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Where do Low Notes Come From 0:00
Can anyone learn to sing low notes? 3:40
Biggest mistake singers make 04:25
Speak low Notes, don’t push 6:50
Physically check larynx position 7:50
5 tone descending scale for males 9:00
5 tone descending scale for females 11:10
"ooh" vowel for males 11:50
"ooh" vowel for females 13:18
How to sing low notes in a song 14:00

Many beginning singers want to learn how to sing lower notes in their voice. However, singing low notes correctly can be really difficult if you're first starting off! The truth is that many singers will sing those low notes by straining the muscles in their voice in order to get down there. So today, I want to show you my five favorite exercises for hitting lower notes without straining.

First, it's important to understand where the low notes come from. Low notes come from when the vocal cords thicken or slacken. These thick vocal cords vibrate more slowly, just like the strings on a guitar. The slower the vibration, the lower the pitch that you'll hear. This is why when you're just waking up in the morning or if you're sick, your voice deepens. Because, the vocal cords are more full of fluid in those circumstances and they vibrate more slowly. You'll notice this is temporary because as soon as the fluid is gone, the vocal cords vibrate at their normal speed again.

Many students ask whether you can learn to sing lower notes. The answer is that you can learn to sing lower notes to a point. With high notes there is very little limit to how high you can sing. Many singers can sing much higher in their voice than they believe it first. However when singing low notes, there is a lower limit to how low you can go. That's because the vocal cords can only slacken so much in order to hit those lower notes.

At a certain point, you will just have vocal fry. And while vocal fry can be a great vocal exercise for some things, it's not excellent it's helping you hit lower notes with a full vocal tone.

It's also really common when singers are first starting off hitting a low notes, that they will drop their larynx in order to sing lower in their voice. This is such a nervous system reaction that it's almost impossible to avoid at first. In fact, the biggest mistake that singers make when singing low notes is that they drop their larynx too much in order to hit them.

The problem with this, is that not only does a low larynx make these notes sound “hooty”, “yawny”, or “dopey”, but actually it also loosens the vocal cords. And if the vocal cords are too loose, you get too much breath in the tone. However, you can do some very simple exercises to learn to sing lower.

In the first exercise, I want to encourage you to just sing those lower notes better by keeping it spoken. That means that rather than “singing” those low notes, instead, I want you to just speak them. This tends to help you keep from dropping your larynx too low and keeping the vibration of the cords healthy.

In the second exercise I want to encourage you to watch your larynx. Rather than dropping your larynx in order to sing those lower notes, try to feel them by feeling your Adam's apple (or voice box or larynx) with your thumb and your first finger. If you feel that the larynx is dropping too low, you're in the wrong place. Instead, try to keep the larynx balanced.

In the third exercise, we're going to do a 5tone scale descending on the word “ee” like “eat”. The reason that we’re using a narrow vowel rather than a more open vowel like “ah” or “uh” is because those more narrow vowels will have a lower resonance spot and you'll be able to hit those lower notes better.

In the next vocal exercise, we’ll sing a five tone scale descending on the vowel “ooh” like “oops”. Again we're using this vowel because it's narrow.

In the final exercise, I want to encourage you to sing low notes in songs. It can be really great to do them on vocal exercises, but it can be more important to practice hitting those low notes in songs. The way that I want you to hit those lower notes in songs is by slightly narrowing the vowel.

If for instance you have to sing a low note on a vowel “ih” like “it's”, instead, try to sing a little bit more of an “ee” as in “eats”. You'll notice that your larynx is a little bit more balanced, you get more resonance from the vocal cords, and you're able to hit lower notes in your voice. Don't worry if you're having a hard time singing low notes at first, this is totally normal. Just make sure that you practice these vocal exercises everyday and you will notice that your low notes get way better!