. Like most people here, I always wanted to learn to sing, but it even hurts my ears to hear it.  But my goal is to play and sing in my worship team at church

Great goal, Kevin! Along with learning and implementing healthy vocal technique, it's so important to also train your ears. Here are a few app suggestions and an article with tips!

Thank you @Camille Van Niekerk for your response.  I wish either your voice was lower or mine was higher, becasue I really want to do your class, but I just cannot hit those notes :)

You can always sing the octave below (and I typically play the lower octave on the piano), but if you're unsure and still working on matching pitch, then a lower-voiced instructor is the way to go. 

Please do check out the YT channel, though - lots of free instruction from me there, and I give pitches for high and low voices when doing exercises: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzENK0ja2bdwGkrIvaoLZxw. 

Hi Camille, I actually have watched a lot of your YT videos. They are exceptional. I don't know how you can talk into a camera in a room by yourself and make it appear like your talking with a friend. You are definitely a natural at it. Speaking of your videos, in one of them someone asked a question about, would it be better to sing out of tune to sing better or to sing on key.  As I thought of this question, I think I know what he was driving at. I have a similiar issue.  I am also learning how to play guitar and am practicing the song "This is Amazing Grace" by Phil Wickham.  And at the end of the song singing the chorus for the last time he hits a note that is out of my range, I think an F4? and a D4 is about my range on a good day. So I can either sing it out of tune, give up, or... is there a way to change the key to match our range? and how do we go about figuring that out?

Thanks

Thank you, Kevin!

You can absolutely lower the key so that the highest pitch is your highest comfortable note. In this case, if F4 is the highest pitch, you'll want to lower the key by 3 semitones (half-steps), since D4 (your highest comfy note) is 3 semitones lower than F4. If the song has a capo, you can move the capo down 3 frets (or take it off). If not, you can transpose on Ultimate Guitar (at the bottom of the page you'll see that option, and it'll propagate new chords with diagrams for you). 

As a long-term goal, you can work towards developing mixed registration, which will allow you to sing above your "break" at D4 while maintaining some chest quality without shouting (too much chest) or flipping (just head voice). 

Thank you for you great response.  This is also the song that I am using as a benchmark.  I recorded me singing it on week one, and will continue to record it every 2 weeks or so to look for improvement in tone and quality. Thanks again.

Great idea! I think you'll notice a big difference in quality immediately after putting this song into a key that suits your current range (with the goal of stretching into the original key, if you're a tenor or high baritone). 

One more thing: I think you'll get a lot out of today's live lesson on resonance (aka: tone): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ii8f5IIYHLU. 

And especially when you're singing high in chest voice, vowel modification is going to be your friend: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pYq36TPd84&t=108s.