I have taught myself to sing, and I have gotten better with time just doing it more and more and using my ear. Everything I know musically is self-taught, actually, and that includes playing instruments and writing songs, too.

I find it strange how I used to consider myself to be an absolute dogshit singer, but I have now have realized that I have Pattonesque vocal capabilities. I can sing bass vocals, gutturals/death growls, falsetto, and really just a shitload of ways that have gotten people to be shocked that such a wide number of vocal styles could come from one person.

However, I’m far from the best at this point and still teaching myself. I really just understood this stuff through messing around, though. I’m no big genius on the theory and dynamics behind vocal technique—it’s all vibes for me, and that included practicing the rhythms to backing tracks, too. I may utilize sheet music to get more difficult sections down, but for the most part, I’d say I’m good at catching a feel for how the vocal parts work in a lot of songs I try to sing. Metronomes are good for rhythm too, of course.

Also, learning how to sing better indirectly taught me more about voice training for gender affirmation, so I now use an androgynous speaking voice in my day-to-day life pretty seamlessly at this point.