Singing – Musicians HQ

As part of the musical project I have been doing for Tunelighting - An album in a year. I wanted to try and teach myself to sing. I have never had any formal coaching or even tried to improve my singing other than singing along to the radio or in the shower. With an app for everything now seemingly available. I started by searching on my Android phone and on my Apple iPad to see if there were any apps out there that could teach me to sing. Well it turns out there are lots of them! So I decided to test as many of the apps as I could, buying subscriptions, using them for a few months to really test them out fully. This article is the summary of my findings so you won’t have to spend hours trying to find which app is best for you. Of all the apps we tested, we found Yousician to be the best app to learn to sing overall, due to its great interface, fun gamification elements, and helpful tutors. It was also the app that kept us engaged and coming back over and over again. We recommend most people with any skill level start with this app. However, that particular app may not be for everyone and so we have included some additional apps in this article too for you to explore and try out. 1) Yousician Best Structured Course Platforms - IOS and Android When I am learning something pretty much from scratch I am a big fan of structured learning. Sometimes with such a big daunting project like learning to sing, it can be hard to even know where to start. With that in mind, I set out looking for a course that would helpfully guide me through the process. I tested out a few different apps, but by far the best was Yousician. Here are some of the standout features. Things We Liked You Can Start With The Basics Yousician starts by asking you an important question: do you want to start learning to sing or do you already know how to sing? It’s reassuring to be able to tell the app you have no clue what you are doing from the start! Some other apps I tested just threw you straight into doing scales or basic songs, but as I soon found out with Yousician, you need to start even more basic than that. Likeable Teachers You are introduced to the hosts in the app, who I believe are from Finland!? They will pop up regularly through the course to teach you new techniques and walk you through the exercises. I found this human connection element in Yousician really nice. Similar to watching videos on Youtube, it is nice to see a friendly face, and it gives you more of the feeling of having an actual tutor helping you out. It’s also really handy to watch them for how they carry out the breathing exercises and other techniques which could be confusing if you were just reading about it. This was a real upside over most of the other apps I tried. Most other apps did not have a ‘face’ or personality guiding you through the process and that just makes it feel a bit less enjoyable. Fun Gamification As with many apps these days, the creators take advantage of gamification. Designed to get you hooked faster and coming back for more. Yousician is no different, the levels are broken down into ‘missions’. Where you must try and get as many gold stars as you can, which is dependent on how well you complete each singing task they set you. The app is complete with nice animations and Nintendo-esque sounds when you complete a mission. The songs they make you sing have a good variety, and although the lyrics are sometimes a bit cringey (more on that later!) it is nice to actually have some lyrics to sing. Many other apps simply make you hum, or sing ‘ahhs’ and ‘doos’ which gets very boring very quickly. The gamification element really worked on me and kept me engaged longer than most other apps. Daily missions take around 10 to 15 minutes so a good length of time to fit in around other stuff without becoming a burden. Responsive And Picks Up The Voice Well The majority of singing apps I tested have a similar approach. As shown in the image above, in Yousician a small dot flies across the screen from left to right which represents the pitch you are singing. The notes you are meant to sing enter the screen from the right hand side and you must aim to sing in tune to get the dot to glide at the correct level of each line as it passes. The various apps do this with a variety of success. Some I found would get confused easily, lag or pick up wrong octaves within the voice. Yousician though was the best of the bunch. Although not always perfect (that could just be my bad singing!) it was pretty amazing and sensitive, seamlessly picking up the voice most of the time. Things We Didn't Like You Can’t Skip Ahead Maybe this is a good thing as the app forces you to go through every mission one by one before unlocking the next, there is no ability to skip on. However, there were definitely some missions early on that were a little too basic and it would have been nice to have the option to skip. There are lessons on things like rhythm which for someone who is already a musician come across as tedious. How Much Does Yousician Cost? The prices of Yousician seem to vary depending on which country you are in and the time of year (they often have offers on) but here are the baseline figures. Yousician is broken down into a few different options. You can access most of the course features for free but you are limited to a short practice time per day. But this is a good way to ease yourself in and test it without having to spend money straight away. You can also get a week of premium+ free trial. In the United States, Yousician Premium currently costs $19.99 per month or $119 per year if paid in one go. Yousician Premium + costs $29.99 a month or $179 per year if paid in one go. Below is a table showing the different features for premium and premium+ options. BenefitsPREMIUMPREMIUM+UNLIMITED LESSONS See results and reach your goals with unlimited lessons.