Are there strong instrumentalists who can't carry a tune vocally?

I can't imagine this is something that would be all too common, but I was just curious. Any great guitar/bass/drum/piano/whatever players who just can't sing?

I'm not talking, like, they have a gruff or otherwise distinctive voice. I mean they can't sing.

I think this is all too common

Yes there must be loads. Robert Fripp springs to mind – he's never sung in his whole career.

Jeff Beck is the first guy I think of.

Like if Jeff Beck tried to sing a song, he couldn't carry the tune?

Just seems bizarre to me.

I get that you can learn to play the guitar really well without having a good singing voice, but it seems like some sort of natural musical ability must live in there that would allow a great guitar player to at least be able to hear a song and sing along in tune.

Barely hanging in here...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3A8KfavKjk

Singing is about confidence a lot of the time

Well, plainly by having that hit single he's sung on means he carried a tune..

I mean, Bobby Gillespie/Ian Brown, but they got better (didn't they?)

As far as I know, Sterling Morrison only sang one line, ever.

Ian Brown got worse surely? He can't carry a tune at all now.

Beck sounds better in that video than I was thinking when I asked the question, but yeah ... not amazing. For a guy with his ability on the guitar, that probably counts as being a lousy singer. But several times, he's at least singing the melody, if not terribly well.

I'm thinking like my dad singing hymns in church -- deep, monotone, zero ability to sing actual notes. No melody. Just croaking along in rhythm. Or my friend Dan who would try to sing along to songs but was *always* a few steps flat. But maybe I have just been surrounded by exceptionally awful singers in my life.

did John Fahey ever sing on a rec?

Beck is actually a good singer, he more or less pretends to be not so.

I read that as Beck Hansen first time through.

Peter Buck

I'm thinking like my dad singing hymns in church -- deep, monotone, zero ability to sing actual notes. No melody. Just croaking along in rhythm.

Your dad needs to join a funeral doom band

The correct answer to this question is Uli Jon Roth.

Robbie Robertson? Oh, wait.

Beck is actually a good singer, he more or less pretends to be not so.

― Mark G, Wednesday, 16 October 2013 10:03 (42 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I read that as Beck Hansen first time through.

― alpine static, Wednesday, 16 October 2013 10:05 (40 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Oh, my comment was relating to Beck Hansen that time, soz

There's also this album...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/df/Two_hi.jpg

he said instrumentalists

He turns an OK performance of "When I'm 64" on that "All this and WW2" set, but that's not on that 'deluxe' CD.

I get that you can learn to play the guitar really well without having a good singing voice, but it seems like some sort of natural musical ability must live in there that would allow a great guitar player to at least be able to hear a song and sing along in tune.

naw i know a bunch of really good instrumental musicians (e.g. people who play in good orchestras) who just can't make their voices sing in tune -- in fact it's harder for them because they have such a well-developed sense of what sounds out.

Yeah, I used to play in a band with a guy who was a terrific guitarist, did nearly all of our songwriting including lyrics and melodies, but couldn't not actually sing to save his life. I and another band member did all the singing, and he'd have to play out the melodies for us on his guitar.

Helios Creed obvious answer.

I'd imagine there are hundreds if not thousands of these people. It's a physical thing really. If you don't have the voice you don't have the voice.

Surely the voice is an instrument that can be learned just like any other? Maybe these people never put the time in but I find it hard to believe that someone with a good ear couldn't learn to sing in tune, even if they might not have the most pleasant voice to listen to in the world.

Sometimes it's hard to learn a new instrument. Not everyone can play piano, violin and recorder.

George Harrison.

Can the Edge sing? I reckon he would be pretty terrible.

He does various woahs and oohs on things but I've never heard him sing any more than that.

Sometimes it's hard to learn a new instrument. Not everyone can play piano, violin and recorder.

sure, you've got to be willing and able to put the time in.

the Edge sings "Seconds."

if you were really good at the harp do you think it'd be easy to learn to play the trombone? there's a whole physical skill that you'd have to master, as well as a different conception of how a note is placed.

i never said easy! but fwiw i pretty much believe anyone can learn to do anything (aka no such thing as talent).

the Edge sings "Seconds."

Ahh yes, of course he does. Larry Mullen perhaps then?

the Edge 'sings' Numb

i pretty much believe anyone can learn to do anything (aka no such thing as talent).

