Bassist Belinda Underwood Coming to Monterey Bay Area

Belinda Underwood

Belinda Underwood is a jazz bassist and singer from Portland, Oregon. The lady has talent, and she inspires me to go pick up my bass and practice. She will be coming to the Monterey Bay area soon for public performances. I hope to go see her.  In the video below, she plays bass to "Don't Get Around Much Anymore."  This is the kind of music I want most to play:  jazz swing/jazz standards.



I never heard of Belinda Underwood before today.  I learned of her through a link on the Monterey Bay Craig's List (under Musicians).  I watched a couple of her videos on YouTube and became an instant fan.  As well as being an accomplished bassist, she is also an incredible singer.  I purchased her first album online and downloaded it as mp3 files for instant listening.  You can buy her albums at this link.

It's hard to believe someone so talented (not to mention beautiful) isn't better known.  Vocally, she is as good as Diana Krall or Norah Jones.

What Should a Musician Do When He Doesn't Know Where He's Going?

What should you (a bass player) do when you are at a crossroads in your music career, and don't know what to do, how to plan or where to go?

Simple.  Practice your scales and arpeggios until your fingers bleed.

The basics are always worth repeating, over and over again.  Then when you do figure out your next step, you'll be ready for it.

Saith the Brahman of Bass, the Shaman of the Strings, the Mystical Musician, the Nadir of Notes.  Bass 17: 34-48.  You can look it up.

And yes, I will follow these commandments, just as soon as I finish folding my laundry.

Wither Am I Drifting? My Musical Future Reconsidered

Lately I notice a feeling of angst, malaise or simple boredom with my musical efforts.  Right now I just don't know where I am going music-wise, or where I want to go.  I haven't touched my bass in three weeks, focusing on singing practice instead.

Sometimes it's good to take a step back and give it a rest.  I will let my subconscious mind sort things out and clarify my goals.  Briefly, they seem to be as follows:

1.  I want to play string bass very well.
2.  I want to sing.
3.  I want to play mellow jazz, jazz swing and jazz standards.

Classic rock isn't really a big turn-on for me.  It holds little challenge.  I am just not excited about being in a "classic rock" band.

Bornia Boys Blues Band Plays at Bolado Park in Hollister, September 10, 2011

On Saturday, September 10, 2011, the Bornia Boys Blues Band played at the first annual Hot Cars and Guitars festival in Bolado Park, in Hollister, California.  I was there and managed to get some video of their performance.  Like a moron, I forgot to bring my tripod, and eventually my arms got tired of holding up the camera and there are a lot of shaky scenes as a result.  Hope you don't get seasick, but you should love the sound.

The Bornia Boys have an interesting history that is detailed at their website at this link.  The main page of their website is located here.

Here are the videos in the order they were taken:

I Sing "That's All Right Mama," a High Key Elvis Tune

I've been practicing singing exercises for about two weeks now and I can feel my voice getting stronger.  My latest challenge was to sing Elvis's great hit "That's All Right Mama."  This song is in a high key, but I wanted to be able to sing it and hit all the right notes without my voice cracking or changing radically from one register to another.  I think I succeeded.

At first I was hitting the highest notes all wrong -- going up a whole octave when such a jump was clumsy and unnecessary and produced a harsh, strained sound.  Finally, I listened to the actual Elvis recording and studied how he sang these most difficult parts, and then I copied him.  It worked.  Of course, I can't sing like Elvis, but listening to his singing certainly helped me in hitting the high notes properly.

This recording was made through the built-in computer microphone and the quality is only so-so.  I have ordered a soundblaster sound card for my laptop  that should allow me to both play and record simultaneously from the sound card, thus eliminating the noise you get by recording from the built-in computer microphone.  It should result in significant improvement in the quality of the recordings:  better balance, clarity and consistency.

Have a listen:



Self-evaluation:  Roger Love in his book "Set Your Voice Free" talks about commanding your middle voice, and indicates it's tricky to get just the right sound.  I think my voice in this recording needs to be brought down just a bit more towards chest voice.  Right now it is a tad too much in the direction of head voice.  I am not talking about changing the key, I am talking about changing the timbre:  a slightly lower voice (but in the same key) would add warmth and resonance.  I will work on it.

Remembering Marty Robbins: He Sings "Beyond the Reef"

Marty Robbins would be in my top five of all time favorite male singers.  He had a magnificent voice, great tone and range.  In this video clip, Marty sings one of my favorite Hawaiian ballads, "Beyond the Reef."  He is accompanied by the great Jerry Byrd on the steel guitar.  Marty had a very strong, clear and beautiful voice, and for those learning to sing, he is an example of what a great singer can be.

A Plan for Learning to Sing With the Band

Being a good musician isn't enough if you want to have a steady source of gigs.  You have to sing.  You don't have to be the lead singer, but you must contribute vocally.  That raises considerably your value as a band member.

Here are some ways to go about it.

1.  Buy a book about singing and learn what it is all about:  the different kinds of voices, the myths and the facts about singing, common problems and solutions, posture, breathing and vocal exercises.  Any good book on singing will come with a CD of vocal exercises.  You can't learn to sing by reading about it, but reading about it will help you form an effective practice plan.  I recommend Singing For Dummies by Pamelia Phillips and Set Your Voice Free by Roger Love.

2.  Avail yourself of free online resources, like eHow's series on singing, to learn about singing.  Watch this while waiting for your books to arrive from Amazon.  (The series instructor has some great tips on things to do and to look out for.)

