I strongly believe that anyone can sing. I suppose different people put emphasis on different things; but for me, it is not the quality of voice that impresses me most, but the spirit behind it. Quality will improve with time and practice.

I basically learned to sing a capella first, then added instruments. My husband was the opposite. For years, he put most of his energy towards perfecting his guitar playing. Then, when he started singing he basically was singing to accompany his guitar. He didn't realize this at first, of course. A lot of guitar players do that, we've noticed.

I tend to disagree with Steve T's message above about learning to concentrate at first on the music rather than the emotion. Obviously, you need to concentrate on the music, but I don't think you need to do that exclusively. If you can hold a tune, I wouldn't worry overly much about its musical quality of acurracy. That's something that will develop over time, with practice. What most people hear is the message of the song, not the technical aspects of the music. And the message comes across in the story and emotions you feel, not in whether you are singing in 'head tones' or from your 'diaphragm'.

The most important advice I give to people who want to sing is: don't worry if you don't sound like so and so whose voice you really admire. Every voice is different. You have to try to discover what's special about your own voice and learn to make use of it. Imitating other people's singing styles is useful only if you are trying to learn more about your own voice's potential and limitations, but if you don't find a style that is uniquly your own, your singing won't sound as true (with or without bum notes.)

Good luck,

Moira, from Yellowknife