Vocal notes for guitar riffs?

[VictorLazarus]

Okay I'm a little confused; I'm writing vocal notation for some of my songs after being told my vocals are out of tune but to be honest I'm not quite sure how to do it and am currently just putting the vocals as the same notes the guitar riff plays so they follow that but I know singers sing different notes to a chord or riff I've seen it (lol) but I don't know what notes are okay and what are bad (like what vocal scale to use) I know the major vocal scale but that'd mean all non sharp/flat notes are in key which doesen't make any sence cos then it'd b almost impossible to be 'out of tune'.

Anyway anyone can help me out here - I'm out of my element.

MVL.

[axslinger]

How are you writing the vocals and how are they out of tune? How are you listening to them? In THEORY, as long as the vocal notes are in the scale of that the song is written in, then there are no wrong notes.

However, what sounds right and what IS right don't always match up. For instance, if you play a I-IV-V in a major key, like A, typically you would play the lead in A minor, even though it's a major key. Another example, you could also write a song that vamps between Dm and Am, making a Dorian scale fit, even though the parent scale is C Major. So, to answer your question, I would need to know the key you wrote the song in and the chords of the song and the progression would help.

[VictorLazarus]

Ummm its pretty much every song lol; I mean I haven't had people object to my growls - only my cleans (I assume cos they can actally hear the notes and / or my voice) I didn't really think of vocals at all when I wrote songs.

An example would b my latest (recorded) song where I tried to do clean vocals and a few people just laughed at them so I replaced them with growls.

MVL.

[axslinger]

Ok, I think I get their point. I'm just guessing but what they are probably getting at is you are singing "off pitch". Think of one of your strings being out of tune when you play a chord. But substitute that string with your voice.

I'm not picking on you, singing is not easy. Practice singing tones with your guitar. Like pick a middle C on your guitar and then try to match that tone with your voice. Try playing a simple 4-note phrase, then sing that as well. Maybe have somebody listen to you while you're doing these exercises and critique your pitch correctness.

Good luck!

Ax

[VictorLazarus]

Lol don't worry I'll well aware of how bad my singing is. But the vocals on that song are different to what I showed them - I tried to do clean (sing high) - that one has growls... kind of. (much lower, but still undoubtably crap and not fitting the song)

But I'm still unsure of what notes to use with vocals? Could I use guitar scales? Cos the new vocal notes I've written (that I'm planning to do) pretty much just follow the guitar riff/s.

MVL.