How to avoid PAIN and DAMAGE when metal screaming

Do you feel scratchy, dry, or tickled when you try to metal scream? Does the fear of vocal damage freak you out? Well, that was me when I was starting out, and because of some bad advice I got at the time, I actually thought you had to ruin your voice in order to scream. But because I wanted it so badly, I was willing to pay that price. So I threw myself into it and felt a lot of vocal pain. On my journey, I felt like I'd swallowed glass. I thought multiple times that I was losing my vocal range. But after finally unlocking my screams, I went to the ENT and discovered that my voice was actually okay. After all that, that taught me that most people have the wrong idea about vocal damage. Since then, I've helped over 2,000 students on their screaming journey. And in this video, I'm going to show you how to avoid vocal damage and stop pain and deal with the fear so that it doesn't hold you back from unlocking your scream. I'll also show you how people can freak themselves out thinking they have vocal damage when they don't. Part 1 Understanding the Fear of Vocal Damage Being scared of vocal damage is kind of like you're getting on an airplane. Whenever I get on an airplane and I experience some turbulence and feel the plane shaking, I always think that the plane is going to crash. But the reality is that it's pretty uncommon for a plane to crash and it's so rare that it becomes huge news when it does. And those are the times that stick out in people's minds and makes the fear seem really loud. Similarly, I'm sure we've all heard stories of the singers of Bring Me the Horizon, Avenge Sevenfold or Trivium heard hurting their voices and getting diagnosed vocal damage. But there are far, far, far more people who haven't gotten that type of vocal damage who have had zero professional training and have no idea what they're doing. So it's sort of a bias where the negative noose stands out far more and makes the likelihood of damage seem far more likely than it actually is. Does that mean be reckless and negligent? No, it means that more often than not, the fear of damage holds people back too much. And there's nuance to this subject, which. Which I'll get into now. Part two. So what is vocal damage? Okay, now let me get a bit more technical about vocal damage. When I was just getting started out, I wanted to imitate Corey Taylor and I heard the yell sounding part of his screams and really tried to yell to get a similar tone. And even though I didn't actually feel pain, I lost my voice for about one to two weeks. So what is damage? Damage happens when we yell, and in the process, the vibrations of our vocal cords become so violent that our vocal cords start smacking together. And if this is done too much, then it can get swollen, preventing the vocal cords from easily vibrating at certain frequencies. It's kind of like guitar strings. If you can imagine that a part of your guitar string is swollen, it'll prevent you from playing certain frets on it in a resonant way. So remember, the most important rule is that we don't want to yell. But guess what happens when many people can't get the distortion they want? They often yell to compensate for a lack of distortion. And that was me when I was first trying to imitate Corey Taylor. I thought that if I just yelled louder, I would push through and get the distortion I was looking for. Don't do what I did. And as a side note, I've had students who have jobs that require them to yell and raise their voices. In fact, I recently had a student who got diagnosed with vocal damage even before they started screaming, because every day they were a wrestling coach who raised their voice and had to shout to be heard. So be cautious even when you're not practicing your metal screams. And by the way, if you want to learn how to make scream sounds without yelling, I left a free training in the description that'll give you different ways to unlock different screams names. But anyways, back to the video, part three. But why didn't it hurt? So just as a reminder, when I was imitating Corey Taylor and I blew out my voice and caused temporary damage, I didn't feel any pain. Now why didn't I feel pain? So I haven't seen explicit studies done on the sensitivity levels in your vocal cords versus other tissues. But a lot of research suggests that your vocal cords have fewer nerves, meaning that you might not feel pain there even if you're causing damage. And there's common experiences that seem to support this. Most people can think of a time where they've shouted at a concert or sports game. And when they wake up, their voice is completely gone, which means they've done damage, but it's not hurting. And this also lines up with what I've seen teaching screams full time since 2017. When students use only their vocal cords to produce a healthy fry scream. A lot of people say they don't feel anything at all. It's only when they start engaging other more sensitive tissues. That it starts to feel uncomfortable. Part 4 the Real Cause of Pain so what exactly is causing the pain then? Because there aren't many studies done on metal screaming, there's not a lot of conclusive evidence, but from what I've seen teaching, it happens when certain parts of your false cords or your arytenoids are stimulated. These tissues have sensitive nerve endings, so when stimulated, many people say there's a tickle or scratchiness or a feeling that makes them want to cough. On the other hand, there's also lightheadedness and headaches. And headaches usually happen most during lower place chest fries, when people are so compressed and tight that there's a pressure buildup in your head. On the other hand, lightheadedness usually comes when you're losing air at a much quicker rate than what's ideal. And finally, muscle fatigue. Kind of like you just got done working out a gym. That's totally fine. That's just normal soreness from use. Part 5 How to avoid Pain and Fear While Screaming okay, with all that said, when your screams are done correctly, you shouldn't feel pain at all. Even if it's not dangerous, pain is still a sign that something's off. And we want this to ultimately feel good, not uncomfortable. So here are some tips for removing discomfort and dealing with fear of damage. First, as a reminder, don't use yelling to force distortion. Yelling equals damage, so don't do it. Next, use different vowels. Some vowels like e or ah, they can help you find a sweet spot with no pain. Next, compress properly if your throat is open, then oftentimes the uncomfortable tissues get stimulated, which feels uncomfortable. Next, adjust your vocal range. Trying from a different pitch can make it easier to find that pain free distortion. Next, try different body positions. Some postures can help lean into the right tissues or avoid the wrong tissues. Next, consider using nasal false cords. Leaning into nasal resonance can help you flap the pain free parts of your false cords. Next, if you have headaches, back off from the compression and tightening because that's probably leading to too much pressure. Next, if you're feeling light headed in Fry, you're probably being too airy, so you want to make sure that you eliminate the airiness. If you're feeling lightheaded when you're doing false chords, you're likely under compressing and letting out too much air. And remember, there's a lot of nuance to this because there's so many different types of screams. If you want to go more in depth, don't forget to check out the Free training in the description part 6. Now, how do we tell if we have vocal damage? Well, the best way to know for sure is to go to an ent, but since we can't do that every time we're scared, you'll be able to tell if you notice that your vocal range starts shrinking and there's holes in it. Now, once again, there's nuance to this, and depending on how much anxiety you have as a person, people can very easily freak themselves out with this. And I freaked myself out multiple times throughout my screaming career. But an interesting thing happens where if we think our vocal range is damaged, we sometimes sing in a way that makes it seem like our voice is damaged. For example, whenever I thought I had vocal damage, I'd carefully test the top of my vocal range without realizing I was using a breathy falsetto that wasn't placed forward. That type of singing naturally has a smaller range, so I'd think, see, I messed up my voice even though nothing was actually wrong. But when I'm feeling confident and not worried about hurting my voice, I would naturally switch into a much stronger, more forward placed head voice which has way more range. So the problem wasn't vocal damage. It was that the fear itself changed how I was singing. Now, with all that being said, I want you to show compassion to yourself. The fear of vocal damage likely won't fully go away until you could scream without feeling like your voice isn't hurt in any way over a period of months to years. So this is a process. But that's okay. All you need is just enough courage and faith to push forward. And just from personal experience, the more brave I got with my vocals, that's ultimately when I've seen the most progress. I so now you know the ins and outs of pain. Each scream has its own sets of rules and methods for figuring them out. So check out this video if you want to learn more about how to do some different types of screams.