Im Not a Teacher

This is just my View

By Christian Kragsig Johansen 1

Before you start:

When I started out, my throat had to get used to these sorts of vocals. This is not a thing I could do right from the beginning, actually took me some time before it didnt even hurt. Im only telling you this so you wont lose hope after 2 weeks. It takes time, but you will get there if you have the patience. Nothing comes easy.

Drink:
I recommend normal temperature water, (not ice cold or hot). This issue has a lot of views on what is best unfortunately. Im not a guy with loads of theory behind screaming, but Im pretty sure you wont sound shit, if you take a beer/soda or whatever, before you start screaming. I can easily take a soda before a show, cant really tell the difference. But in between songs or if I have to get something down in the middle of a song, I only drink water. You never go wrong with water. The only thing I would never drink before I scream is coffee, since it dries out my throat too much.

Warm-up
Its a good thing to start out singing a bit before you even start screaming. Im not saying you should sing like an angel or anything. The reason is that your voice gets warmed up. I sing for about 5-10 minutes before I make 1 single scream. I admit that I dont do this every time, but when I do, my throat is way better the next day. Screaming is like shouting, its not good for your voice or throat, if you do it for 24 hours a day. Lets put it this way: If youre playing a guitar and just keep stroking the strings 24/7, the strings will eventually break; the dangerous thing is that you cant replace the string, since its your vocal chords. Be careful!

Breathing technique:
The best way I can explain the way you breathe while screaming/growling/yelling is this: Try to make a hum sound, with your mouth closed. Hopefully you will discover that your abs will go in. Its because your diaphragm is relaxing and pushing air out from your nose. The more you increase the hum volume, notice how it feels like vibrating. Take in some air and try hum even harder, the vibration should also vibrate even more. Now, do it again and open your mouth and you should make some sort of harsh sound. Thats the idea of screaming, and thats the idea of the way you breathe, while doing so.

Diaphragm:
I bet you have heard the word diaphragm before, if you have made a random search on YouTube or Google about how to scream/growl. So what is a diaphragm, and why is it so important to use? Your diaphragm is your most important breathing muscle. Basically what it does is that it helps you sing and scream and growl, and loads of other stuff. I could go way more into details, but in my next exercise in breathing, I think you will get a much better idea, why it is so important to use it. But if you want to know fully what it is, freaking Google it!

Exercise:
When I started out, I couldnt hold my screams/growls for very long, maybe 2-3 seconds. The way to get better for holding them longer is, to practice how much pressure and how much air you should let out. I have one exercise for that. Hold your hands on your chest. Make sure when you breathe in, that the air should not fill your chest, but your stomach instead. In other words, your stomach gets out, (NOT YOUR CHEST). Keep the hands on your chest to make sure, that it doesnt move at all. Step 1: Take the air in slowly for 3 seconds. Step 2: Hold the air for 3 seconds. If this is something you can do very easily, try 5 seconds. Im on 7-8 seconds today. If it gets to easy, increase the seconds.

Step 3: Breathe it out for 3 seconds. (Try breathing out, while doing the Hum sound, so you get the idea, that the abs goes in, when you breathe out/Scream/Growl/Yell).

1: Breath in - 3 seconds

2: Hold it - 3 Seconds

3: Breath out - 3 seconds 3

* Remember that your chest cant move, only your abs

This exercise helps you understand how your body works while screaming. Its also a great example why a scream wont work if you fill up your chest with air instead of your stomach, because how should you generate more pressure, if you dont fill it up with air? - This method is used in every single harsh vocal I do.

Whisper Screaming:
This is sadly one of the many things Ive seen on Youtube, that a lot of people do wrong. Whisper screaming is when youre screaming without any support from your diaphragm, it sounds very raspy and very low in volume. So let me put it this way, when I Yell/Scream/Growl, usually my band mates hold their fingers in their ears. Its really loud in volume. So its pretty easy to tell if you whisper scream: - If your mom/neighbor or whoever lives close, doesnt complain about the volume of your screaming, Im pretty sure youre doing it wrong.

Growl:
- Shape: Round. - Try to sound deeper, when you press with your diaphragm. - A mind thing that helps me is to look down, when I do it. - Sometimes I stick my tongue up in the palate. (It makes it more Gutturalish/deathcoreish, in my opinion).

Scream:
- Shape: Wide open. Like when you say ah, to a doctor or something. - Try to sound lighter, when you press with your diaphragm.

