Hey, when I'm just playing my acoustic and singing along I tend to go out of tune a lot with my voice and I don't tend to hit the correct notes. Is this a problem that I can overcome? If so, how?
Also, I've heard that singing through your nose is bad. I don't know if I'm doing this, but how could I tell and if I am doing it, any tips on not doing it?

The nose problem is double edged - to have a good tone, you have to place it in the cavities around the nose and eyes, meaning that as you begin to practice, you have to learn to sound like Mickey Mouse.
However, all you need to do to check if you're a nasal singer is to pinch your nose and sing. This should only affect letters like n, for obvious reasons.

Staying in tune while singing, learn to sing clean notes and learn to play your instrument. I have a ton of exercises, but the most basic I use is simply a combination of keyboard, headphones and guitar tuner; I'm sure you see how to go from there!

__________________

My problem isn't to do with the instrument, When I play guitar correctly and sing I still tend to go out of tune. I don't know what is wrong, it doesn't feel like I'm not hitting the notes properly when I sing, but I'm not. I think I might be tone deaf lol.

That's the part where it's so easy to fool yourself. The human brain may have a large number of simoultanous calculations going on, but to do even two complex ones at the same time is something most of us can't do naturally. So if you play the guitar properly, you loose concentration on the vocals, and end up where you are.

Anyway, how long have you been practicing vocals? What techniques do you know?
I know the one I've been taught is extremely good for this kind of thing, since it allow you to form notes with a minimum of effort - once you have it down, that is.

__________________

You need to project your voice properly. If you're not giving your notes the proper breath support, they're always going to fall flat and/or seem weak. You gotta make it feel so that you're almost pushing your lungs down/flexing your stomach to push the air up. I'd suggest looking up some "proper breathing for singing" stuff on google. They may not explain the concept clearly all the time, but they'll get you on the right track as to how to project your voice properly.

Try using a Vocal Acoustic Monitor from www.vamacoustics.com. This thing is AMAZIONG! It will attach to your mic and is like a waterslide for the voice; directing your tone directly to your ear to help keep you in tune and from blowing out your throat

Jaime Vendera
raiseyourvoicebook.com
thevoiceconnection.com
voicecouncil.com