Singing Guide: The Traveling Wilburys

Singing Guide: The Traveling Wilburys

Vocal technique, exercises, tips and relevant resources

Are you a beginner or advanced singer?

If you want to learn how to sing like the Traveling Wilburys, you're in for a treat! This supergroup, comprised of George Harrison, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, Bob Dylan, and Roy Orbison, showcased a variety of unique vocal styles that blended together seamlessly. Here's how you can learn to sing like each member of the Traveling Wilburys:

  • George Harrison

    Harrison's vocal style was characterized by his signature slide guitar vibrato and a soft, breathy tone. To emulate his sound, try singing with a relaxed throat and focus on your breath support. Practice sliding between your notes, and experiment with adding vibrato to your sustained notes. Check out Singing Carrots' vocal range test to determine your range and compare it to Harrison's.

  • Tom Petty

    Petty had a distinctive, nasal voice with a slight southern twang. To achieve that style, focus on your tongue position, keeping it towards the back of your mouth as you sing to increase resonance in the nasal cavity. Practice opening your mouth wide and enunciating words clearly to increase your clarity while singing. Singing Carrots’ pitch accuracy test would be helpful in this regard.

  • Jeff Lynne

    Lynne's voice was known for its unique, otherworldly quality. To imitate his sound, focus on singing with a breathy tone and incorporate a lot of falsetto into your vocal lines. Experiment with using vocal effects like reverb and chorus to give your vocals a dreamy, ethereal sound. Singing Carrots' pitch monitor would be great for this step.

  • Bob Dylan

    Dylan's famously unconventional voice is known for its rough, gravelly quality. To sing like Dylan, focus on projecting your voice from your diaphragm and bringing more power and grit to your tone. Experiment with adding vocal growls and rasps to your lines, and practice bending notes to give your vocals a bluesy quality. Singing Carrots' pitch training would come in handy at this stage.

  • Roy Orbison

    Orbison was known for his incredibly powerful, emotive voice that could move listeners to tears. To sing like Roy Orbison, focus on developing your vocal control and learning to use your range to convey emotion. Experiment with adding vibrato to add intensity to your sustained notes, and practice hitting high notes with confidence. Singing Carrots' song search is great for finding songs to practice your singing skills.

By breaking down the unique qualities of each member of the Traveling Wilburys, you can start to develop your own vocal style that blends together different elements to create a sound that's uniquely yours! Incorporating Singing Carrots resources such as the vocal range test, pitch accuracy test, pitch monitor, pitch training, song search, and the educational singing course can help you develop your skills and reach your full potential as a singer.

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