!!!!!

i can't really see how that's possible

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgtPQtr-vcc

Embedding disabled by request <- never have I been more relieved to read those words

there are some people i've in the past played gamelan with who are very, very good instrumentalists in their own fields - orchestral music, or various other non-western musics - and they give every indication of applying themselves but they just cannot learn to play to even a minimally good standard. they can't get their ear in; they can't work out how things fit together; they get lost and can't find their way back into a tune that is being played by everyone around them. conversely, i know people who can listen to cassette tapes, recorded in mono with one microphone in the 80s, and identify single instrument lines that they can then reproduce.

and, like, this is gamelan - the level of musicianship needed to just join in is super low (this is why i like it! a group can have wildly divergent skill levels and it will still sound good and be a satisfying experience), but these are people with a high level of musicianship.

i bumped another thread for this:
the concept of "talent": C/D?

hi

i think that because i never really sang as a kid and did whatever i could to avoid it until i was in college, i just never developed the necessary vocal muscles. now i only do it to get ideas across to other musicians and would never dream of singing on mic, but i still don't really know what's going to come out of my mouth when i open it, there's a lot of adjusting.

B-b-but what about when you had to sing the scales on Richard Davis's answering machine?

/orange_juice_binoculars

haha, can't believe you remember that, but that's exactly when i had to start working on it.

miles

robbie robertson was the first that came to mind

where's that clip of Steve Howe singing on Regis

sure, you've got to be willing and able to put the time in.

― as a chocolate salesperson (ledge), Wednesday, October 16, 2013 9:37 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I've known fellow singers who have taken voice lessons and practiced their asses off for years and still sound mediocre.

hell my ex-roommate used to boast about being a former voice major and claiming he was a singer and had been doing it for 30 years and every time he sang I wanted to cut myself

Burt Bacharach

Keith Richards

John Squire, unlistenable singer.

I've noticed with a lot of people I've been in bands with - and a lot of famous guitarists who've made solo albums - is that a talent for creating strong instrumental parts doesn't translate to anything like a talent for coming up with vocal melodies. Partly it can be down to weak vocals, but so many people who can make exciting riffs, beautiful chord changes or elegant arrangements can only manage hookless / rhythmless / uninteresting vocal lines. It's weird that they can put notes together in a way that sounds great on their instruments, but can't do it with their mouths.

^re john fahey singing, check out the the mill pond ep (at your own risk)

edge's backing work alone proves him a decent singer

Outside of third string backing vox, has Eddie Van Halen ever tried to sing at all?

yeah, on Van Halen 3 he sang lead on "How Many Say I". his voice was fucking terrible, it was really comical.

bleh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K07gLBVeLR4

Forgot this one!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMhqGQ0lHdo

good grief at that VH track... yuck

it was the album closer too. like he thought his sub-Leonard Cohen vocals were what his fans wanted to end each listen with.

Matt #2 suggesting my dad join a funeral doom band was definitely the highlight of my day.

Angus Young is another example of a gifted guitarist who, by his own admission, can't sing a note. I myself am a reasonably talented instrumentalist, but I would never sing in public. While I can usually start off well, within a few bars I invariably drift out of key. The phenomenon described above by C Sharp is familiar to me: while I can instantly hear my voice going flat, I'm simply unable to prevent it from happening. My sense is that to be a great, or even competent singer, you must possess two attributes: (i) a musical ear, and (ii) very fine control of your larynx, so as to be able to reliably and instantaneously home in on the requisite pitches. I have the former skill but not the latter, and 25 years of singing to myself have made little difference.

Ozzy can play the harmonica but damn, if he wasn't in a different key vocalist than the rest of his band when I saw the reunited Sabbath a few months ago

vocalist vocally

I've noticed with a lot of people I've been in bands with - and a lot of famous guitarists who've made solo albums - is that a talent for creating strong instrumental parts doesn't translate to anything like a talent for coming up with vocal melodies. Partly it can be down to weak vocals, but so many people who can make exciting riffs, beautiful chord changes or elegant arrangements can only manage hookless / rhythmless / uninteresting vocal lines. It's weird that they can put notes together in a way that sounds great on their instruments, but can't do it with their mouths.

Think we're focusing on guitarists a bit in this thread for whatever reason. There are a lot of instruments that are much more voice-like. I'd be surprised if someone who was able to improvise good trumpet solos, for example, couldn't translate that to passable vocal parts.