Hello, good book Jaime. I have recently purchased it and am beginning the exercises. Currently I can sing up to a G4 and A4 but only on a good day. I'm interested in singing Sweet Child of Mine and practice that a lot. I'm trying to figure out if Axl is in falsetto or full voice and if he is singing the in the 5 octave. Any tips?

Id say Axl uses a nasaly falsetto, reinforced in some places.

any tips on developing a reninforced falsetto?

Do the eee scream !!! :D

I think you should pick another GNR song. Sweet Child O Mine sounds terrible if you are not proficient at falsetto. Even Axl sounds like crap most of the time when he sings this song. It's So Easy and Mr Brownstone are 2 cool GNR tunes that are much easier to sing on a consistent basis. With falsetto, some days are good and some are not so good. Singing these 2 songs, which are mostly baritone, will make you sound much better. That is my opinion. I know cause I use to butcher Welcome To The Jungle and then I gave it up cause it was too hard.

I would suggest practicing extending the range of your full voice through the RYV exercises. Whether or not Axl is using reinforced falsetto or full voice (I thought it was full voice myself), The two are pretty inter-related, you generally get better at both of them simultaneously.

I personally wouldnt try to imitate his sound too much...it doesnt sound very healthy...like a shriek. I suggest you strive to sing high notes very smoothly at first, bridge the gaps in your registers. After when your voice is really strong, you can sing any GnR song, with your own voice, with power and authority.

sorry Andy, but i wouldnt agree with you there. If you want something badly and you are prepared to work hard enough for it, you will get it.
Dont give up if something if its too hard, practice it more and more (as long as your not hurting yourself) I spent alot of time butchering songs and i still do, but the amount of improvement ive made is incredible, and i kno that eventually ill be singing the songs very well.
Do what altered said and work through the full voice exercises....theres no point in specifically trying to develop a strong falsetto, head for the top (full voice) and then when you have that, working with a reinforced falsetto will be much easier.
Out of curiosity, what note to you break on?
Because i find it hard to single falsetto like axl because he has a lower break point and can sing in falsetto alot lower than i can...
And i wouldnt say what Axl does is unhealthy either, but still he has a very hard tone to imitate, so just be careful not to hurt yourself if you try.

Lee-I agree with you to a certain extent. You are way more advanced than me and I respect your knowledge and talent. However, sometimes if it just isn't working out for a singer, they need to change songs or sing it in a different way. Not everyone can do falsetto and most people sound terrible when they do it. Axl has a very unique style that is hard to duplicate.

hmm i dunno, maybe its just because im stubborn, but i dont change the songs, and i wont until i get them sounding great. There some songs ive been trying over a year that still aint great, but i wont give up...cos they are sounding better.
And yeh i totally agree about Axl and his voice, it is very difficult to immitate....so maybe the best thing to suggest for ryan, is to sing the song how you feel comfortable singing it, dont try and immitate axl, even if this means you are not going into falsetto....just use your natrual voice and sing the song without conciously making anything happen.

I sing Welcome To The Jungle, Sweet Child, and Paradise City. I sang 45 straight songs two nights ago and Jungle was last...no prob. This is NOT to say, "Check me out," it's to say FOLLOW RYV! Axl isn't hard to do, it's a lighter version of the Brian Johnson rasp and reinforced falsetto. The KEYS are an open throat and developing the rasp in/behind your soft pallate. You really have to learn to get that pinging sound softly.

To be fair, I can't do the voice this raspy until I'm singing live. But as Jaime once said, "Once you place it - it's there all night."