Kingfish: How to Learn Singing Like Christone Ingram

Christone Ingram, widely known as Kingfish, is an American blues guitarist and singer from Clarksdale, Mississippi. His music is known for its heavy blues roots, guitar virtuosity, and soulful voice. To learn singing like Kingfish, you need to focus on a few areas of technique, including breathing, pitch control, timbre, articulation, and emotional expression.

Breathing

Proper breathing is a foundation of good singing. You should learn to breathe through your diaphragm and take full breaths. The Farinelli breathing exercise is an essential vocal warm-up for breathing development and diaphragm control. You can find Farinelli breathing and other breathing exercises here.

Pitch Control

Kingfish's music ranges from low bluesy growls to high-pitched falsettos. Your vocal range may differ, but pitch accuracy is a must for any singer. Practice pitch accuracy with the pitch accuracy test on Singing Carrots. Incorporate pitch training exercises, such as the vocal slide in Singing Carrots' pitch training game, to improve your vocal accuracy.

Timbre

Kingfish's voice is characterized by a rich, soulful timbre. Developing your unique timbre is crucial for creating your distinctive sound. To practice timbre, you can try vocal twang, the vocal growl, or the belt technique. Singing Carrots offers a tutorial on how to twang and an article on growling.

Articulation

Kingfish's distinct enunciation adds to the soulful touch in his singing. To improve articulation, practice the finger bite exercise, which trains the base of your tongue and the soft palate to move separately.

Emotional Expression

Kingfish's music is not only technically sound, but also emotionally charged. To get Kingfish's grittiness, try singing with a bit of gravel or dirt in your voice, but be sure not to damage your vocal cords. Practice vibrating in your vibrato. To improve vibrato, try the vocal bounce exercise in Singing Carrots' pitch training game; it helps to control the rate of your vibrato.

Kingfish's Songs to Showcase Technique

Kingfish has numerous hits, but here are a few songs that showcase different elements of his technique:

• It Ain't Right to showcase his growls and grit;
• Outside of This Town to showcase his falsetto voice and emotional expression;
• Believe These Blues to showcase his controlled vibrato; and
• Fresh Out to showcase his overall technique.

To learn more about singing techniques, check out the Singing Carrots pitch training game,