How to Find Your Vocal Range – The Complete 4-Step Guide
Many singers are confused about their vocal ranges and their voice types.
Knowing your current vocal range can definitely help you assess what you should sing and what you should strive for.
If you want to know how to find your vocal range or voice type, you are going to love this guide.
I have put together a step-by-step guide to help you understand your vocal range.
If you’re ready, let’s dive into this.
Before You Learn How to Find Your Vocal Range…
What I’m about to share with you are general guidelines that help you find your vocal range.
While finding your vocal range helps you get started as a singer, you are not limited by your range.
With proper training, your vocal range can expand beyond your wildest dreams.
It is physically possible to build your vocal range, kind of like bodybuilding. Vocal ranges are not set in stone.
This guide is to help you understand your current vocal range, so you can work with it.
With that out of the way, let’s get started:
Step #1: Find Your Lowest Note
Many people think that a singer’s highest note would determine their vocal range or voice type.
While the highest note is a reference point, it is not the only metric that determines a singer’s range.
In fact, the lowest note is a better indicator of a singer’s vocal range.
Why? Because high notes are highly trainable and extendable than low notes.
For most singers, the low notes are basically all set from the beginning.
Men
For men, the lowest notes are located somewhere from G2 down to B1.
You can try singing these notes below to find your lowest note.
Tenor – somewhere around G2:
Listen to it
Baritone – somewhere around D2:
Listen to it
Bass – somewhere around B1:
Listen to it
Women
For women, the lowest notes are located somewhere from F3 down to B2.
Try singing these low notes:
Soprano – somewhere around F3:
Listen to it
Mezzo-soprano – somewhere around D3:
Listen to it
Alto – somewhere around B2:
Step #2: Find Your Highest Note
Modern vocal coaches have proven that high notes can be built and extended with specific training methods. (See my top recommendation.)
So the highest note of a singer is a general indicator of their vocal range and voice type – it is not set in stone.
The high notes below are supposed to be sung in full voice.
Men
For beginning or intermediate male singers, the highest notes are located somewhere from E4 up to Bb4.
Tenor – Somewhere around Bb4:
Listen to it
Baritone – Somewhere around G4:
Listen to it
Bass – Somewhere around Eb4:
Listen to it
Women
For female singers, high notes are a lot trickier to determine the vocal range.
That’s because, generally, female singers have stronger falsetto that can be disguised as full voice.
And, female singers with low voices tend to have stronger full voice that extends into their higher register.
Therefore, I will give a general metric here to determine a female singer’s high range in full voice:
The highest note of a female singer in full voice is located somewhere from F4 up to C5.
F4 – limited range – you got some training to do:
Listen to it
A4 – good range – you can sing a lot of songs:
Listen to it
C5 – great range for pop singing:
Listen to it
These are general metrics for the high range in full voice.
Many female singers have beautiful falsetto that they can use for high notes, which extends the range above these limits.
However, it is important to train and build a good full voice range, or your singing would be very limited by your range.
Further reading: How to Sing Higher For Men & How to Sing Higher For Women
Step #3: Determine Your Singable Range
Now that you have found your lowest note and highest note in full voice, it’s time to determine your “singable range.”
What do I mean by singable range? Your singable range is smaller than your full range from your lowest to highest note.
Why? Because you cannot use your lowest note and your highest note – they are the limits of your range. In other words, they don’t sound good.
Therefore, your highest singable note is usually one whole step lower than your highest note.
On the other hand, your lowest singable note is one whole step higher than your lowest note.
Let’s say – your full range in full voice is G2 to C5 – your singable range would be approx. A2 to Bb4.
Vocal Range in Full Voice
Step #4: Test Your Range in Songs
You want to find songs that are within your vocal range to sing.
First, when you get a new song, you want to find out what the highest and lowest note is.
If the song sits at a comfortable range in your voice, then the song is for you.
Second, make sure the song is within your singable range.
If you are singing the song for any kind of performance, you don’t want the song to challenge your vocal limits.
Third, challenge your vocal limits for practice.
It is okay to sing difficult songs in your practice. In fact, you should sing songs that are challenging for you.
For practice, sing songs that are touching your highest note (or lowest note). They are not going to sound good, but they will if you keep practicing.
Final Step: Expand Your Range
It’s great to find out what your vocal range is, so you can find the right songs to sing.
But, you are not stuck with your natural range.
You can increase your vocal range with effective vocal training.
I’m not just talking about singing high notes in mixed voice or falsetto.
I’m talking about expanding your full voice range that many voice teachers think are not possible.
Any note you can sing in falsetto, you can train to sing in full voice.
You just need to know how, and there are training methods that can do it effectively.
Further reading: Teach Yourself How to Sing – The 7-Step Guide
Now It’s Your Turn…Let Me Know What You Think
What do you think about this guide?
Did you find this guide helpful to find your vocal range?
Did I miss anything? I’d love to hear from you.
Please leave a comment and let me know.
