It's been a year now since my life was turned upside down after 23 years of marriage. It was odd to spend my 23rd anniversary in a therapist's office not realizing it was only a few months away from everything falling apart rather than launching the next phase of the business I had been planning for years. Even more off to spend my 24th anniversary in a court room, after months of trying to survive and keep on top of an overwhelming amount of paperwork and changes, being self-represented and owning a business that I no longer had control over making everything infinitely more complicated. It's taken me longer to get back on my feet than anticipated, which I should've expected in hindsight. And now I'm having to move in order to help my aging parents. Besides being closer to my parents again and helping them out, this will also benefit me AND YOU a lot too. If I had stayed where I was, it would've still taken me months more to get everything moving that I've been planning for years. This move will allow me to start moving forward sooner rather than later. I'm truly excited about what the next few months will mean for finally moving Rock Singing Success to the next stage. COMMUNITY ROADMAP In the next few months, I have plans to do multiple things with this community to make it more engaging, helpful, and discoverable. The below is a bit of a roadmap that's still being refined. As soon as you get a chance, I could really use your feedback on what you would like to see in each of the following areas: 1. More Active Posting — I'm definitely ramping up my own posts after moving to my new place the beginning of next month. But I'm also considering bringing one of my junior/associate coaches more into the fold. Either way, this means much more regular posts, videos, and shorts, as well as possible challenges, group calls, etc from me and my team. What would you like to see? 2. About Page Overhaul — We'll be cleaning up and enhancing the About Page. The about page has long needed an overhaul to sell people on what this community actually does. As I explore updating my RockSingingLessons.com website with more of what sets me apart from other vocal coaches, I hope to also do more of that here. That means focusing more no showing the results I've helped people get, and sprinkling in my 35 years in production, songwriting, recording, mixing, mastering, performance, etc..., while still focusing on making YOU the hero of the story rather than myself. If you have ideas on what to say or not to say that you believe sets my instruction apart, please say so. I take criticism well, because I truly want to be authentic AND help you and people like you as much as I can.

I'm trying to make sure I know how to do necessary twang. This is NOT "distinct twang" that sounds very piercing and bright! This is "necessary twang." It is a technique that creates a constriction or restriction right near the bottom of the epilaryngeal funnel. Unlike distinct twang that has a raised larynx and a narrow, squeezed pharyngeal cavity, necessary twang can be done while keeping a neutral or low larynx and an expanded, wide pharyngeal cavity. What are some cues (like "imitate a certain sound") that will help me be able to figure how to do necessary twang? I hear that necessary twang is called necessary twang because it actually protects the vocal cords by shielding them, especially when singing with a lot of distortion! So, I think it would be very important to make sure I am doing it right.

I've heard this term used by you. I think you said it is the most commonly used grit and that it has a smoother sound than compression based grit. I have a few questions about it: Since it is a smoother sound, it it probably used in more melodic rock and metal and not used in something like deathcore? Here's my main question: Since it relies on just what the name suggests, "bleeding air" from the glottis, does that mean it cannot work if you are using perfect vocal cord closure because only "poor vocal cord closure" (in standard contexts) means letting air leak through the cords, since the closure isn't that good and as a result, you can get a whispery sort of sound, even if it's a harsh whisper? I ask that because it's my understanding that one of the main purposes of good cord closure is to prevent a whispery sound since that dries out the throat so much. If my assumption is wrong and you use as good cord closure as in clean singing for bleeding air grit, then if the vocal cords are closed nicely, how does air "bleed' from the glottis?

Hordes of Metallica fans claim that the band's 1989 performance in Seattle was the peak of James Hetfield's vocal ability. Really? It's energetic! I'll give it that, but is "energetic" the sole measure of great rock vocals? I'm going to posit that what a lot of people love about this special type of singing is really the byproduct of Hetfield's failure to understand and apply the basic principles of good breath control. Did you ever wonder why he has no vibrato? Developing a natural vibrato requires a certain consistency of airflow. Do you notice how many of his notes get abruptly chopped off instead of being able to resonate and ring out? How about the habit of ending phrases with a sudden expulsion of air into an "ahh"? Breath control is the common denominator with all these things. Also consider his posture. What do you think that does to his airflow? Do you see how low he has the mic set up? He has to bend his neck down at such an unnatural angle to sing into the microphone. It creates a kink in the pathway of his airflow. You don't want that! He did learn. If you look at Metallica's live performance from Slane Castle in Ireland on June 8th, 2019, you'll see that his posture was far better. Hetfield had stopped slumping forward and tilting his neck down like he did thirty years earlier. It looks better and it works better. Win/win situation. Things like that help explain why he was able to have the long career he's had. He quit drinking too. He developed discipline and used it to improve his vocal hygiene and technique. If only he'd applied the same discipline to his vocal technique that he applied to the mechanics of his guitar playing, and done it from the outset of his singing career, I believe he would have become an exponentially better vocalist. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yHJBDeshPA

I wrote about this at the end of the mile long thread about cry shape but I feel like the subject is something to discuss on its own. So essentially the question is, does other people have this mucus buildup after doing distortions even though while singing it feels relaxed and good. I think the hardest part in this whole whole distortion stuff is that you have to kind of sound intense and be relaxed at the same time. I feel like after very good warm-ups and like some some kind of simple runs up and down with distortions I can get it pretty relaxed but usually there is some tension before I get to that point. Sometimes the relaxation comes after one or two songs that sing and then it's easy to do after that. Still the biggest issue at the moment is that after I sing two or three songs I get this kind of mucus build up in larynx after half an hour when I've stopped singing and I feel like there are some gaps in the range because of the mucus. I do get it back if I do some extra warm-ups to get rid of the mucus, but I'm not sure if it's because of straining my voice or just being used to the distortion feelings. It just feels a bit concerning when you don't have your full range available, but the voice is always fully recovered in the morning next day. Could the small amount of grinding before finding the relaxed shape be the cause of this irritation or am I just going at it too hard even though it feels really good and not strained while singing? I'm super into singing Avenged Sevenfold songs at the moment which are not easy range wise or distortion wise. So that might be the cause of strain 😅 but still I feel really relaxed when I get the distortion relaxed and there's no strain range wise either except in some songs. It's just so hard to stop after one or two songs when it's so fun and feels good 😁 When thinking of support for me, it feels like higher distortion is much easier and less strenuous and doesn't seem to need that much support. The lower range distortion feels like there's a narrower sweet spot where there is no grinding and there's enough push and support. What I noticed up high is that I need a lot more support to sing quieter. Singing loud is easy but seeing quiet is feels like there has to be much more control so I don't know which one is better.