A. Karaoke singing success does not happen overnight and rarely, rarely by accident, if ever. Sure, you sometimes see someone get up there and blow you away, just casual as can be... but, mostly likely that girl worked her butt off! Or, more specifically, trained her voice so that she kicks A and wins most every karaoke contest that comes around!

B. So, WHAT'S HER Karaoke SECRET to Singing Success? Could be many things. She may have started singing in grade school, soloed in everything they offered and took private lessons in high school. She probably has her own karaoke machine at home and practices karaoke singing for hours and hours each week... FOR FUN! I don't know about you, but I don't have that many hours in the day and since I'm working and not home with the kids, I can't just sing around the house anymore all afternoon.

C. Get solid, reputable karaoke singing instruction. If you can afford it, get a private coach or instructor and take voice singing lessons. If you can't afford it, find a good singing program - there are tons of good ones! I've been playing with the words "singing success" because that's one of the best ones on the market and costs about $200 There's also a much cheaper product, Singorama (about $50) that's not nearly as good, but for being on a budget it's pretty darned good. There's also a ton of junk out there, so be sure anything you get has a money back guarantee. I'm not going to mention the bad ones by name. Also, if you buy something besides singing success or singorama, find a friend who really knows singing and ask them to check it out... a lot of the programs are truly junk and will send you down the wrong path with techniques that can actually damage your voice. I don't mean to scare you, most of them won't hurt you voice - most are just slapped together stuff that might make a good $9.95 paperback that they try to sell for $29-50.

D. If zero money is where you're at, then here are some last tips. Search on things like "free voice lessons" or "free singing lesson" - you'll find a bunch of hits and people are giving away [some] of their content. But, mostly what you'll find are a bunch of articles that are interesting, but not really that helpful - and of course, "free" means they're going to try to sell you something (which is fine, but it's just not what you went their for). Finally - go to your local library! Depending on where you live, you might just stumble across an old tape or CD that has a few exercises that will get you going. I live in a small town, but the library is connected with all the other libraries in other nearby small towns... and, we can access it online and order whatever we want. I found a great singing program on breath control a few months ago - originally sold for about $29 and was a 3 CD set. Well, I got to listen to it and go through the program for TWO WEEKS before having to check it back in - it was great and I felt I learned something.

So, buy one of those programs or not, if it makes sense for you or get a private teacher or find it at the library or FREE online.

Just be sure to PRACTICE and get your voice in GOOD SHAPE. Before you know it, you'll be out there winning karaoke contest one after another.

And, of course the most important thing - HAVE FUN and let your SPIRIT SOAR!