Singing Guide: Long John Baldry
Vocal technique, exercises, tips and relevant resources
Long John Baldry was a blues and rock singer born in England. Baldry became well-known for his commanding voice and unique style of phrasing. He was a pioneer of the British blues movement in the 1960s and one of the most influential blues singers of his time. He was especially known for his covers of blues classics and his influence on famous British musicians like Elton John, Mick Jagger, and Rod Stewart.
If you want to learn to sing like Long John Baldry, first, you need to develop an understanding of blues music's fundamentals and deliver it in a way that captivates an audience. Blessed with a deep and powerful voice, Baldry was capable of elevating blues classics with a mixture of thoughtful phrasing and commanding authority. The following steps detail a blueprint on how you can learn to sing like Long John Baldry.
- Start with a vocal range test to understand your vocal capabilities and strengths. Singing Carrots' Vocal Range Test is a useful tool that allows you to determine the strongest and weakest parts of your voice.
- Get started by identifying some of Long John Baldry's songs that allow you to be expressive and showcase your voice. "Walk Me Out In the Morning Dew" and "Don't Try To Lay No Boogie Woogie on the King of Rock and Roll" are two songs that display Baldry's signature style.
- Practice your phrasing by listening to Long John Baldry's songs and trying to match his timing and flow. His ability to fit lyrics smoothly into a melody produced an inimitable style.
- Work on building breath control, sustain, and power. Baldry was a master of delivering strong, booming notes. Breathing exercises are essential for Long John Baldry's style, particularly to control delivery on rhythmic timings.Breathing basics article can be helpful here.
- Study Long John Baldry's unique vocal technique of incorporating growls into his delivery. Singing Carrots' How to Growl exercise is a perfect tool for improving that technique.
- If chest voice and vocal registers are something you want to improve on, Singing Carrots offers a host of exercises aimed at developing those skills. Some of Long John Baldry's most famous songs are in the low register, and his chest voice was his specialty.
- Finally, practice spontaneously and evoke emotions while singing. Long John Baldry was well-known for his stage presence and emoting the power of the blues in his performances.Singing with intuition, skills, emotion, and thinking article is a good read on this topic.
Singing is a vocal instrument, and becoming a great singer requires training and practice. Learning to sing like Long John Baldry will take persistence and passion. Utilize the appropriate Singing Carrots resources to achieve that goal.