Singing Guide: Rick Derringer
Vocal technique, exercises, tips and relevant resources
Rick Derringer is an American singer, guitarist, and record producer who is famous for his high-pitched, soulful voice, and smooth, fluid guitar style. Derringer is renowned for bridging the gap between rock and pop music through his chart-topping songs, including "Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo," and "Hang on Sloopy."
If you want to learn how to sing like Rick, you need to have a few essentials in mind. Firstly, Rick's vocal style is dominated by his ability to hit high notes, making his voice sound soulful and energetic. He had exceptional breath control, and his unique belting technique allowed him to sustain notes that would often last 15 seconds or more.
To start, you must analyze your voice by understanding the voice types and breathing basics. Effective breathing is essential to a healthy and strong voice. Studying the concepts of breath support and respiration will prove significant in training the right muscles needed for the singing techniques. Singers need to learn an array of singing styles to engage the vocal cords properly and strengthen their singing voice.
Rick's music has a lot of emotional depth, but his rock and soul sound is created by a specific singing technique. To achieve Rick's unique vocal style, you need to master the chest voice, which is often used in rock singing, and voice break, found a lot in the soul singing. Here are some resources to help you improve on these singing styles: Singing Comfort Zone, Voice Break, Mixed Voice, and Chest Voice Explained.
Rick's rock and soul sound is ideal for learning how to growl and use vocal distortion. Growling and distortion is a technique that adds guttural edge to the voice and provide the necessary emotion and authenticity to your singing ability.
To learn the growling technique and vocal distortion technique, you can visit this link Vocal distortion & Growling, which would help you learn everything about creating impressive raspy, edgy and vocal distortion screams.
Learning how to use vibrato would also be essential if you want to sing like Rick Derringer. Vibrato is the rapid variation of pitch, and Rick was known for incorporating vibrato into his vocal style. Here are a few videos - Beggars Bounce and Diaphragm Bounce that shows how to use vibrato correctly.
Finally, advanced articulation is crucial to achieving Rick's sound. Good singing articulation ensures that words are pronounced correctly, and the message in your song is conveyed effectively. Here's a Finger Bite Exercise video that shows you how to master your articulation.
By mastering the techniques mentioned above, you can begin to add a touch of Rick's style to your singing. Don't forget to check our singing course that offers comprehensive singing training, vocal range test, pitch accuracy test, and pitch training. With dedication, you will surely develop a singing style that embodies the soulful sound of Rick Derringer.