Singing Guide: Silk Sonic
Vocal technique, exercises, tips and relevant resources
Silk Sonic, the collaboration project of Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak, created a great buzz among music lovers right from their debut single. They fuse classic funk, soul, and R&B sound in their music that hooks people instantly. In this article, we wil learn about their unique vocal style, techniques, and how to learn singing like Silk Sonic.
The vocal style of Silk Sonic is highly influenced by classic funk and soul singers from the '60s, '70s and '80s such as Curtis Mayfield, James Brown, Otis Redding, and Stevie Wonder. Their music is characterized by a rich and powerful vocal delivery, filled with grooving falsetto and melismas. A unique feature of Silk Sonic’s music is the emphasis on vocal harmonies and layering.
To develop the vocal technique like Silk Sonic, you need to focus mainly on the following elements: breathing, control, placement, tone, and pitch. To improve breath control, try Farinelli breathing exercise. It helps to train your vocal muscles and develop a stronger breath support. To warm up and practice starter, give humming or 3-minute warm-up a try. It helps in developing vocal tone, pitch, and control. Good singing posture is critical for a great vocal performance and tone. So, watch the “Good Singing Posture” video to practice good posture.
Silk Sonic’s music is characterized by a mix of falsetto and chest voice, switching between registers smoothly. To master the same, try to work on your chest voice range. Learn about chest voice and how to expand it with the "Chest voice explained" video and the "Singing comfort zone" video. It helps to work your vocal range and bring out a fuller sound. How to analyze your voice, whys and hows of breath support, and voice registers and vocal break article would also assist you in understanding chest voice and falsetto.
Silk Sonic’s vocal harmonies are an integral part of their sound, and singing with backing vocals is a must. Try to work on your vocal harmonies by utilizing and experimenting with their comprehensive pitch training. They provide interactive vocal warm-ups, pitch visualizer, and exercises for range and agility. Also, play with the "Voice break" and "Mixed voice" videos to improve control over your voice registers.
Another crucial aspect of Silk Sonic's unique vocal style is the ability to convey emotions through their singing. They sing with a lot of emotion and convey the message with the right feel. Knowing how to connect to the lyrics you sing and pouring out your feelings into the song is vital to complete the overall package. The blog post "Singing with intuition, skills, emotion, and thinking" will guide you to learn how to sing with emotion by thinking critically about music and lyrics. This will help you convey emotions through your voice and deliver an unforgettable performance.
Finally, here are some songs that showcase Silk Sonic’s style and technique:
- Leave the Door Open
- Skate
- Smoke Cleopatra
- Summertime Magic
To learn and sing along with the chords and lyrics, use Singing Carrots' songbook, where you can filter out songs by your vocal range, difficulty, and genre preference.
In conclusion, Learning singing like Silk Sonic involves understanding and practicing their style, which is unique and requires an emphasis on vocal harmonies, chest voice, emotional delivery, and harmonization techniques. With the resources shared in this article, you can work towards enhancing your singing skills and ultimately achieve your goal.