One of the great pleasures of being able to play piano is being able to sit down and sing a song you love.

You don’t need a band. You don’t need a backing track. You can change the tempo, pause between phrases, repeat a chorus, play quietly behind the vocal or build things up when the song needs it. And, perhaps most importantly, you can play the song in whatever key suits your voice.

This sounds like a small thing, but it can completely transform the way you sing.

The Original Key Isn’t Always Your Key

When we learn a song, we naturally tend to sing along with the original recording. The problem is that the key was chosen for somebody else’s voice.

It might be perfect for Adele, Elton John or Sam Smith. That doesn’t mean it’s perfect for you.

Try playing the same song a tone lower. Then try it a tone higher. Sometimes the difference is remarkable. A song you’ve always struggled to sing suddenly feels natural. Notes that sounded weak have more body. The chorus opens up. You stop worrying about reaching the notes and start thinking about the words.

But there’s another interesting possibility. The easiest key isn’t necessarily the best key.

Comfortable Isn’t Always Interesting

Suppose you find a key where every note sits comfortably in the middle of your range. Lovely. But the song might also become a little… safe.

Move it slightly higher and something can happen to your voice. You have to reach a little more. There’s more energy in the chorus. A high note that was previously effortless now has some tension and excitement in it. That can be exactly what the song needs.

Obviously, I’m not suggesting straining or forcing your voice. If something hurts, stop. But there’s a difference between strain and singing towards the upper end of your comfortable range.

Listen to great singers and you’ll often hear that the emotional high point of a song coincides with the voice having to work a little harder. So experiment. Don’t just ask, Which key is easiest for me to sing? Ask:

Which key makes me sound best?

Try the Song in Several Keys

This is one of the reasons understanding chords is so useful.

If you know that a song uses C, Am, F and G, you’re not tied to those particular chords. Move everything up a tone and you have D, Bm, G and A. The song is exactly the same. You’ve simply moved it into a different part of your voice.

If you’re using a digital piano or keyboard, you can make this even easier by using the transpose button. You can continue playing the chord shapes you already know while moving the whole keyboard higher or lower.

Try the song at -1, then -2, then +1. Sing a verse and chorus each time and listen to what happens. You may discover a version of your voice you haven’t heard before.

Sing the Song — Don’t Sing the Singer

There’s another trap when we learn songs from recordings. We start copying the singer, sometimes without even realising we’re doing it.

We copy their phrasing, pronunciation, little vocal cracks, breaths, growls and embellishments. A little of this is perfectly natural. It’s one of the ways we learn. But eventually you have to let the original singer leave the room.

If you’re singing a Bob Dylan song, you don’t have to sound like Bob Dylan. In fact, unless you happen to be Bob Dylan, it’s probably better if you don’t.

The same applies to the generations of singers who’ve found themselves mysteriously turning into Amy Winehouse halfway through a song.

You can admire someone’s voice without borrowing it.

What Does Your Voice Actually Sound Like?

This is harder to answer than you might think because we hear our own voice partly through vibrations inside our head. That’s why hearing a recording of yourself can be such a shock. Do I really sound like that? Yes, I’m afraid that’s you.

But recording yourself is one of the best ways to discover your natural singing voice.

Put your phone somewhere nearby and record yourself singing the same song a few times. Don’t perform for the phone. Just sing. Then listen back later.

Which version sounds relaxed? Where does your voice sound warmest? Are there places where you’re obviously imitating the original singer? Are you rushing certain words? Are you singing everything at the same volume?

And, most importantly, which bits actually sound like you?

Those are the bits I’d pay attention to.

Your Accent Is Part of the Mix

Accent is interesting too. Some singers retain a very recognisable speaking accent when they sing. Ian Dury certainly did. Paul Weller often does. Bob Marley couldn’t possibly sound like anyone but Bob Marley.

Other people’s accents become much less obvious when they sing. I wouldn’t deliberately try to do either.

If you exaggerate your normal accent, that can sound affected. But deliberately adopting somebody else’s accent can sound equally artificial. Let the song find its own pronunciation.

Your singing voice doesn’t have to sound exactly like your speaking voice, but it should still feel as though it belongs to you.

Let the Piano Follow the Singer

There’s another advantage to accompanying yourself. The piano doesn’t have to dominate.

If you’re singing, the voice is telling the story. The piano’s job is to support it. That may mean playing far less than you think.

Hold a chord while you sing a phrase. Leave a little space. Play a simple broken chord. Add a small fill when the vocal stops, then come back underneath the next line.

One of the easiest mistakes to make when you can play quite well is to play too much. You don’t need the piano and voice competing for attention.

Imagine you’re accompanying another singer. You’d listen to them and leave room for their phrasing. Do the same for yourself.

Don’t Be Afraid to Change the Song

You don’t have to reproduce the original arrangement either.

If the original has drums, bass, strings, guitars and backing vocals, trying to squeeze all of that into ten fingers usually isn’t going to improve matters. Find the essence of the song. Sometimes a few chords and a voice are enough.

You can slow it down, change the rhythm, leave out an instrumental section, repeat the last chorus or pause before an important line. You might play the first verse very simply and gradually build.

That’s one of the lovely things about accompanying yourself at the piano. The song becomes flexible. You’re no longer playing along with somebody else’s performance.

You’re creating your own.

Build a Repertoire Around Your Voice

As you experiment, you’ll probably discover that certain songs naturally suit you. Keep them.

Build a little repertoire of perhaps ten songs that you really enjoy singing and playing. But don’t choose them all because they’re easy. Have a few comfortable songs you could sing at the drop of a hat, and a couple that stretch you slightly.

And write down the key that works for you. Don’t assume you’ll remember.

If you’ve discovered that a song sounds wonderful in E-flat after trying it in seven different keys, write E-flat at the top of the page before your future self decides to start the whole experiment again.

Listen to Other Versions

Another useful exercise is to find several recordings of the same song. This can be quite an eye-opener.

One singer may perform it as a ballad. Another changes the rhythm completely. Someone else sings it in a different key, alters the melody slightly or strips the arrangement back to almost nothing.

It reminds you that a song and a recording are not the same thing.

The recording you know is one interpretation of the song. You’re allowed to have another.

Take ideas from good singers. Notice how they breathe, where they leave space, how they build a chorus and how they handle the difficult notes.

But take the ideas rather than the identity.

Sometimes Simpler Sounds Better

When you’re singing and playing piano, simplicity is often your friend. You don’t need a complicated piano arrangement underneath every line.

A simple chord played at exactly the right moment can sound far better than a flurry of notes. And leaving silence can be even better.

If you’re concentrating less on performing an elaborate piano part, you can listen more carefully to your singing. You can shape the words, change the timing slightly and actually tell the story.

That’s when accompanying yourself starts to feel less like playing piano while singing and more like one complete performance.

To Sum Up

Finding your voice isn’t about discovering some mysterious singing technique that suddenly makes you sound wonderful. It’s largely about experimenting and learning to listen to yourself.

Try songs in different keys. Don’t automatically choose the easiest one — find the key where your voice has the most character. Record yourself and listen back. Notice when you’re imitating another singer and gradually let those habits go.

Keep the piano simple enough to give your voice room, and don’t feel obliged to reproduce the original recording. Change the tempo, change the arrangement, leave things out and make the song fit you.

Because that’s really the point.

When you sit at a piano and sing, you don’t need to sound like the person who made the song famous.

You need to sound like you.

And once you find the right key, the right arrangement and the confidence to stop imitating, that voice may be much more interesting than you expected.