✔︎✔︎UNLOCK ALL SONGSUnlock famous songs: Play the music that moves you by incorporating famous songs into your lessons. ✔︎LEARN ALL INSTRUMENTSExperience everything Yousician has to offer with guided lessons for guitar, piano, ukulele, bass, and singing.One instrument only✔︎Cost$19.99 per monthOr$119 per year$29.99 per monthOr$179 per year So if you fancy learning the other instruments too (also very good, I’m learning piano too) then the premium+ is great value. Others of you may think the ability to sing along with chart hits is a good feature and that is also only available in the top paid option. Keep an eye out for Black Friday and other deals throughout the year. Yousician seem to regularly do half price offers which are worth keeping an eye out for. Is Yousician Premium Worth It? After 3 months of testing this app every single day we would definitely recommend Yousician. The app is fun, engaging, and guides you through at a nice pace. Although it costs more than many other similar apps, you get what you pay for. If you want a structured, guided way of learning to sing or play an instrument this is the one. Is Yousician Premium+ Worth It? If access to more features such as famous songs to learn along to and the ability to learn to all the instruments on the app rather than just one is important to you then Yousician Premium is worth the cost for sure. But if you are only interested in learning to sing then you are probably fine with the Premium version and you can use other apps such as Smule (see below) to practice singing along to real songs. Personally I find committing to buying a course makes me actually do it. If I download a free app I will probably only use it a couple of times before I use interest, but I find if I invest some money, I will make sure I use the app regularly! So if you are serious about singing, it may be the boost you need to get practicing! As I mentioned earlier, Yousician often run deals so I managed to get a years Premium+ subscription half price during a summer sale. So keep an eye out! 2) Sing True Best Basic Course Platform - IOS Only If you are really looking to improve singing fast then perhaps one course isn’t enough! Although make sure you don’t over practice and strain that voice too much. Different courses approach the subject in different ways and I found combining a few apps to give a more complete vocal training package. Or perhaps you simply tried Yousician and it wasn’t for you. Here is our favorite alternative. Things we liked Focus On Theory At The Start I really liked how Sing True starts with some theory. There are some fun quizzes at the start where they play a note followed by a second note and you must say which is higher. This sounds easy but it gets hard quickly and definitely not as easy as it sounds. Training the ear is an important part of learning to sing in tune. It Doesn’t Cut You Any Slack In the singing challenges, you have to get a very high score before you are allowed to progress to the next level. This could be seen as annoying, and perhaps the app just wants you to use up your lives so you have to buy more! But I found it really focussed the mind and made you try even harder to nail the pitch every time and not get sloppy. Things We Didn’t Like The Display Won’t Rotate Perhaps not as annoying on the iPhone, but on the iPad the fact you had to keep the app in portrait view was frustrating. I wanted to prop the iPad up on a stand whilst singing rather than having to hold it but because the stand only works in landscape and the app doesn't rotate, this wasn’t an option. The Costs Are Harder To Predict Personally I prefer knowing the costs upfront, with Yousician, for example, the difference between the free version and paid version is clear. But in Sing True the costs are based on buying more lives. So if you are having a good day where you are hitting all the right notes you may be able to make a lot of progress for free. However, if you wake up singing the wrong notes then it couldn't get expensive! How Much Does Sing True Cost Free until you run out of lives! Then you must buy more lives which can be a bit annoying if there is a challenge you get stuck on but at least it forces you to get it right and not skip on before you can do it! 3) Smule Best For Putting Lessons Into Practice Platforms - IOS and Android You may not be as much of a novice as me and if you already have some basic singing skill you might just want to practice. Smule won’t give you the structured lessons of Yousician and other apps but if you want to practice what you have been learning it’s a great app to check out! Things We Liked The Community Smule is actually more of a social network of sorts. They have created a community within the app of people who sing along to their favorite songs and record them. Learning to sing on your own can be a lonely experience if you do it entirely alone. And so being able to share your progress on a social network dedicated to singing can be great. No more annoying