Best songs for learning harmonies?

[horsepastriesa]

Hello!

I like singing. Singing is fun. I'm good enough to carry a tune and make it sound alright. But I suck at harmonies. Well, maybe not "suck," but I can't do much more than sing mediocre two-part harmony on occasion. What are the best songs to practice harmonies on?

[machetemonkey]

With vocals, most everything is subjective. I'd say start with songs you're really familiar with. If you know what the lead vocal part is, then you should have a good reference point for the harmonies in that song. Try taking a song you know really well and just trying to sing the harmony parts.

[gamesurf]

Are you singing along with a lead vocalist? Or are you the only vocalist that's just trying to learn the parts for fun?

Good two-part tradeoff harmonies I've enjoyed:
Head over Heels-Tears for Fears.
Two singers overlapping singing two different melodies in non-imitative polyphony (basically, it means it's kind of two songs at once in the verse, and one song in the chorus)

Under Pressure (RB3 Version)-Queen and David Bowie
Freaking awesome duet. A must for any singer, ever. Queen songs on harmonies are awesome as a rule, but if you only get one, get this one.

Hypnotize-System of a Down
I've been meaning to pick this up for a while, the chart looks very fun.. Another duet.

Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler and Paradise By the Dashboard Light by Meat Loaf
Two totally overblown Jim Steinmann epics. Both are duets, yet both are amazing on harmonies, and have all three parts. When one isn't singing duet, they usually switch to backing vocals. Get the whole Heartache Duets 2011 pack if you can, but if you can't these two songs are essential.

Tubthumping by Chumbawamba.
This song has all three parts singing different things at the same time. It's got so much harmony it "breaks" Rock Band's conventional system, as it has no way to display all the lyrics at once.

And this is just a personal choice, but I find both Dragonforce songs amazingly fun to sing. Very excited for Cry Thunder to make a third.

[tati81]

Green Day's harmonies are great!

[Dangimarocker]

Green Day's harmonies are great!

I hate Boulevard of Broken Dreams harmonies, am i the only one?
But there's a lot of really good Green Day Harmonies.

[TubaDude49]

Green Day's harmonies are great!

Longview all the way.

[Bront20]

I think there's a practice mode where you can hear the pitch lines for harmonies. Try using those to learn a few songs, and it will help you learn the pitches.

Also, "Paradise By The Dashboard Lights", "Tubthumping" and "Love Shack" are great fun for harmonies.

[edfrank_jr]

I don't have much to add. They already recommended to you excelent songs for harmonies.

Note: I think is easier to begin with songs where the harmonies have their own lyrics than songs where the harmonies just follow the main line on a different tone.

We Are Young - fun
Great harmonies at the end. Each vocal line singing a different thing.

It's My Life - Bon Jovi
It's a great start because is easy to do harmonies at the chorus... and is a popular song.

If It Means a Lot To You - A Day To Remember
A good duet. Basicaly the blue and red lines are doing a duet and the gold line is harmonizing in some parts.