Getting a better sound:

The more you practice and doing your screaming and growling vocals, the more by time your vocal chords will get used to the pressure. And with that comes a better sound. I personally sounded very raspy when I started out, but with time and some practice, my voice naturally became better and got a better sound. Didnt really change my technique when my voice started to change, so for me it just came naturally, because my body got used to screaming. So with that said, I personally think that a better sound comes along the way. But of course you need to experiment a lot with your shapes and pressure points. We dont have the same mouth or same body. So I cant tell you straight out, how you can sound like ex. Mitch Lucker, Austin Carlile etc. We all have our different voices. The best way to sound good in screaming vocals is to find your own style.

Yelling:
I can do loads of different yells, lows, highs and mids. So the shape can be anything. Everyone has a different yelling voice, like a singing voice. A yell is like: - Your own talking voice - Scream - Yell (like: HEYYY YOU!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!!!). All combined! In a way you can say its like screaming, but kind of putting your own voice into it and getting away with all that crunchy sound.(If that makes any sense at all). The pressure from my diaphragm in my case, also have to be pretty freaking hard, much more than the growling and screaming. Also notice that the yelling scream, is a lot more critic to your breathing, so you really need to experiment here. Now things are going to get kinky since its the best way, I can explain how it is done. I bet some of you have tried to make a moaning sound, like when a girl is having intercourse. (For, fun obviously!) Well, my yells have the same pressure place as that, just with way more pressure from your diaphragm, of course you have to exaggerate the moan (A LOT). Also the sound HHH,is almost in front of every word I yell. So a good practice word in yelling would of course be: HAAAAAAAAA! (Yeah like when Son Goku (f. Dragon ball) is charging his Ki). Notice that a yell is the same as a singing voice, your yelling voice can be VERY different than mine, since we all have different voices.

Know your limits:

Dont get frustrated if you cant get the right amount of pressure out, and dont get annoyed if you cant get your scream to hold that long as you want to. You voice will be more and more used to this by time. Just take a break and try again the next day. This sort of vocals takes time, and you cant just learn this in 2 weeks, it doesnt work that way. Rome wasnt built on 1 day ;)

My voice is gone? I cant scream anymore? My vocals sound wired:

I had to deal with this issue one time in my life. To be honest I dont know what happened, but I just didnt think my screams/growls sounded good anymore, but I took 1 week rest, and it came back afterwards slowly. If youre going to have this problem, I just recommend taking a big break. Not much else I can say about this.

The Best Teacher Is You!

This world, have so many different screaming techniques. And in a way, I bet that almost every single screamer out there have their own opinions & techniques. You have to figure out where your own style is, and where your pressure points are, I cant tell you that, only YOU! Can discover that yourself! So practice people! Not much more into it! I didnt have a teacher, and if I could get the sound I have now, why shouldnt you? Nothing comes easy in life, if you want something; you have to work for it.

I hope you enjoyed reading this! Write how this helped you, on my wall on my Facebook page! www.facebook.com/Metalhead7323 If it didnt help Im so Sorry!

Questions:
Philipp Graf How long does it take, till it sounds good? It depends how dedicated you are. For me it took about 4 month to be happy with my own sound. But Im also a pretty stubborn person. I rushed into it. And never gave up. Thats how I got my sound today. Mason Berge What's the hardest part of screaming? And how do you make your highs sound clean? The hardest thing in screaming in my opinion, is to hold the screams long, the sound is pretty straight forward to get, but keeping it all in a flow, is pretty hard for me and Im still improving that a lot. About my highs Its the technique that I call yelling. Read page 5. Dustin Bartholomew I tried to scream like Danny (Asking Alexandria) and it's impossible. So I just gave up but now I'm working on trying to get my growls the same pitch as his because that's what my band is looking for. I also tried to sound like another person when I started out. Sadly I could never get the sound like Jake from ABR. But I also found out that making your own sound is a lot more interesting, since you always find new styles to play with. Dont try to be another guy, but find your own sound. It's a lot cooler. Trust me Emily Trapaso How are you sure you're using your diaphragm while screaming, growling or yelling? Also what took the most practice, what was the hardest for you or easiest out of all? Read page 3. Pretty easy to figure out, chest stands still, abs goes in and out. You can simply feel it, with the hum soundor a SSSSSSSSSS sound. Bartosz Sagan Szymaski Is it always like lows is grasping and is quiet in the beginning and I think its impossible to reach a high scream. Well if youre just starting out its not unusual, but if you have had this in a long time, Im pretty sure that youre Whisper Screaming. High pitched screaming. Im pretty sure, that you are talking about the Chelsea grin style here, and sadly its not a thing Im good at. Try the sound lighter and lighter. The more you practice your breathing, the more I think it is possible.