Singing Guide: Roy Orbison

Singing Guide: Roy Orbison

Vocal technique, exercises, tips and relevant resources

Are you a beginner or advanced singer?

Roy Orbison was a legendary singer known for his powerful voice, dramatic ballads, and timeless hits like "Oh, Pretty Woman" and "Crying". His unique vocal style involved impeccable control over his voice, especially over the notes in the high range, making him one of the most influential artists in the history of rock and roll.

Learning to sing like Roy Orbison requires a combination of solid technique, understanding his unique vocal characteristics, and practicing his songs. Fortunately, Singing Carrots offers an entire set of resources that can help you achieve this, including a vocal range test, pitch accuracy test, and pitch training exercises.

Vocal Techniques

Start with understanding the voice registers and vocal breaks. Roy Orbison often sang in his upper register, avoiding any breaks in his voice by smoothly transitioning from his chest voice to his head voice. You can learn more about voice registers in this article and combine it with an exercise that will help you bridge the different voice registers.

Orbison also utilized a technique referred to as cry or catch. This technique involves adding a pitch change or vibrato toward the end of a phrase, mimicking the sound of someone crying. Singers like Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson also incorporated this technique into their own singing. You can learn how to apply this technique in Singing Carrots' Vocal Distortion & Growling article.

Song Selection

Choose a song that showcases Roy Orbison's unique style, such as "Crying" or "Only the Lonely," and practice it using Singing Carrots' effective song learning techniques. Check out Singing Carrots' How to Learn a Song Effectively article for strategies on breaking the song into manageable sections and focusing on the most challenging parts.

Using Singing Carrots' Search Songs tool, you can even find other songs within your vocal range and difficulty level that match your preferred genre. This tool gives you access to thousands of songs that can help you improve.

Posture and Breathing

Another factor to consider is the posture and the breath control. Maintaining a good posture while singing has a significant impact on the tone and quality of your voice. The How Posture Affects Your Singing article provides tips on how to maintain a good posture while singing.

Breathing is equally critical, and it's necessary that you practice both active and passive breath control techniques. You can start with the Farinelli Breathing exercise, which helps control your breathing and improves your vocal resonance.

With consistent practice, the right technique, and access to these Singing Carrots resources, you can learn to sing like Roy Orbison, and achieve greater success in your singing journey.

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