3. Choose the vocal exercises from the CD's that you want to practice on a daily basis.  I used iTunes to store copies of all of the exercises, then segregated out those that I intend to practice daily.  I made a CD of just these exercises for practicing while driving.  When not driving, I just play the iTunes playlist from my laptop and sing along with them at home.

4.  Keep a practice log, to keep track of what you have done and to plan for what you want to do.  I just use Word in my computer to do this.  Writing down accomplishments and goals keeps them in your subconscious which targets those goals like a heat-seeking missile.

5.  Practice singing to karaoke recordings.  To do this, you need karaoke files, and you can buy them from many different sites on the net (see sidebar for some links).  These files are usually mp3 or mp4 files, and readily play in Windows.  The best karaoke files are those that scroll the lyrics while the music plays, highlighting the lyrics to sing at any given moment (these are mp4 files).  Other karaoke files (mp3 files) merely provide the backing instrumentals and backing vocals, and the lyrics are all up to you.

You can get a lot of free karaoke files off of YouTube.  Search for "karaoke" and a lot of them will queue up. You can download these as MP4 files using keepvid.com.  (Copy and paste the YouTube URL into keepvid and it will download the videos onto your own computer.)

6.  Record yourself singing along to the karoake files, for playback and analysis.  While singing along to the karaoke files, you can simultaneously record your voice using free recording software from the net.  The best of these is probably Audacity.  Once you've recorded your singing with Audacity, you can export it to an mp3 file.  An mp3 file (if you don't know) is a music file that plays once you click on it.  You can save it to disk or even email it to other band members for comments, criticism and suggestions.

You can even embed mp3 files into a website, as I have done previously in this blog, using a third party website that hosts these files.

Although it is shocking the first time you hear yourself singing, don't be discouraged.  Everyone feels that way.  They hear their own voice and say "Ugh!"  However, keep at it and the recordings will improve over time.  These recordings help you to know when you're ready to sing before an audience.

More About Learning to Sing

I left my band in San Jose to join one in my own home town of Hollister, exchanging an hour commute for one less than ten minutes.  This new band wants all members to contribute vocally, so I have been studying books and CD's on singing and practicing daily.  I have never sung before, except some minor backing vocals.  I am having fun with it.  My former band was very weak vocally, but the new band is quite strong with beautiful singing voices. My goal is to provide excellent backing vocals for the band, and sing a few songs as lead.

I have been scouring the net for song material:  chords and lyrics, karaoke files with which to practice singing, and trying to get my audio mixer to work with my laptop for better recording.  It looks like I will have to get a Sound Blaster soundcard, to allow simultaneous recording and playback from the soundcard (as opposed to recording from the speakers and picking up background noise, computer hum, etc).

I have been gathering my favorite songs of all time, and have found it to be an emotional experience.  Listening to these old songs brings many memories to life:  lost loves, lost youth, the time I courted my wife and the songs that helped me propose, and of course, a feeling of sorrow for great musical performers who have since died, like Elvis, Kui Lee and Vince Guaraldi.  Singing some cherished ballads is almost a spiritual experience, and puts me in a meditative mood, pondering the questions of life and death.


I've sung myself hoarse from yesterday's practicing, so I will give my vocal chords a day off today.

Singing "Big River" (an Old Johnny Cash Tune)

Many years ago, when I was a freshman in high school, a friend of ours, one Jim Miller, loaned us a few Sun label records of Johnny Cash.  One of the songs was "Big River."

Funny how almost every song I hear reminds me of some woman or girl.  This one reminded me of Marcia Willis, a little blonde from Oklahoma who had a southern accent, and Johnny Cash's experience with a similar female (as told on "Big River") closely mirrored my own, at least in emotion.

So my song for today is "Big River."  I sang from my middle voice in order to avoid a nasal sound.  Here it is:



I notice that I am just a little sharp on the low notes that come at the end of a lyric, e.g. "I'm gonna sit right here until I die," with "die" being the low note.  I can easily hit that low note in my chest voice, but I am singing the song in my middle voice.  Transitioning smoothly from one voice to another is a skill acquired through practice.  I should be able to instantly transition from middle voice to chest voice in order to hit that note.  My vocal exercises cover this skill.  Now that I am aware of it I can work on it.

I Begin Singing Practice

Click For Larger Image

I decided earlier this week to begin practicing some of the singing exercises in "Singing for Dummies," a book that comes with a CD.  I didn't want to start at the beginning, so I chose two chapters with the most potential for improving my vocals.  They are Chapter 11, "Developing the Parts of Your Singing Voice" and Chapter 12, "Expanding Your Flexibility and Range."  I found the tracks on the CD that cover these two chapters and burned them to a CD using iTunes.

Today I had an hour's drive to San Jose to have lunch with a friend.  A car is a great place to practice singing exercises, because no one else can hear you.  So I sang Tracks 15-48, covering both chapters above.  I sang them as well as I could with sincere effort, even repeating some that I didn't quite get on the first time through.

I paid attention to how the exercises sounded and how they made me feel.  I became more conscious of my head voice, middle voice and chest voice, all of which are exercised by these recordings.

By the time I arrived at the restaurant in San Jose, I had finished all of the tracks and my voice was feeling a bit tired, like a muscle that has been exercised.  That's a good thing.

I now have a singing practice routine.  Knowing what to do is half the battle.