Help or my Throat is Doomed

Ok, its been a while since my last post and I found a band in NY (or more accurately they found me(outside a 24 hour bagel shop)). over the past 2 weeks i have been rewriting the lyrics for all 12 of their songs and trying them out with different phrasing because i just wasn't feeling the old vocalists work. I have up until this point been a primarily acoustic musician which requires a different more melodic style of singing as apposed to heavy rock which needs to in my view be a bit rusty round the edges. i have been trying to sing from low down in my diaphragm and to breath correctly to get the projection but have somehow managed to end up with a very swollen and painful throat and noticeably tense muscles on either side of my abdomen (namely the external abdominal oblique and or transverse abdominis). what can i do to stop this getting worse because i am worried that if it continues by the time we go to record in a couple weeks I'm not going to have any voice left...?

I don't know if they're exactly for this but I think Jazz posted a couple voice lessons a while ago. I'd check those out.

Drink lots of water!!!

take some Ibuprofen(anti-inflammatory) drink lots of water and take a break from straining your voice. You can still try to find something nice that you like for the vocals, but try to use your voice in your head(if that makes any sense) to figure it out.
Hope you get better very soon

Hey Harley,

Ozz is right about Jazz's lessons. I wouldn't say they're worth giving a miss, you should go check those out. And you should make sure you drink plenty of water. And I'll also add a question to that, have you been doing any singing exercises? Whenever I find I have to sing to perform a solo in the streets, to try out a new song I've been writing or just for the sake of it I always o this thing where you point your head upwards and open your mouth sort of as if your yawning. I find that helps a lot. And I don't feel I'll have to add any more advice as I think Jazz's lessons will cover about everything else you should be aware of.

I hope your voice gets better soon.

drink mustard idk

Take lessongs! and Tequila Shots!

The best advice I could give would only be if I could literally watch you sing. But from the sounds of it, you're pushing your voice too far - you need more air. You push your stomach in while singing right? You might wanna try and do that a little more. And don't lift your head up too high while singing 'cause that'll just be stabbing your voice.

I'd also say practice more (when you've healed up) in your own time so you can master it. If it's uncomfortable when you're singing, you're probably doing it wrong, so you might have to mess around with that for a while.

hmm, thanks for the tips guys, i have been drinking plenty of water (2 or 3 bottles per practice), i do try and push my stomach in whilst singing and out whilst inhaling. i have been having about 5, two to five hour band practices a week which is a lot more singing than I've been used to but has been necessary because i need to get all the songs down by the middle of this month. I find the swelling in my throat only occurs after long practices and it usually feels much better after some Ibuprofen, hot honey and lemon and a good nights sleep. i tend to hum scales as a warm up moving the sound from my stomach up to my throat then into the nasal area and back. i have read/watched a bunch of different lessons on singing 'correctly': breathing, posture etc....they tend to frustrate me as i will end up singing more stiffly when trying to pay to much attention to breathing, posture.
can you build strength in your vocal chords as you would a muscle?
if i continue as is with that amount of practice per week will i do any lasting damage to my voice?

i just realized after writing this that i will more than likely work these thing out myself with time, but anyway more tips and pointers are always welcome.

lmfao!!

Yeah, your voice should improve and your vocal range should increase to higher and lower keys if you're persistant. If it's still hurting though you should probably stop singing the way you are and try a different tone, because there's a high possability that it'll damage it in the long run.

Oh, did i mention I'm a smoker? That probably isn't helping, I should really try and stop that.

.. i dont sing sorry i have an amazing falsetto(people say...) but i dont sing just play guitar

smoke some ciggs