Harsh growls are a touchstone of black metal, death metal, and other extreme forms of music. If you want to know what it takes to growl like your favorite singer, you can learn the ins and outs of exhaled and inhaled growls, as well as how to sing properly without hurting your voice.

My throat immediately dries out whenever I try to hit a low growl. It sounds good briefly, but then goes dry and quiet. But it doesn't hurt much. Also, sometimes I feel sick after doing low growls. Why is that?

It shouldn't, as all breathing is actually controlled by the diaphragm. If it is hurting you, take a break from what you're doing and consider seeing a doctor.

If you don't prepare, it may well cause pitch and vocal damage. If you would like to try these high and low vocals, it would definitely be a good idea to warm up your voice by doing vocal exercises and preparing to sing. You can find lots of vocal exercises on YouTube.

Black metal type of vocals may hurt if pushing too hard or after very long and intense sessions. Practice no more than 10-15 minutes a day in the beginning, it will take time for your vocal chords to adjust to the abuse and eventually you will sound better.

This is a really helpful way to find whether or not you're hitting the right volume, pitch and style. It's recommended to record, listen and listen again only after few hours, so your mind will be able to spot even the smallest mistakes.

This is a lot like lifting weights at the gym. You use your muscles much more intensely than normal and then wait for them to restore before using them at a higher level each time. If you stop growling for a long period of time, your growling skills will decrease.

Form the voice with your mind, express it with your folds. Don't try to force the vocal folds to do what they shouldn't do. Keep your throat relaxed.

Even though they're hard to make out, eventually, you'll probably want to be growling lyrics instead of random syllables, right? To work on this, pick out some of your favorite metal lyrics and practice phrasing them and forming them in your growled technique.

Growling puts more strain on your throat than possibly any other type of singing. It involves your vocal chords less, but it can give you a sore throat pretty quickly. It's not always necessary to warm up your local chords with fancy exercises, but warming up your throat a little is important. Never start cold.

A good metal vocalist can alternate between the two, so you can sing a whole lot at once, as the song calls for. The more seamlessly you can shift back and forth between exhaled and inhaled growls, the more seamless and virtuosic your abilities as a growler.

" The most common inhaled growl seems to be around the "we" syllable, because it feels the most comfortable. This is often used to start songs in the death or black metal genres, allowing you to let loose with a lot of volume. Start practicing around "we" until you get comfortable, then try more syllables as you're working on your growls:

Make an "O" with your lips, open your jaw, and bring your tongue back in the same way as you did for the exhaled growl. Start inhaling in the same way you exhaled, breathing deeply into your diaphragm.

Similar to the exhaled growl, your want to keep your focus on your diaphragm. With all singing, good breath support is important for a good tone. Put your hand on your stomach and feel your diaphragm going in and out as you breathe.

Use inhaled growls for higher pitched songs. Generally speaking, inhaled growling sounds more "piggy" and slightly higher pitched, but it can also sound demonic and devilish, and you can do a whole lot with the technique. Really, it sounds a lot similar, but it's another little trick you can add to your extreme singing arsenal, to make your abilities a little rounder. It's only a minor difference from exhaled growls.

For black metal style vocals, you often want to growl with a higher pitch. Keep your tongue down and keep your head tilted up a bit, practicing pinching your throat enough to get the right kind of tone and change in pitch.

When you're growling, if you cut off your growl very abruptly, you'll risk losing your voice . The force necessary to stop the sound can wreak havoc on your vocal chords, and you'll end up with a sore throat if you cut off your growls suddenly, instead of letting them trail off.

To help you channel your throat sounds into something that's like music, it's important to practice forming syllables and changing pitch. The following syllables are all good to practice in your routine, forming them as evenly and smoothly as possible:

Practice breathing deep into your diaphragm and positioning your throat correctly, then try exhaling a few times, evenly but forcefully enough to get a good amount of sound from your throat. You should hear a good, low growl that sounds good for animal impressions and metal songs alike.

Open your jaw and make an "O" shape with your lips. Pull your tongue back to the back of your throat. The tighter you pinch the back of your throat, the higher the pitch of your growl will be. Move your tongue forward slightly and loosen the pinch, and your growl will be a little lower.

Sit with your back straight, and just hum with your normal voice and mouth closed. Put your hand on your stomach, just below your ribs, and hum a few times in short bursts. When humming, one automatically uses the diaphragm and abdominal muscles, so you should feel your abdomen goes in, while your chest and shoulders aren't moving. Breathe from that spot when you want to growl.

This style of vocalization is hard to explain in words, much harder than 'clean' singing, because it's quite personal. Experiment with different techniques to figure out what helps you and to determine if your voice fits this style.

Growling never has to be loud. If you can't do your growl at a very low volume, you're either not growling properly or still need to practice in order to gain more control.

Never push yourself too far. If the vocals are too quiet during a performance, so be it. You don't want to ruin your throat this way.

Support wikiHow's Educational Mission

Every day at wikiHow, we work hard to give you access to instructions and information that will help you live a better life, whether it's keeping you safer, healthier, or improving your well-being. Amid the current public health and economic crises, when the world is shifting dramatically and we are all learning and adapting to changes in daily life, people need wikiHow more than ever. Your support helps wikiHow to create more in-depth illustrated articles and videos and to share our trusted brand of instructional content with millions of people all over the world. Please consider making a contribution to wikiHow today.