5 Tips to Improve Live Vocal Skills
Transform your pre-show routine with strategic exercises and proven techniques to ensure your voice is performance-ready and improve live vocal skills.
5 Tips to Improve Live Vocal Skills
by Matthew Ramsey via Disc Makers
As a vocal coach who’s worked with thousands of singers — from indie artists cutting their first demos to seasoned performers preparing for tours — I’ve noticed something interesting:
Most singers think they’re tuning up their voices correctly.
But here’s the truth:
Many are just going through the motions without any real purpose or strategy.
Think about it:
How many singers prepare for a gig by randomly doing lip trills or humming scales without any real direction, hoping that just doing a couple of exercises will make their performance better?
But without a clear goal or purpose in mind, you may be spinning your wheels vocally, especially if you’re just learning how to sing.
That’s why I want to show you how to transform your pre-show warm-up from a mindless routine into a ninja-like performance preparation tool and improve your live vocal skills.
Ready to level up your vocal routine?
Let’s dive in…
Tip #1: Have a Daily Vocal Routine
This may sound obvious, but it’s worth mentioning that you absolutely should have a daily vocal routine — something that makes you feel in touch with your music and your voice.
But here’s the thing most vocal coaches won’t tell you:
The best time to develop your warm-up routine isn’t right before a big show.
It’s every single day.
But wait, I know what you’re thinking:
“I don’t have time for a lengthy vocal routine every day!”
The good news is you don’t need one.
In fact, even if you just have 15 minutes while you’re washing the dishes, driving your kids to school or in the shower, you can make your live performances more captivating.
The key is consistency over perfection. Here’s how to make it work:
- Find pockets of time in your day (driving to work, showering, doing dishes)
- Start with just 5-10 minutes of gentle exercises (lip trills, sirens and other targeted vocal warm-ups)
- Focus on making your routine sustainable and repeatable
Here’s why this matters:
When you sing every day, your voice becomes more responsive and reliable, even when you’re sick or unrested.
After all, you don’t always get to choose to be healthy or have the perfect night’s sleep before a gig.
But if you’re practicing daily, by the time you have a performance, your warm-up routine will feel natural — not forced.
Another point worth mentioning: warming up for a live gig is slightly different from preparing for a vocal recording session.
Tip #2: The three-stage warm-up system
Want to know the biggest mistake I see singers make when doing vocal routines?
They jump straight into singing techniques without preparing their body first.
Unlike other instruments, your voice is a part of your body — it’s flesh and blood.
So, think of your voice like a high-performance car. You wouldn’t floor it when the engine’s cold, right?
Instead, I’ve found that all great vocal routines can be broken down into three distinct parts.
Here’s your three-stage roadmap to a proper warm-up:
Stage 1: Body first
- Light stretching of your whole body, focusing especially on your neck and shoulders
- Next, practice breathing for singing by taking low belly breaths through your mouth
- Finally, stand with the proper posture,making sure that your feet, hips, and shoulders are all in alignment
Stage 2: Vocal exercises
- Start with exercises that are designed to support your voice, such as lip trills or nasals — these are called SOVT (semi-occluded vocal tract) exercises, because they occur mostly in the vocal tract
- Move toward exercises with narrow vowels and move across your entire range (such as a “Foo” or “Gee” exercise) — going through the vocal break and back down
- Finish with “beltier,” more open vowel vocal exercises and add sustains to build vocal strength (such as a “Nae” as in “Nasty” or “Gug” as in “Gut”)
Stage 3: Song application
- Begin with easy sections of your songs
- Progress to the more challenging parts — the parts that always screw you up live
- Finally, do a couple of full song run-throughs — don’t gas yourself by doing ALL of your songs. Just a song or two each day at the end of your routine.
The key here is progression. Each stage builds on the previous one, preparing you for a full performance.
Tip #3: The “80/20” vocal technique
Here’s a common mistake I see with beginner (and even some professional) singers:
They lock themselves in their practice room and rehearse the same songs from their setlist one hundred times until they’re sure that it’s perfect.
But here’s the problem with that!
Spending too much time on your actual songs before a show can tire your voice prior to hitting the stage, not to mention, it ruins your excitement about performing the song.
This is where what I call the “80/20 vocal rule” comes in.
