Lane,

I teach yodeling and singing falsetto by using certain vowel sounds, one of the easiest is the EE sound. Make a sound like a siren or whistle with a loud wheeeee... Sing as high as you can and bring it down. Another good EE sound is a Yee-ha with the Yee being the high pitch and the ha coming down.

Another good vowel sound is the oo (not O) as in woo-hoo or blue. I do this one when I sing "Bluegrass Boogie" yodeling from a G (open on third string) to a high G (3rd fret 1st string).

In my opinion, these are the two easiest vowel sounds to yodel.

Doc Watson is such a good guitarist that he's under-rated as a singer. He does a great "Milk Cow Blues" and yodels in about a third of his songs. His voice may be a bit weaker at 80 years but he has good vocal control.

My band, Bluegrass Messengers, played three songs with Doc last Saturday. We've played with Doc before and it's always a treat to have him sit in play guitar. Funny thing is we've never rehearsed with him! He played some great improv solos and his back-up skills are extraordinary...he fings ways to fit in with our sound but he'll play different parts, usually a lower bass type part with runs.

-Richie