Out of 10, how would you honestly rate your singing ability ?

Telejester

0 being a tone deaf mutt whom all who have heard you think you are a tone deaf mutt when it comes to singing.  If you are truly and honestly a 10 then your singing is top notch and you have blown away listeners.

I'm 48 years of age and I have never been in a choir in my life. In bands I have been in I have never sang a note, in fact usually the only non singing member.

I'm being totally honest and I'd rate my singing about 1.

I sing painfully flat and out of key and I've got literally no vocal range nor clue when it comes to singing. That's me being brutally honest, how would you score your singing ?

Bridgehouse

Difficult. We always hear ourselves as worse than we are.

I sang in a semi-pro choir as a teen, and I'd rate myself personally as a 4.

m_c

I'd probably go for about a 2, as I can occasionally produce something that doesn't send all the neighbourhood dogs into a howling frenzy.

Telejester

Bridgehouse said:

Difficult. We always hear ourselves as worse than we are.

I sang in a semi-pro choir as a teen, and I'd rate myself personally as a 4.

And those who have heard you ? Yeah definitely a 4 or sod off, no way a 4 ?

Funkfingers

I have relative pitch. When asked, I say that I can nearly sing. It pains me to listen to my own vocal attempts.

The strange thing is that I am perfectly content to listen to vocalists such as Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Billy Bragg and Richard Thompson - none of whom could be described as bel canto. They are more "off" than I am willing to allow myself to be.

m_c

Funkfingers said:

I have relative pitch. When asked, I say that I can nearly sing. It pains me to listen to my own vocal attempts.

The strange thing is that I am perfectly content to listen to vocalists such as Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Billy Bragg and Richard Thompson - none of whom could be described as bel canto. They are more "off" than I am willing to allow myself to be.

Those certainly aren't artists I've listened to much, but from what I've seen and heard, they go to prove that music is as much about the 'performance' and the sum of all the parts, than just about the singing.

mgaw

10

Bridgehouse

Telejester said:

Bridgehouse said:

Difficult. We always hear ourselves as worse than we are.

I sang in a semi-pro choir as a teen, and I'd rate myself personally as a 4.

And those who have heard you ? Yeah definitely a 4 or sod off, no way a 4 ?

Well, here's an experiment then. I do some backing vocals in our band - @horse is also in the band and also does backing vocals - would you rate me as a 4 @horse, or higher/lower? No offence will be taken of course - I am what I am and I sing as I do

Legionreturns

I'm probably about a 5 ...but I have a tendency to try things that are too high for me and I'm too stubborn to drop an octave, which turns me into a 2 

mgaw

i am of course completely alone in my rating of my singing voice:)

Telejester

I could legitimately give myself a 0, but I lessened my pain with a 1, I am truly shite when singing and I know it.

Legionreturns

Actually... Quite a few people on here have heard me sing... I'm leaving this thread now  

stratman3142

I can hear notes/melodies in my head and translate them to guitar, but my voice has a mind of it's own.

I'd say zero, but I've never worked on my singing. If someone plays a note, my first attempt would be off, but I could quickly bend my voice to the pitch.

Bridgehouse

Legionreturns said:

Actually... Quite a few people on here have heard me sing... I'm leaving this thread now  

From memory I'd say you were a solid 5 or pushing a 6 at the Jam day. Certainly nothing like a 2

ICBM

0.

It's not just me that thinks I can't sing either - I have tried once or twice, and the unfortunate bystanders agree. I have also recorded myself in the privacy of my own home and it's not nice listening back…

I have almost always been painfully aware of this too - I was written off as 'tone deaf' by the music teachers at school, and unfortunately I took that at face value, so dropped 'Music' as soon as I was able and assumed I was just unmusical. Later I became very interested in music as a listener (which should probably have given me a clue that I wasn't), and eventually taught myself to play the guitar by ear, after I became interested in it via my electronics hobby and helping some older boys at school repair their guitars and amps. I eventually realised that the reason I hated singing is exactly because I can hear how bad it is.

I've also been in bands where I have been the only non-singing member - in one case a six-piece. I have usually made up for it by also being the soundman.

BigBearKris

I will be a 1. 

On  a good day my singing is not that terrible, but I'v tried to record my vocals once and it was truly horrible experience having to listen to it afterwards. I can to backing vocals etc, but I consider myself a non-singer.

Legionreturns

Bridgehouse said:

Legionreturns said:

Actually... Quite a few people on here have heard me sing... I'm leaving this thread now  

From memory I'd say you were a solid 5 or pushing a 6 at the Jam day. Certainly nothing like a 2

Hugely generous... And somewhere in existence there are recordings that show just how generous lol

Telejester

I remember Xmas 1975, I was 6 years old and I was made sing good king wencelas in front of a big gathering of my family. I watched people with tears flowing down their faces and others holding their sides in convulsions laughing. 42 years later and my singing isn't any better.

Bridgehouse

Legionreturns said:

Bridgehouse said:

Legionreturns said:

Actually... Quite a few people on here have heard me sing... I'm leaving this thread now  

From memory I'd say you were a solid 5 or pushing a 6 at the Jam day. Certainly nothing like a 2

Hugely generous... And somewhere in existence there are recordings that show just how generous lol

That wasn't generous. I was playing bass at the time - for me, a 5 is a singing voice where I don't think "Er, you need to stop singing chap", but neither do I think "flip me he's got a set of pipes on him - why isn't he doing this professionally??" 

I would say, from memory, I thought "Well well, he's not half bad at all - rather good show that." And then rapidly tried to remember where I was in the song on bass....

Bridgehouse

Telejester said:

I remember Xmas 1975, I was 6 years old and I was made sing good king wencelas in front of a big gathering of my family. I watched people with tears flowing down their faces and others holding their sides in convulsions laughing. 42 years later and my singing isn't any better.

I'm hoping it's a bit deeper tho

Deadman

8, possibly a 1.