Content

• To step
• Method 1 of 3: Exhale grunts
• Method 2 of 3: Inhaling grunts
• Method 3 of 3: Grunt vocals
• Tips
• Warnings

Grunting is something black metal, death metal and other extreme forms of music have in common. If you want to know what it takes to grunt like your favorite singers, you can learn the ins and outs of exhaling and inhaling grunts, as well as how to sing well without damaging your voice

To step

Method 1 of 3: Exhale grunts

1. Exhale from your diaphragm. Sit with your back upright and hum with your normal voice and mouth closed. Place your hand on your stomach just below your ribs and hum in short thrusts a few times. Humming automatically uses the diaphragm and abdominal muscles, so you should feel your stomach pulled in, while your chest and shoulders don't move. Exhale from there when you want to grunt.
   • Place your hand on your stomach and hum with your mouth closed. Gradually increase the volume. Can you feel your abs shrink inward? This means that your diaphragm relaxes and pushes air out. That's where the sound must come from.
2. Squeeze your throat. Open your jaw and make an "O" shape with your lips. Pull your tongue towards the back of your throat. The tighter you squeeze the back of your throat, the higher the tone of your grunt will be. Move your tongue forward slightly and squeeze your throat less, and the grunt will be slightly lower.
   • Try to let some air out. It should rattle a bit in the back of your throat without really making a lot of noise. Rattling is a sign that you are using proper form.
   • The grunt shouldn't hurt or irritate your throat, and shouldn't make you cough.
3. Exhale forcefully, but evenly. Practice breathing deeply into your diaphragm and position your throat correctly, then try to exhale evenly but firmly enough to get a good amount of sound out of your throat a few times. You have to hear a good, low grunt that sounds good for an animal sound and metal songs.
   • Produce this grunt for a few seconds and let it die away. Practice moving the volume up and down and changing the pitch. It will take a little practice.
   • Keep your hand on your stomach to make sure you are breathing as deeply as possible and pushing the air out from deep within your diaphragm.
4. Practice grunting nonsense syllables. To help channel your guttural sounds into something akin to music, it is important to practice forming syllables and changing the pitch. The following syllables are all good to include in your practice routine, forming them as evenly and smoothly as possible:
   • Yo
   • We
   • Ah
   • Ra
5. Do not cut the ends. If you cut off the grunt very abruptly, you risk losing your voice. The force required to stop the sound can destroy your vocal cords and will leave you with a sore throat if you stop the grunt suddenly, rather than gradually.
6. Practice changing the pitch. For black metal you will often want to grunt in a higher tone. Keep your tongue down and your head tilted up slightly, squeezing your throat enough to make the right kind of tone and change in pitch.

Method 2 of 3: Inhaling grunts

1. Grunt while you inhale for higher pitched songs. In general, an inhaled grunt sounds more like a "suckling pig" and slightly higher, but it can also sound demonic and devilish, and you can do a lot with the technique. However, it sounds a lot like an exhaled grunt, but it is another technique that you can add to your extreme singing arsenal to make your skills a little more complete. It's only a small difference from exhaled grunts.
2. Breathe from your diaphragm. As with the exhaled grunt, you want to keep your focus on your diaphragm. With whatever singing technique, good breath support is important for a good tone. Place your hand on your stomach and feel your diaphragm move up and down as you breathe.
   • To inhale, expand your abdomen and lower ribs without moving your chest and shoulders. Practice breathing from your stomach, not your throat, to get the deepest grunt possible.
3. Squeeze your throat and inhale. Make an "O" with your lips, open your jaw and bring your tongue back in the same way as for the exhaled grunt. Begin to breathe in the same way as you did on the exhale, breathing deeply from your diaphragm.
   • Increase the volume and gradually force to get a sense of how much you need to inhale to get the kind of sound and pitch you're looking for. Play with it for a while until it feels right.
4. Start with the syllable "who". The most common inhaled grunt appears to produce the "who" syllable because it feels the easiest. This is often used to start songs in the death or black metal genres, letting you go wild with a lot of volume. Start practicing around the "who" until you feel natural, then try more syllables as you work on your grunt:
   • Gosh
   • Rah
   • Dai
5. Practice alternating exhaling and inhaling. A good metal vocalist can alternate between the two so that you can sing for a long time if the song calls for it. The more you can seamlessly switch back and forth between exhaled and inhaled grunts, the more seamless and virtuoso you can grunt.
   • Write out some lyrics and practice singing, half in an exhaled grunt and half inhaling. Try some Opeth to practice: (Exhale) "We enter winter once again" / (Inhale) "Naked freezing from my breath."

