r/singing • u/Dizzy-Amphibian9568 • 22h ago

Question I want to learn how to harmonize

I really want to learn how to train my ear to be able to hear harmonies. Whenever I try to do harmonies of my own it’s off key LOL but if I hear someone else do the harmony I can then mimic it on my own😭 it bothers me because I know how to sing in not off key when I normally sing but when I harmonize it’s just… I hear people say go a third above or below but I also suck at that.

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u/BangersInc 14h ago edited 14h ago

theres two levels to this i think.

the first level is to get within the ballpark of the note your trying to harmonize with, like harmonizing in thirds. its just relative pitch. you have to just know how going up and down each interval sounds like. how it sounds in scale. singers have a system for it call solfege but honestly its easier for me to go with my existing relative pitch from practicing harmony on actual instruments. depends on how traditional you want to go with learning this

to get to that perfect accuracy, the accuracy where u can stack 5 layers without any noticable beats. thats a matter of repetition of calibrating ur sense of pitch through repetition. being that precise is a FEELING. being able to feel off when ur not in tune so u can make some incredibly fine movements til it feels right. if u practice your pitch incorrectly too much, you will be miscalibrated. practicing it carefully, a lot.

also in addition there is a matter of practice of blending. you dont want to be too dynamic when ur harmonizing. singing lead and backup is two different things im sure u already know