question?

[MIIKA]

hi. "simple" question: how Axl sings the way he does? I mean, is it falsetto mixed with rasp, or what the hell? I wanna learn to do it!

[Chief]

personally i dont think anyone knows. my guess its a natural thing for him that he developed so its pretty easy for Axl but not for anyone else.

[JuicySwoos]

hi. "simple" question: how Axl sings the way he does? I mean, is it falsetto mixed with rasp, or what the hell? I wanna learn to do it!

Just try to mimic him while blasting the music in your car.  Thats what I did, and now I can do a decent axl impression.  I ended my wedding by singing paradise city, man that was fun.

[MIIKA]

hi. "simple" question: how Axl sings the way he does? I mean, is it falsetto mixed with rasp, or what the hell? I wanna learn to do it!

Just try to mimic him while blasting the music in your car.? Thats what I did, and now I can do a decent axl impression.? I ended my wedding by singing paradise city, man that was fun.

yeah, I`ve been doing the same thing a lot But all I can do is scream like nuts in falsetto or something. I can do 2002 axl I guess

[Axl the Red]

its a nasal technique to get the pitches, rasp is in the throat, just add wide vibrato and some f-bombs, instant axl!

[downzy56]

It's not a falsetto, but a mix between middle voice and head voice.  Occassionally, on the really high notes (think the ending of Sympathy of the Devil), there's some falsetto used.  The rasp is a result of strain on the vocal chords that result in polyps.  These polyps are responsible for the rasp, perhaps explaining why his voice wasn't that rasping in 2002 as many years of vocal rest could diminish his vocal polyps.  The only example  I've ever really heard of Axl's true falsetto is the beginning of better.   The rest is mostly just middle and head voices.  Now, Axl's really good at making the breaks between his middle and head voices (called passaggio) inaudible.  Listen to the Lies version of You're Crazy.  There's a part where he starts a yell at a lower pitch, but elevates to a much higher one.  It's amazing how you can't hear the transition from middle to head voices.  Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Andrew

EDIT:  If you want to get the rasp like Axl's, the best thing to do is take a pillow, put it up against your mouth, and yell "BAHHHHHH" as loud as you can.  Any vocal coach would kill me for telling you this, but its' the best way to build up polyps on your vocal chords.  The only warning that I'd give you is that there's a chance that polyps can turn cancerous much later on.  Hence it's a good idea if you want to sing like Axl and live a long life, don't smoke.

[ppbebe]

unsure what voice you mean...he has many voices, doesn't he?
I wouldn't say it's all natural as his talking voice is different. I think he practise a lot.
Even a vocal music course student at a conservatoire would do vocal exercises for hours a day.

I don't think he uses real falsetto very often but head voice for high notes. the better intro and outro are, I think, deep falsetto which is scarcely seen in rock.

[Crashdiet]

I've taken about 12 years of vocal lessons... so IMO axl's voice is the result of forcing out a falsetto/head voice. The disortion/rasp comes from slamming the vocal chords together. which overtime will destroy your chords with blisters/nodes. This is why in the illusion era he sounded so terrible alot of the time... his vocal chords were destroyed.

In the appetite era he could get away with it more because he was young and the vocal chords can heal quicker... illusion era he sounded awful a lot of the time from over/misuse. In 2002 he went to almost an entire falsetto to save his voice (no rasp) which was easier on the vocal chords. Now he seems to have found a great balance between good technique, slight misuse (rasp) for the right parts, and then he relaxes when the rasp isn't totally necessary.

This combined with other remedies like steaming the vocal chords, herbal drinks, and proper vocal rest.. and he can go out and give a great performance every night.

[ppbebe]

about his 'rasp' today, I can only guess, but it could be also a technique.

To be precise, falsetto differs from head voice. I don't think he used falsetto entirely in 2002, but maybe on some bits like at the beginning of paradice city, welcome to jungle and such. otherwise it was mostly head voice.

[Layne Staley's Sunglasses]

Elaborate on "head voice" please...

[polluxlm]

Elaborate on "head voice" please...

Yeah, please do. I'm totally lost here

[Pinball Wizard]

Go find a singing teacher to help you out!

[Gunner80]

I've taken about 12 years of vocal lessons... so IMO axl's voice is the result of forcing out a falsetto/head voice. The disortion/rasp comes from slamming the vocal chords together. which overtime will destroy your chords with blisters/nodes. This is why in the illusion era he sounded so terrible alot of the time... his vocal chords were destroyed.

In the appetite era he could get away with it more because he was young and the vocal chords can heal quicker... illusion era he sounded awful a lot of the time from over/misuse. In 2002 he went to almost an entire falsetto to save his voice (no rasp) which was easier on the vocal chords. Now he seems to have found a great balance between good technique, slight misuse (rasp) for the right parts, and then he relaxes when the rasp isn't totally necessary.

This combined with other remedies like steaming the vocal chords, herbal drinks, and proper vocal rest.. and he can go out and give a great performance every night.