Method 3 of 3: Grunt vocals

1. Always warm up your voice first. Grunting puts more strain on your throat than any other form of singing. Your vocal cords are less engaged, but it can give you a sore throat quite quickly. It is not always necessary to warm up your local chords with complex exercises, but it is important to warm up your throat a little. Never just start.
   • Drink warm tea with honey to warm your throat. Don't drink soda and milk, which can give your throat a layer of mucus, making it more difficult to sing.
   • Do not smoke. Many inexperienced singers think that a few cigarettes are the quick way to a rough voice. It really is the fast track to addiction and illness. The right technique will work a lot better.
2. Try grunt words. Even though they're harder to distinguish, you probably end up wanting to grunt lyrics instead of random syllables, right? To work on this, pick some of your favorite metal lyrics and practice singing them and forming the words with your growl technique.
   • Don't try to make it sound like the original singer. Everyone grunts differently. If yours is lower or higher, that's not bad. Cherish your own unique voice.
   • If you don't want to mimic someone else's song, pick a passage from a book you're reading, or some Old English poetry that rhymes and might sound cool like death metal. It's just practice.
   • Write your own metal lyrics if you want to work with something original. Good themes are always death, demons, dragons, snakes, winter, bitterness and darkness. Go for it.
3. Keep your body relaxed. Shape the voice in your mind and create it with your vocal cords. Don't try to force your vocal cords to do something they shouldn't. Keep your throat relaxed.
   • Intense grunting shouldn't hurt. If it does, adjust your technique and make sure you are breathing from your diaphragm.
   • When you start grunting, you are going to use muscles that you have never used before at such a strong level. If the muscles around your neck or throat are tired, stop grunting until it's over and start over.
4. Practice consistently. This is a lot like lifting weights in the gym. You use your muscles much more intensely than usual and then wait for them to recover before using them at a higher level each time. If you stop grunting for longer, your growl skills will diminish.
   • If you start grunting again after a long break, take it easy as your stamina will have deteriorated. However, you will be back to the old level much faster than the first time.
5. Record yourself. This is a very useful way to determine if you have the right volume, pitch, and style. It is recommended that you only start listening and listen again after a few hours after recording, so that you can spot even the smallest errors.
   • It doesn't have to be fancy or included with a song. Just use your phone and see what it sounds like, or open GarageBand or Audacity and sing along to a song you like to get a better sense of your voice.
6. Do short sessions. Singing black or death metal can hurt if you force too much or practice too long and intensively. Don't practice for more than 10-15 minutes a day at first - it will take your vocal cords time to adjust to how you use your voice differently, and it will eventually sound better.
   • If it really hurts at first, stop and adjust your technique. Maybe you are forcing too much.

Tips

• Always warm up for about 10 or more minutes before exercising.
• Drink lukewarm water during training sessions and performances.
• Grunting never has to be loud. If you can't grunt at a very low volume, you are either not using the right technique or you still need to practice to get more control over your voice.
• This style of vocalization is difficult to explain in words, much more difficult than "just" singing, because it is quite personal. Experiment with different techniques to find out what works for you and to determine if your voice fits this style.

Warnings

• Control your breathing. Improper breathing can lead to poor technique and ultimately damage your voice.
• Do not force anything. If the vocals are too quiet during a performance, that's a good thing. You can ruin your voice otherwise.
• Inhaling grunts can damage your vocal cords in various ways, but it usually doesn't hurt. In general, it is recommended to avoid singing while inhaling.
• Do not drink alcohol or smoke.Some say it helps, but it doesn't help your voice or your health.