I’m a 51 year old pro bass player – I play mainly blues and jazz – well that is where my passion is at.
I got sick and tired of hiring guitar players that can sing and play really well but were difficult to work with so I decided to take on singing.
Wow, why didn’t I do this 30 years ago – I didn’t realize how much I really enjoy singing. I haven’t started singing on gigs yet because I’m so critical of myself. I do record myself for self-assessment and quite frankly, on certain/most tunes, I don’t like my voice. I’m from the old-school and have no desire to take vocal instructions (Ray Charles never took singing lessons and Greg Allman once said he sounded like crap in the beginning of his career).
I’m learning by imitating Nat King Cole and Ray Charles (Ray Charles learned by imitating Nat too). I have an app where I can adjust the keys of the songs for my vocal range. I am just wondering on why I don’t like my voice on some/most of the tunes? I know it is not because of the key because the app surely helps me finding a comfortable key. Is this normal for aspiring vocalists? I’m thinking it is because of my self-esteem and confidence and whey I was young, friends would say “you can’t sing” so I’m wondering if this is plaguing me?