Also men's vocal cords change as  they get older. Nothing you can do about it. Axl is the kind of singer who should only be doing 1 to 2 shows a week.

[The Legend]

hi. "simple" question: how Axl sings the way he does? I mean, is it falsetto mixed with rasp, or what the hell? I wanna learn to do it!

It's simply his voice. I'm a guy, and i've always sung higher. I remember being in chorus class as a kid, and being told that I needed to sing 'lower'. I tried it, and sounded awful, and it was unnatural. Axl was kinda like a brother in arms to me because of this.

I think it's his voice, and he's just comfortable with it. If you want to learn how to do it, you need to just mimic him as best as possible. But if you're wanting to sing, you need to do what you feel comfortable with as a singer.

[ppbebe]

Elaborate on "head voice" please...

I thought I'd leave this to requiem... who is much better at elaborating on technical terms.....where was he when we need him?............at a concert, of course.

I'll try.
when you sing you use either your chest cavity or your head cavity (palates and nose), or both to resonate your voice before you let it out...otherwise you'd sound like muttering to yourself, which is not always bad tho.
But nope actually you don't vibrate your head with your voice. That is imagery.
....well I don't think I can explan very accurately.

so, to go further, I cut and paste from wikipedia. 
there're many theories and methods.
I think these bits are not very wrong but adequate to get a rough idea of what the head voice is.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vocal_registration

Chest register
The chest register is roughly the lower half of a person's vocal range. It is called chest voice because, subjectively, the pitch resonates in the chest cavity, creating a deep and complex sound most notable in lower voices.

Head register
The head register is roughly the upper half of a person's vocal range. It is called head voice because, subjectively, the pitch resonates in the head, particularly the face and forehead.
 
The head voice is similar to falsetto, but usually sounds 'tighter' and less airy. It is sometimes heard when a woman shouts or is highly excited, and is used less commonly by men, unless they are deliberately accessing the range. To the untrained ear it can be difficult to distinguish between someone singing in falsetto or head voice.

Head voice is different from falsetto in that it is possible to connect it to the chest voice. That is, the singer's head voice and chest voice can be linked and sound bridged; in transition the voice can be trained to not cut out or make any audible changes in harmonics. Usually this involves clever use of delineation or other vocal tricks. The head register is accessible and can be developed and strengthened through proper training. Freddie Mercury is often cited as not having had any formal vocal training, yet his head voice was very well-developed.

The tonal qualities of the head voice are usually described as being sweet, balladic, lilting, lyrical, or pure. It is often used in choir singing in adult men. However, with proper training, one can develop a more chest-like sounding head voice.

Falsetto

Falsetto begins in the same range as the average untrained head voice, but the falsetto register typically goes higher (as far as C6 in some men). The physiological difference between head voice and falsetto is the amount of vocal chords that vibrate. Only the thin edges seem to be used during the falsetto; the internal mass of the vocal muscles seem to be motionless. In time, this falsetto?typically pale and fragile?strengthens itself.

It is a quite distinct range from the head voice, and generally when singers describe their range they exclude the falsetto voice. A classical male singer who routinely sings using the falsetto is called a countertenor.

middle voice
the range of notes which marks the crossover between the chest and head registers.

And more, there's belt voice which is, in short, high pitched chest voice.

In commercial pop music, most Rock, Indie rock and Metal and a lot of general pop music, Belting is used to sing higher notes than are present in the average vocal range. These higher than average notes are hit using the chest register, albeit with careful studying on how to use minimum muscle effort to avoid damaging the vocal cords. Belting is often used to create large intervals and money notes. This type of singing is largely shunned in women in Bel Canto and Speech Level Singing, however it is taught, although to a lesser extent then fully possible in men in both methods due to the difference of male voices. To learn the full belting method, other schools of singing methodology generally must be sought out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belt_%28music%29

Hope these help.

[Layne Staley's Sunglasses]

Thank you my dear. 

[ppbebe]

Thank you my dear. 

my pleasure

[requiem156]

I'm very late to this party, aren't I? 

Anyway, as legend has it, one of the ways that Axl developed his style was by sneaking into different sections of his school(church?) choir and trying to sing in whatever register was placed in that section without the teacher/choirmaster noticing.

Crashdiet is right on the money, though, as regards Axl's use of head voice, although I think that the 2002 voice was still head voice, just sung more cleanly. I actually thought it was good - more operatic, flexible, etc. and I'm amazed when people tell me that his Illusion tour voice was their favorite. I can really only stand the very early bootlegs from that tour, because his voice was in such bad shape by the later shows.

As a point of interest about that, he really recovered his voice by the Skin 'n Bones leg of the tour, which were the last shows. I'm still not sure how he did that.

[ppbebe]

Time is the great healer.
meanwhile
practice makes perfect.

as report has it, he had kept from singing for around 18 months till a producer Youth got him singing again in 1997.