your friends by posting on Instagram or TikTok all the time, other people on Smule know what to expect. You can also collaborate with other users, or invite your friends to join the app to collaborate with you. For this reason the community is also very supportive. Most know how difficult it is to pluck up the courage to sing and post it online. You are less likely to come across trolls like you might on other more general social media platforms. Good Quality Songs To Sing A lot of the apps available don’t include pop songs and you may find yourself having to sing along to a version of Amazing Grace recorded on what sounds like a phone from the 90s! Although many of the songs to sing along to in Smule are cover versions, they sound good, use multiple instrument sounds and it feels like you are singing to pretty much the original song. You can get closer to the real thing by singing a ‘duet’ (sing along to a video) with your favourite artists from Mariah Carey to Lewis Capaldi. Like other apps it shows you with little stars when you are hitting the right notes! Things We Didn’t Like The Interface Isn’t That Clear Unlike the very precise little dot in Yousician where you can tell exactly how far off you are on a particular note, the visuals in Smule aren’t as great and are a bit cruder. It’s really hard to see if you are getting a note perfect or if you are slightly out. Stars appear as you sing but it’s just very difficult to see. Not Great For Honest Feedback As I said above, the community are very supportive and you get very little harsh criticism. However, as nice as this is, if you are looking for honest feedback in order to improve. Even the app itself tells you that you are doing an amazing job, even if you deliberately sing horrendously out of tune (yes I tried this!). The app also allows you to add lots of vocal effects to your singing, which whilst sounding cool does mask any errors or flat notes. How Much Does Smule Cost? There is a free version which has limited features and more ads. The VIP version is $9.99 a week and gets you all the features. There is a free 7 day trial if you want to give all the VIP features a try. 4) Nail The Pitch Best For Keeping It Simple Platforms - IOS and Android You may want to improve your singing but without investing hundreds of hours into a structured course. For those who just want to jump into an app and practice getting more consistent and better at hitting the right notes then ‘Nail The Pitch’ is a great option. Things We Liked Accuracy You may be thinking: why don’t I just use a tuner app to see why I’m in tune? Well, Nail The Pitch is much more accurate than your standard tuner app. The creators claim it is much better than a simple tuner app as it uses a more complex algorithm making between 30 and 60 detections in just one second making it more accurate. Nice Clear Visuals Similar in style to Yousician, when you sing a note it will show a note on screen lighting up alongside the corresponding note letter you are singing. It reacts quickly and clearly on a nice back background with orange lines which notes you are hitting, moving up and down as you change keys. So many other apps I tried had horrible visualizations that made this very simple thing very tricky. Nail the pitch is a very simple app that just allows you to practice hitting notes. So you sing in an it will show you on a nice visualisation (very similar to Yousician style) which note you are singing. How Much Does Nail The Pitch Cost? The core app is free but there is a pro version that costs around $5 and allows you to record and playback your sessions. 5) Riyaz Best For Specialist Requirements (Carnatic and Hindustani) Platforms - IOS and Android Singing is such an ancient skill for humans it even predates talking! And it evolved differently across the world. All the apps mentioned so far in this article focus on Western music and singing styles. But they are actually quite useless if you want to learn different types of singing from further east. But there are apps out there that will do this. Things We Liked Tailored To Specific Singing Styles Riyaz excels in the fact you can choose whether you want to learn to sing in Carnatic style, Hindustani style or Western Style. The specially designed courses will focus on whichever one you choose so there is no confusion. Similar to Yousician you can select if you are new to singing, in which case it will start basic, or if you have learned before. Some Handy Tools Riyaz comes with some handy tools which are useful to anyone learning to sing any style. The vocal range detector is great for finding your vocal range quickly. It seems very accurate and is nice and responsive. There is also a breath monitor you can use which is cool. Things We Didn’t Like Not As Engaging as Other Apps In Riyaz you don’t get a host to guide you through and so it doesn’t feel as engaging as apps such as Yousician. You very much feel like you are being coached by a robot. The exercises also focus mainly on ‘la’s’ (see image above) along to a simple piano rather than actual songs and that can get boring quickly and just isn’t as fun. How Much Does Riyaz Cost? Riyaz costs around $100 for a full year if you pay in one go which gets you access to all the premium courses. I would only really recommend buying the full version if you are interested in the specialist styles of singing as there are very few courses available for Western-style singing.