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Comment by alexilliamson | Hacker News Reader

For everyone saying "find a teacher": what specifically will the teacher will pick up on, that I can't pick up on my own listening voice recordings of myself?

The situation is, I've known that I should find a teacher for many years. However, I can be quite stubborn and have instead been recording myself playing guitar/singing for the past several years. With debatable progress.

I know I should find a teacher, but what should I look for? My guitar is fine.. I've played since I was 12 and had a lot of lessons back then. So I feel better about self-studying guitar.

I've also been singing for that long, but without any actual instruction. Help!

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> what specifically will the teacher pick up on Singing is not at all intuitive, and it is likely that the actions to take towards a goal will be counter productive and place an upper limit on your progress.

For example, if you try to sing a note on the top of your range you will likely resort to "muscling" the note by adding tension, but this approach if far from optimal, and will limit the amount of range you can add.

This is coming from me as a semi-professional classical vocalist, but I will also admit that my advice is likely much less useful for people interested in the kind of singing common in country or indie/folk music, as these kinds of music require much less technical complexity in their vocal production.

You don’t need a teacher. Seriously. The teacher thing is not the mindset you seek. Or rather, your best teachers are the great musicians you listen to over and over and admire from recordings and from your life. Jerry Reed had his own very strange way of playing guitar- it was so cool, Elvis hired him to play guitar on a record because he could not reproduce it.

You've basically answered your own question:

> My guitar is fine

> I've ... had a lot of lessons.... So I feel better about self-studying guitar

> I've also been singing ... without any actual instruction.

> Help!

So what's the difference between the thing you feel better about and the thing you feel worse about? What did you learn from your guitar teacher that you wouldn't have learned alone? It won't be the same for voice, but it'll be analagous.

More specifically, for learning, feedback is best when given immediately. A voice coach would be able to give immediate feedback, rather than you (potentially) discovering it later on on your own.

Also, an experienced coach will be able to match your weaknesses with exercises specifically chosen to address the challenges you are facing. Exercises appropriate for your current level and practicing the skills you need.

Finally, there is a lot of subtlety in vocal technique. There are tons of things that most people do not notice in self-observation or through recordings that a coach can pick up on and help you through.

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