Some venues have their own in-house karaoke system but most employ a dedicated Karaoke Disc Jockey (DJ or KJ) who supplies the equipment, discs and track listings. You choose a track from the karaoke book, write the song name and item number and your name on a slip provided, then get up to sing when the KJ calls your name.  

When looking in a karaoke book, it is not uncommon to see several entries for one song. These are often indicated by an item number - including letters and numbers. That code tells the KJ where to find that song but also tells experienced karaoke singer which version was recorded by which company. Seasoned karaoke fans often have there favorite brands, such as: Sound Choice, Chartbuster™, Top Hits Monthly™, etc. The following codes are an example of possible karaoke song listings for the above brands of karaoke CDs: SC1005-02, CB3052-10, or THM3662-14.

There are two extreme types of karaoke singers: the serious, experienced singers and the people who just want to have fun. You will see, as your read this text, that I am more the serious, diva-type singers. Sometimes the novices and shy singers need to have a lot to drink to work up the courage to perform. After all, if speaking in front of an audience is the number one fear, it is not surprising that performing can be pretty unnerving. While singing in a group may give you more confidence, it also does not necessarily make you sound better - unless each person really contributes something to the group. It is unpleasant, though not uncommon, for the karaoke novice to get several of their friends (all buzzed) up to yell into the microphone with them. While it seems that some people enjoy this, it is usually just the singers and seldom the people that are actually listening to the group sing. And, contrary to popular opinion, alcohol does not make you a better singer; it just makes you care less about how you sound.

On the Learn to Sing page, you will find some tips for improving your vocal ability. And why not? If you are going to share this thing you have, why not make it better?

As you may soon hear, you do not need to be able to sing well to participate in Karaoke - just tons of enthusiasm, good sense of humor and a love of music and karaoke!!