Simply stated, it says:
- Spend 80% of your warm-up time on focused vocal exercises
- Then spend 20% of your time on actual song material
For example, in a 60-minute pre-show vocal routine:
- Use about 45 minutes for vocal exercises
- Use 15 minutes for song material
Yes, I know that those aren’t exactly 80/20 proportions, but the idea is to focus most of your time on exercises, and only a bit of time on songs.
“But wait, Matt,” I can hear you say, “15 minutes isn’t enough time to run through all my songs.”
And you’re absolutely correct!
Instead of working on entire songs for the last 15 minutes, you should only focus on the more troublesome parts of the song, such as that note that constantly breaks in the chorus, or the sustain that happens at the end of your highest energy song.
This approach:
- Prevents vocal fatigue
- Builds proper technique
- Saves your best voice, and your excitement, for the actual performance
Remember: Your warm-up is about preparing your voice, not perfecting your songs.
Tip #4: The performance preview
Let’s be honest:
General warm-ups are fine for practice days.
But before a performance? You need to be specific.
Like a general planning a battle, you need to plan out the setlist according to how your voice is functioning that day, the acoustics of the venue, and any other potential obstacles that may get in the way.
There are lots of ways to do this.
But here’s how I like to do a performance preview:
- Review your setlist
- Identify the most-challenging songs and sections
- Apply the 80/20 rule to your songs (see above)
- Finally, plan modifications if needed — something is bound to happen on the day of the gig. Prepare for it!
Singing is an imperfect science. And at the end of the day, vocals are subjective.
That’s why you need to plan for every curveball your voice may throw you on the day of your gig.
A large part of this is knowing how to pick songs that fit your voice.
Why this works:
- You’ll find potential problems before you’re on stage
- Your muscle memory gets activated
- You build confidence for the actual performance
Pro tip: Mark your trouble spots directly on your setlist. You’ll thank yourself later!
Tip #5: The “vocal energy map”
Here’s something most singers never think about:
Every song in your set requires different levels of vocal energy.
Think about it…
The tender ballad you play in the middle of your setlist has completely different demands on your voice than the high-energy singalong you have planned as your closing number.
In preparation for this, create a “vocal energy map” of your setlist.
Creating a vocal energy map helps you:
- Plan your vocal energy across your whole set
- Identify high-demand and recovery moments
- Pace yourself vocally to ensure you can sing without straining
There’s no wrong way of creating your vocal energy map.
Some singers sort their songs by their vocal range, or even by difficulty level.
By the way, if you want a great tool to find your vocal range the day of the gig, check out this free vocal range test I created.
At the end of the day, putting together a vocal energy map means organizing your vocals however it makes sense to you as a singer.
If you do it correctly, you can even organize your set as a kind of vocal warm-up.
Here’s how I recommend you create your vocal energy map:
- On your setlist, rate each song’s vocal energy level on a scale of 1-10, identifying your highest and lowest energy songs
- Note natural recovery points where you can talk or banter with the audience
- Plan spots where you can catch your breath and put the focus on other members of the band
This simple practice can save your voice during longer sets or recording sessions.
Take your warm-up to the next level!
Remember: A great performance isn’t just about your ability to sing on pitch or hit high notes — it’s about creating a complete experience for your audience and preparing your voice for a unique performance.
Start implementing these tips one at a time. Pay attention to what works for you and what doesn’t.
Before you know it, you’ll have a personalized, professional-level warm-up routine that actually serves your voice and your performance.
Ready to put these tips into practice?
Your next gig is the perfect opportunity to start warming up with purpose!
Record your live gig and release it as an album or print off some unique posters for your show with Disc Makers and begin applying these professional practice techniques to your next live show!
Matt Ramsey founded Ramsey Voice Studio in Austin, TX in 2012. Since then, he has worked with over 2,000 students in discovering and developing voices in nearly every genre of music. From rock to pop, jazz to musical theater, Matt believes his training and world class vocal technique can help anyone achieve their goals. Matt’s writing on vocal technique has been published in CD Baby, The Guitar Journal, Disc Makers, Music Notes and many more. Matt recently published a book entitled Master Your Voice: A Journey to Discover Your True Singing Voice designed to help singers of any level find and improve their unique singing voice.
