The answer to this question depends on what kind of singing you’re talking about.

Obviously, to reach a professional level requires many years of consistent effort and practice. Anyone earning their living as a singer will tell you that it didn’t happen overnight. Most people wishing to become a full-time working vocalist get some formal training along the way.

Anyone can learn to sing, according to the experts we talked with.

Matt Farnsworth (Sara Bareilles, Carly Rae Jepsen), Justin Stoney (Tony Shalhoub, Kevin Bacon, and Founder of New York Vocal Coaching), and Kevin Richards (Rod Stewart, Bette Midler) all agree.

Anything worth doing is worth doing well. Learning to sing will challenge you personally, technically, and artistically. Anyone with even a tiny amount of natural ability can learn to sing better.

Grammy-winning singer and songwriter Judy Collins trained with the renowned voice coach Max Margulies. And Collins told us singing is all about clarity and phrasing.

“It’s not about singing through the navel,” she said. “It’s not about singing through the forehead. It’s not about where do you breathe from — your toes, your ears. No, it’s about knowing where you’re going with the song, and getting there on all fours if you have to.

“The bottom line is, let’s hear the lyric.”

Below are the basics of singing. You should walk through these steps if you’re brand new to this, keeping in mind Collins’ advice.

Energizing your body before singing helps your voice respond more effectively. Aim to get your heart rate up — breaking a light sweat is a great indicator. Once your body is warmed up, move on to vocal exercises.

Why should you warm up your voice before singing?

Warming up your vocal apparatus before singing is important, to avoid injury, loosen the vocal folds so they can produce a warm tone across different registers, and to prepare for singing in different musical styles.

What are ways to warm up your voice?

There are many different methods for warming up the voice, as practiced by professional and amateur singers alike.

Most methods involve:

• Humming
• Gentle stretching
• Performing vocal slides
• Lip trills
• Singing part of a scale while moving up and down in range
• Singing through a straw

It’s also important to “warm down” the voice after singing. See examples of these warm-up methods in the video below.

Tension in your body impacts your singing. Practices like yoga, stretching, and massages help keep you relaxed. Pay particular attention to releasing tension in your throat, tongue, and jaw.

Throat and Tongue Posture

• Sing a phrase while watching yourself in the mirror. Notice any tightness in your throat or face.
• If your larynx feels tight, place your thumb and forefinger on it as you sing. Focus on keeping it relaxed.
• Check for tongue tension by placing your thumb under your chin. If you feel tightness, consciously relax the area as you sing.

Jaw Tension

• The jaw should move naturally with the vowels you’re singing.
• To practice, speak a phrase while observing your jaw’s movement in the mirror.
• Sing the same phrase, ensuring your jaw opens to the same height as when speaking—neither higher nor lower.

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need to take a big breath before singing. Just as you naturally breathe while speaking, let your body regulate your airflow. Focus on the lyrics, and your lungs will instinctively draw in the right amount of air.

On the other hand, don’t hold your breath while you sing.

Holding your breath creates unnecessary tension. Just as you wouldn’t hold your breath while reading this sentence, you shouldn’t while singing. Breathe naturally and allow the air to flow.

Proper singing requires an open mouth. A yawn is a good reference point—your belly should expand, and your mouth should open to at least two fingers’ width. While some artists may choose a more closed style, this is a stylistic choice and not a fundamental technique.

Keep tension at bay as you sing. Maintain a slack jaw, a relaxed tongue, loose lips, and a mobile neck. Picture your head floating as you sing.

After your session, take a few minutes to warm down. Glide from your highest comfortable pitch to your lowest. This simple exercise re-lubricates your vocal cords, ensuring they recover properly.

Below are some ways you can improve your singing voice.

But remember, everyone progresses at their own rate, so try to avoid comparing yourself to others. Remember that “persistent practice leads to perfect performance.”

It’s important to record yourself when singing. Listening back to the recordings will give you a good idea of where you need to improve.

While nobody can sing flawlessly, there are ways to turn technical weaknesses into assets, or at least covering them up.

This is where singing lessons can help improve your singing voice. A vocal coach, music teacher, or fellow musicians in a band can give you helpful feedback.

If you sing in front of an audience (including a vocal coach), you will get visual cues from them about your singing in the form of facial expressions and body language, and sometimes they will talk to you afterwards and give candid opinions of your performance ability.

How to find a vocal coach:

• Use social media (like Facebook groups) to find singing teachers
• Contact local music schools and colleges to connect with vocal coaches
• Reach out to local recording studios and rehearsal spaces for referrals
• Ask local musicians, choir directors, or music teachers for direction
• Sign up for online coaching platforms and singing lesson apps

The expert vocal coaches we talked to said it would take at least a year to see improvement. And it could take at least 5 years of singing to reach a level where you could sing professionally.

All of our experts agree: no more than one hour per day is sufficient. And if you do more than that, you could actually damage your voice if you’re not careful.

Becoming a professional singer requires more than just learning to sing. You must also study and master other music topics, such as music theory, arranging, music production, music history, and so on.

Equally important, career vocalists and musicians must fully grasp the ins and outs of the music business, such as how music copyrights work, and where the revenue streams come from.

Fortunately, there are many excellent college programs designed to prepare aspiring singers for professional careers.

If going to music school isn’t in the cards, there are also plenty of outstanding books available about how the business works, and it’s a good idea to read the biographies of famous artists to learn about what they did to catapult to fame.