10 Tips for Karaoke Beginners
Either you're here because you've never done karaoke before and you're looking for some advice. Or you have done karaoke before with bad results and you're looking for advice. Don't fret. For many people, singing in front of a crowd can be a terrifying experience. Here's our top ten karaoke tips to calm your nerves and to help you get the best out of karaoke.
1. Remember that it's karaoke
Karaoke isn't a competition, well sometimes it literally is a competition, but mostly it's just for fun. People don't go to karaoke to watch great performances, they go to watch and sing karaoke. Which is almost always bad. So if you sing badly, try and own it. You'll only be fulfilling the expectations of the crowd.
"Just relax" is always bad advice. But knowing that nobody expects you to be good at Karaoke is a nice place to start.
2. Sing an Easy Song
Pretty obvious. But you'd be surpirsed.
A song you thought was easy when you were singing it to your dog in the shower, might turn out to be hard. We've compiled a list of the best karaoke songs for bad singers. Not saying you're a bad singer, but then you are reading this.
3. Sing a Crowd Pleaser
Sing a song you think everybody will know and the crowd will sing along with you. Not only will they enjoy it more, they'll also drown you out. Everybody will tell you what an amazing job you did.
4. Sing a Song you Definitely Know
You love that song. But do you love it enough? Are you certain there isn't a funny little bit in the middle you don't know the tune too? Make sure you know the song back to front before you sing it. Remember, you only need to know the melody. The lyrics are in the house.
5. Sing a duet
Nothing calms the nerves more than having a buddy to sing with. Plus if it goes wrong you can blame it on them. Picking duets can be pretty difficult though, so we've made a list of the best duets for karaoke for you.
6."Kiss" the Microphone
Don't actually kiss the microphone that's unhygienic. You've probably seen singers do this before. It's when they sing with their lips nearly touching the mic.
Basically, let the mic do all the work.
The closer your lips are to it, the louder you'll sound. You won't need to shout or strain your voice. If you take any one of these karaoke tips to heart, let it be this one.
7. Show the Love
Make sure you cheer a lot for the other singers. Unless they're psychopaths they'll cheer for you too. This will make you feel good.
8. Sing Later
Give yourself time to get into the mood and see some other performers do a bad job. Also if you wait, then hopefully everybody will be drunk. They either won't care or they'll forget if you're bad.
9. Beware the Coda
Some songs have a long coda (the bit at the end that goes on forever, like in Hey Jude.) Or sometimes the chorus gets sung a million times before the song ends, like in Survivor (Destiny's Child).
Anyway, these songs go on and on and you'll start to feel yourself and those around you fading. The best way to avoid this is by picking a short song.
10. Practice (meh)
If you're very worried and willing to prepare in advance, and since you're reading this I get the feeling you are. Then you can always practice. Although it's really in the spirit of karaoke, nobody will know! You can even find a trustworthy aunt who sings in a choir and ask her for advice.