Singing Guide: Don McLean

Singing Guide: Don McLean

Vocal technique, exercises, tips and relevant resources

Are you a beginner or advanced singer?

Don McLean is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who gained worldwide recognition for his song "American Pie," which was released in 1971 and became an instant classic. McLean's unique vocal technique is characterized by his rich and resonant baritone voice, which he uses to create an intimate and emotional connection with his audience. If you want to learn how to sing like Don McLean, these tips and resources from Singing Carrots can help.

  1. Breathing Basics: Don McLean's singing is characterized by his deep and sustained notes, which require excellent breath control. You can improve your breath control through breathing exercises like Farinelli Breathing exercise, and Breath support.

  2. Voice Registers & Vocal Break: Don McLean makes great use of his chest voice, which expresses his unique singing style. You can learn more about voice registers and how to control them from this article Voice registers & Vocal break.

  3. Chest Voice/Voice Registers: Don McLean's chest voice singing has its comfort zone. Learn how to identify your comfort zone through this video tutorial Singing Comfort Zone.

  4. Breathing/Warm-up/Practice-starter: If you're looking for an exercise to help you prepare your voice before singing, check out this Humming exercise. You can also find other warm-up exercises on our Pitch Training - Educational Singing Game.

  5. Open Mouth & Throat: A good singing posture includes opening your mouth and throat while singing. Learn more about the importance of this technique on Open mouth & throat article.

  6. How to learn a song effectively: To learn songs effectively like Don McLean's, check out our thorough tutorial on How to learn a song effectively.

  7. Vocal Distortion & Growling: Don McLean does not use much vocal distortion techniques but if you are interested in learning these techniques, these tutorials could help: Vocal distortion & Growling.

Some of Don McLean's most famous songs include "American Pie," "Vincent," "And I Love You So," and "Castles in the Air." You can find songs matching your vocal range, difficulty, and genre preference on our Search songs by vocal range page and create your performance set on our Song-book page.

Practice regularly using these vocal exercises and tutorials and learn from the wealth of knowledge shared on Singing Carrots. You will be amazed at how much you can improve your singing skills and sound like Don McLean.

Learn more about this artist vocal range, voice type and repertoire.