okay, i really hope no one really laughs at me for this, and whatnot, but i'm being 403% serious right now, and i need help.

so, i always wanted to sing and have people fall in love with my voice. sadly, i was not born with a natural beautiful singing voice. every time i record myself sing i sound really nasally, and i don't know what the deal is. i have the right pitch, it just sounds nasally, and odd and i hate it.

i wonder if singing lessons would help me improve my voice, and actually help me? i'm tired of singing when i'm home alone, because i'm too embarrassed of my current singing voice.

what should i do? would singing lessons help?

You can't improve the quality of your voice, you can only improve the quality of how you use it. It will sound technically correct when you learn how to use your voice properly as a singer, but your voice will still be your voice. Consider your voice your instrument. You can learn to play a broken instrument great, but that instrument will still be broken. Granted, some people have naturally very odd voices and they find the right niche and come out on top. But generally a bad voice is a bad voice.

so i'm guessing that singing lessons wouldn't make a difference? :c

It will always be your voice. Crap voice + lessons = crap voice with technical skill.

I'm going to disagree with Nightingale here. My mother is a voice teacher and I have grown up my whole life listening to her voice students singing all day. The fact you think your voice is nasally -- THAT is something that CAN be fixed through voice lessons. Typically a nasally voice is you just not singing in the right way, like not using your diaphragm correctly. You can learn how to sing in the correct way so that that nasally sound is lessoned or goes away. If it's just your voice in general you don't like then yeah, that can't be fixed. But voice lessons can do a hell of a lot. There was this adult man who took voice lessons at our house. He was sooo so bad. And he was OLD, so at that point it's really hard to fix stuff cause.. idk it just is. Like he was so bad my dad and I would literally plan to do things when his lesson was so we could leave the house. Well at the time of the recital, he gets up there to sing in front of all the family and friends of the students and me and my Dad are like "oh shit here it comes..." and he was so much better we were amazed. Like really, he sounded really good compared to before! I mean he still wouldn't have been a good singer but his voice didn't make you cringe haha.

So anyway, I definitely definitely recommend singing lessons. Just do it, seriously! You will regret it if you don't (:

i was disagreeing with her as well, because the reason people take singing lessons is because they have a bad voice and want it to be better, lol. i'm just nervous about asking my parents for singing lessons, because i'm scared their not going to take it seriously....

Well she is right in saying a bad voice is a bad voice. But from you saying your voice is nasally, that's something that can be fixed. There's certain aspects of voices that can't be changed but usually a nasally voice is the result of a person not opening up their diaphragm while singing, or singing through their nose basically. I would just ask. Maybe don't tell them you want it because you want to be famous cause that could probably make them be like "haha no". Just tell them you really like singing and want to get better.

alright, thank you so much for the advice. i definitely will ask c:

Another option is to look up voice training exercises / singing warm ups on youtube. I really enjoy singing - at home, alone. I've found that doing some of the exercises before I sing helps a bunch!

I also think that it's worth a shot to at least try voice lessons, especially if you ENJOY singing. That's the most important thing!

There's also a good chance that you're singing wrong. Yes, there IS a wrong way to sing. In fact, there are several. The one I've been working on most recently is keeping my soft pallet up. If your pallet is up, air flows into what's called your "mask" which I think are the sinuses. If the pallet is down you don't get the resonance and it turns out sounding like shit- its also much harder to reach the high notes. If I were to give a guess I would say that that is your problem. After a while you can "think" your pallet up, but until then its best to figure out how "up" versus "down" positions feel different. For me when my pallet is up it feels like my top molars are ringing like a bell. Another big one (that I am also working on) is keeping your jaw unlocked. If you lock your jaw the muscles aren't relaxed (that includes opening your mouth too wide) and sound doesn't resonate. For each note there is also a different place that the sound resonates, high C is essentially in between your eyes, where middle C is is about in your vocal chords and the C below that is in your sternum. I think... it's been a while since I've seen that diagram.

Where are you breathing from? That also has a HUGE impact on how you sing. When you are singing, your shoulders DON'T move. It's all in your diaphragm, back and butt (Yes, you do sing with your ass). Especially early on in training singing for an extended period of time should feel like a work out. Hell, I've lost inches from singing.

Do you know what type of voice you have? What is your range and where are you most comfortable? What type of music suits your voice? After enough training it doesn't really matter, but to begin it certainly feels much better to work in things that you are comfortable with. Different voices are best suited, particularly when starting, for different types of music. For example, I don't sing Classical. I don't like classical, the ranges, breaks and timing are not to my liking and I sound bad when singing it. The type of music I am most comfortable with (and best illustrate my ability) are southern spirituals, music from the turn of the century, jazz/torch songs and folk music. Somewhere after that comes Broadway and pop.

That all being said, there's a big difference in knowledge versus implementation. I've also condensed about two years of weekly 1-2 hour vocal lessons into a single post :p

I would take the lessons in your case. If you want to be a singer so bad, why are you not willing to work for it? You don't know they won't help until you try. :)

Also, even if they prove to be unhelpful, singing lessons can be a fun extracurricular activity. You certainly have an interest in it, so why not take them as a hobby, at the very least?

If you're willing to work at it, I think even an horrible singer can improve and from what you've said it doesn't sound like you're horrible. Like said, nasality is something that can be fixed. In addition to that, you can't expect voice lessons to completely change the way you sound. I don't really know how to explain this, but you have to learn to love your voice for what it is. If you sound like Frank Sinatra voice lessons won't magically change you into Lady Gaga.

Practice and do what your instructor tells you to. It may feel idiotic sometimes, but they're professionals and what they're telling you to do has merit. If you don't understand how to do something ask them to maybe try and explain it a different way.

Like with all other things though, it takes discipline. It's really hard to be motivated to do it if you don't love it. Also, please, don't be disappointed if no one falls in love with you for your voice. Wouldn't you rather they love you for your personality anyway? =) Hahaha.

Anyway, good luck!