Bono's falsetto

[Babydoll]

I am musically illiterate; but from what I have heard of Bono's voice and it's range - how does he manage to go from his normal tenor to the falsetto?? I can't sing like that; my friend is a music major and she said I can't, haha... So I'm curious, how can he change his voice like that?? What octave does he have?

 

[DignityPassesBy]

i think the highest he has even sung is up in a high C somewhere around there ... that would be in either bad or red hill mining town i'm think thats in natural voice i'm not sure where's he falsetto is

 

[Sting]

I am musically illiterate; but from what I have heard of Bono's voice and it's range - how does he manage to go from his normal tenor to the falsetto?? I can't sing like that; my friend is a music major and she said I can't, haha... So I'm curious, how can he change his voice like that?? What octave does he have?

He can sing a High C# in "Bad" during 'i'm wide awake"... pretty mighty. I think Bono is honestly a Baritone though because it takes alot of power for him to get into those high notes. A tenor would sound alot more fluid during songs like "One" and "Pride"... Steve Parry from Journey is a tenor... you can tell when he sings songs like "Open Arms" how easy it is.

Bono is a high Baritone with some amazing upper range. Many rock singers are baritones but they just have high ranges.

As for how he can slip into the falsetto, it just comes with practice. Are you a guy or a girl? I can do it pretty good but it just takes practice and obviously the B-Man has been 'practicing' for 30 years now... so its become incredibly easy.

I know alot of people hate Coldplay but Chris Martin is very good at the switching from his normal voice into his falsetto, and it can really help you practice this. At first you'll probably need to like... 'stop' singing for a split second and switch but as you get better it just comes and you feel how to do it!

I'm guessing Bono has about a 2 and a half octave range with his normal Register (probably Low G to the high C on his best days) and if u count his Falsetto it easily goes to 3 Octaves - very good.

 

[Babydoll]

Re: Re: Bono's falsetto

Are you a guy or a girl?

Erm.. I'm a girl. I think its fairly obvious!

<------ This is me. And so is my profile pic.

 

[Sting]

LoL! I'm sorry... I dont have the premium membership so i cant check profiles!

I didnt even know girls had falsetto! I thought the closest they had was the whistle regiester which is what gives Mariah Carey those high squeaky notes lol. So I'm useless for helping you out now

 

[joe8pizza]

I am musically illiterate; but from what I have heard of Bono's voice and it's range - how does he manage to go from his normal tenor to the falsetto?? I can't sing like that; my friend is a music major and she said I can't, haha... So I'm curious, how can he change his voice like that?? What octave does he have?

Its just something thats takes practice and time to get.Also you have to have the right kind of voice for it.

 

[Deano.uk]

ive just started singing u2 songs after playing them for the past year, and being a fan since 2000... im having trouble singing pride, jumping up to the next octave "in the naaaame of looove...". the verse im ok with, but the higher octave i cant hit it, how do i get more control in my voice., and what are the notes bono sings in the chorus?

 

[U2girl]

Sting, I thought someone like Johnny Cash or Eddie Vedder are baritones? Lower, fuller voices but they can't reach the high notes?

I have a question about falsetto: everyone says Bono started doing it in the 90s, but listening to Haleluiah here she comes, Heartland, Love rescue me, Running to stand still, moments on UF...there is some high pitched Bono singing. Is that his full throat voice?

 

[DignityPassesBy]

Yea most of that is full throat the only bit from the 80's i can really think of is at the end of with or without you the falsetto bit at the end of it

 

[Preditor74]

This thread is great!!!

I love singing U2 Songs at Karaoke but I seem to have the same problems as others...

I can hit falsetto very easy (I sing Jackson 5 and Beegees a lot and people love it) and my transition isnt too bad...

But those full throat notes I can never keep my voice stable....

Pride- "IN THE NAAME OF LOVE"

Bad- "Im WIIIIDE AWAKE!"

Streets- "still building and BURNING DOWN"

With or Without You- the "OOOH OOOH OOOH OOH" part right before the falsetto...

Does anyone have any tips on how to control those notes better? I am sure breathing is a big thing...and I am no professional but just can't seem to sing those notes without my voice cracking up!

 

[Canadiens1131]

But those full throat notes I can never keep my voice stable....

Pride- "IN THE NAAME OF LOVE"

Bad- "Im WIIIIDE AWAKE!"

Streets- "still building and BURNING DOWN"

With or Without You- the "OOOH OOOH OOOH OOH" part right before the falsetto...

Does anyone have any tips on how to control those notes better? I am sure breathing is a big thing...and I am no professional but just can't seem to sing those notes without my voice cracking up!

Well you basically have to tense up your upper chest muscles if you are able to do it. With the high notes sung in the middle voice, well your voice is usually not supposed to have that range. By squeezing your abs, at least for me, it seems to slow down the air flow a bit and you don't run out of air when hitting those high ones.

Besides that it's a lot of practice. I'm definetly no voice coach.

The falsetto/middle voice transition is an interesting. Despite what you think of Chris Martin, he does it quite well on X&Y and has done so on previous albums. Naturally, when you try to sing a scale and then 'switch' up to the head voice, there's a big 'gap' there which makes you do a kind of gagging/pause/yodle sound. By practicing going back and forth (I learned to sing a few Coldplay/Radiohead songs to do this) you actually smooth out that gap. I've still got a bit of roughness, but it really is a skill you can improve so the transition to the falsetto is smoother and more avaliable, if you know what I mean.

 

[DignityPassesBy]

Bonos probably not the best singer to emulate either i think he probably strained his voice alot in the 80's hitting those notes and theres not to many singers that i've ever heard that are willing to push their voices that much its pretty amazing the power he can get out of the notes even though he's probably singing wrong lol

 

[europop2005]

would someone tell me HOW he hit that opera part in "the hands that built america"? it gives me chills every time

 

[Voicer]

Well you basically have to tense up your upper chest muscles if you are able to do it. With the high notes sung in the middle voice, well your voice is usually not supposed to have that range. By squeezing your abs, at least for me, it seems to slow down the air flow a bit and you don't run out of air when hitting those high ones.

Besides that it's a lot of practice. I'm definetly no voice coach.

This is exactly what NOT to do. I just joined this forum because I came across this bit of advice and I couldn't let it go unchecked. Unless you're a freak of nature like Stephen Tyler or something this won't work and can cause you a lot of damage. Bono's top notes are not sung with middle voice. They are sung with head voice. This is where you let the soft palate go completely and the voice shoots up into the resonators in your head and it rings like a bell. His ability to sing head voice has declined significantly because of smoking, drinking etc but also because he started concentrating on falsetto whose use which over time will diminish most singers head voice. The other thing is, starting with Achtung, he started singing to sound a certain way (slightly ragged but benevolent!) and he cannot carry that sound into head voice so much.