Any First Time Karaoke Advice?

[Emoni]

Well, here is the deal. I plan to go with a group of friends from College from my Japanese classes and some Japanese students to a Japanese Style Karaoke place.

Problem: Never sang before in my life, no experience, and embarassed as hell to try.

I don't really have time for personal classes, and I know a few people who do sing and I plan to ask them as well. However, I was wondering if any of you have any advice from previous personal experience. I very likely will just watch, but I do admit that I am slightly interested.

☝

 

[MeAndroo]

Have a few beers. Alcohol is the best social lubricant ever. The other thing to think about is that people, though they may make a comment about it, aren't there to listen to your singing...they're there to sing. I became somewhat of a karaoke regular (2-3 times/week), and it got to the point where people simply wait for the karaoke book/their song to come up. Now, if this is gonna be a really polite thing, just sing something easy that everyone likes, like the Beatles or a rock song. With American kids, I used Disney songs to get people going...nothing makes you forget your embarassment like 5 people singing along to "Under the Sea."

 

[Suki-Yaki]

humph??

Personal classes ???!! For god's saaaakeee ~~~

Just sing something you like , and enjoy it. Remember that it's gonna be too loud and musical it's gonna be hard for your friends to concentrate on how good you are singing , which by the way is a good advice , to go for somethin' kinda 'loud' and fast for the first time , I think.
And they are gonna sing too , so if they bother you , get back on them !

 

[okaeri_man]

Personal classes ???!! For god's saaaakeee ~~~

mmm, sake.

yes, if your singing really truly sucks, then i suggest alcohol. nobody expects a drunk to sing in tune... it also eliminates all forms of embarassment.

if you can sing in tune, then you'll probably get more confident even without alcohol after having listened to some of the others try.

 

[mad pierrot]

I hate to recomend it, but drinking and karaoke go together like bread and butter. I've sung alot of karaoke here in Japan, and that's the best advice I can give you. (Just don't drink too much.)

 

[Flashjeff]

Yeah, I can't imagine anyone doing the karaoke thing sober! Besides giving you the courage to do it in the first place, you mind how BAD you'll sound when you sing!

 

[kirei_na_me]

I have never done karaoke sober. Never.

 

[okaeri_man]

heh, i've done karaoke more times sober than i have drunk...

 

[PopCulturePooka]

Sober karaoke?

What?

WHAT?


Oh my...

 

[DoctorP]

suggestions?? Just have fun...don't worry what you sound like...and if you do think you sound bad just fiddle with the pitch and other knobs until it sounds better!

 

[mad pierrot]

LOL @ Kirei

 

[Emoni]

... ok well guess I'm screwed then I don't drink ever

 

[Saithan]

ohhh my...

You mean, like never drunk any form of alcohol ? ☝

 

[Flashjeff]

Well, I don't drink alcohol either, but I tried karaoke once and, predictably, I sounded like a cat being run over by an 18-wheeler! But, hey! It was fun!

 

[Emoni]

You mean, like never drunk any form of alcohol ? ☝

Oddly enough... Yes By choice though, I'm over the legal age limit.

 

[Nuala]

Well, here is the deal. I plan to go with a group of friends from College from my Japanese classes and some Japanese students to a Japanese Style Karaoke place.

Problem: Never sang before in my life, no experience, and embarassed as hell to try.

I don't really have time for personal classes, and I know a few people who do sing and I plan to ask them as well. However, I was wondering if any of you have any advice from previous personal experience. I very likely will just watch, but I do admit that I am slightly interested.

☝

To be quite honest, when I did karaoke...I sang "She Bangs" by Ricky Martin. It was all fun. Don't sing a big complex song at first, and make sure you get drunk!

 

[Flashjeff]

To be quite honest, when I did karaoke...I sang "She Bangs" by Ricky Martin. It was all fun. Don't sing a big complex song at first, and make sure you get drunk!

Well, I certainly hope you sounded better than William Hung when that loser sang it!

 

[Nuala]

Well, I certainly hope you sounded better than William Hung when that loser sang it!

I really don't remember if it was better or not. :?

 

[m477]

Have a drink or two beforehand, and start off with easy songs that you know really well.

 

[Kamisama]

I use to sing White Reflection by Two Mix when i had some spare time on my hands. All i can say is that you should know the lyrics very well, you should have fun singing, and try to use your best singing voice. You don't have to exactly sounds like the singer, but trying to doesn't hurt too bad. Also you can use a microphone hooked up to sndrec32.exe and practice on the computer. Mitsumekaetsu hitomi ni, egaite haruka na NEVERRRR ENNNNDING STORRRRY!!!! :sing:

One more tip:

Never ever be embarressed. That shows weakness. Don't even worry about bombing. Just go for it and hit the stage singing with the karaoke machine. Have fun with it, don't have fear. The only thing you should fear is not knowing the song.

 

[ragedaddy]

Well since you are not big into drinking, I would suggest picking a song that you are comfortble singing. This way you have more than a basic idea of how it goes, and so there is nothing to be nervous about....that is unless you are tone deaf. Nah, although if you are more than nervous, you could just for the heck of it, put back a couple of cocktails. I definitely like putting a couple back when I'm belting out some tunes, but not because I'm nervous. I love to sing, so it's no problem for me busting out some tunes stone cold sober. However, beers go really well with singing(at least I think), and some of my favorites to sing come from groups such as Oasis, Linkin Park, Green Day, Billy Joel, Chemistry, Ulfuls, Ken Hirai, and SMAP...

 

[sadakoyamamura]

Ok two nights ago, I and a group of friends went to a karaoke. Part of our group drank and some stayed sober as in not a drop of liquor and I was part of the sober ones...

Well you can practice first. You can download songs in midi format at www.vanBasco.com. You'll also find the installer here. My bf also downloaded some songs using Imesh.

The keyword is : FUN, if you think too much about how you sound then you'll just end up regretting ever going. Singing for the first time in public (karaoke ) gives you jitters but once you've tried it, you're gonna be looking forward for more, good voice or bad. Take my word for it!

 

[Harry Gatto]

If you are going with Japanese friends then learn a popular Japanese song such as Ue O Muitte (Sukiyaki song), write the words out in Romaji if you can't read Japanese and read from that instead of the screen.

 

[sky888]

never sing a micheal jackson song

 

[chiefen]

never sing a micheal jackson song

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