How to Yell Like Tarzan

Co-authored by wikiHow Staff

Last Updated: October 12, 2022 References

The king of the jungle has one of the fiercest battle cries that has ever existed. The iconic yell was originally created by the actor Johnny Weissmuller in 1932 and was inspired by German yodeling. While difficult to pull off, it is possible that you can replicate the Tarzan yell. To master this unusual singing technique, you'll need to access the highest registers in your voice and control your breathing for one long and sustained note. If you listen to the yell and practice different vocal techniques, you too can master the Tarzan yell!^{[1]
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Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

Performing the Yell

1
Listen to the Tarzan yell. Search for "Johnny Weissmuller's Tarzan Yell" online and find an official recording of it. Listen to it multiple times so that you can memorize the cadence and pitch of the yell.^{[2]
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2
Relax your shoulder, neck, and face muscles. The tighter you are, the harder it will be to hit and sustain certain notes. Relax the muscles in your shoulders and neck. Massage the sides of your jaw and press your tongue to the roof of your mouth. Then, take a few deep breaths in through your nose and out of your mouth and relax your muscles.^{[3]
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3
Inhale deeply through your nose. The Tarzan yell is long and can be hard to hold unless you have a lot of air in your lungs. Your stomach and chest should expand and fill with air.^{[4]
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4
Sing “ahh” in your chest voice for 2 seconds. Your chest voice is the voice that you speak in normally. Open your mouth wide and let out a loud “ahh,” and sustain the note for 2 seconds.^{[5]
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5
Hold the note and raise it to falsetto for half a second. Quickly raise your voice from your chest voice to your highest possible register. The entire time you should still be singing “ahh.”^{[6]
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6
Alternate between your chest voice and falsetto. The action of raising the pitch of your voice quickly and going back down to your chest voice is called undulation. Undulate your voice by lowering the note to your chest voice for a quarter of a second, then quickly going back up into your falsetto register for another half-second. All three steps should be done in a row smoothly and quickly.^{[7]
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7
Lower your voice and sing “ahh” for 4 seconds. Bring your voice back down, but this time raise the pitch for a 4-second long “ahh.” The note should be an octave or full note, up from your original sustained 2-second "ahh."
8
Undulate your voice again into the falsetto range. Raise your voice back up quickly into the falsetto range, lower it, then bring it back up again in the span of a half-second.^{[8]
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9
Lower the pitch and sustain the “ahh” for 2 more seconds. The last 2-second "ahh" should be in a slightly higher pitch than the second 4-second "ahh." Continue yelling the “ahh” until your Tarzan call is completed. Continue practicing it alongside a recording of the yell to perfect it.^{[9]
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Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

Practicing Vocal Techniques

1
Learn how to sing in the falsetto register. In order to do the Tarzan yell, you’ll need to sing in the higher registers of your voice. Instead of generating the sound from your chest, try to sing from the top of your throat. Practice singing "ooh" in your regular speaking voice, then raise the pitch of your voice so that the "ooh" sounds higher.^{[10]
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- If you're having trouble, think of how a younger person would sound when speaking and try to emulate it.
2
Control your breathing while you sing. To yell like Tarzan, you'll have to hold one long note without taking a breath. Take a deep breath and practice singing "ooh" again, but try to restrict the amount of air coming out of your lungs. Practice pushing out the least amount of breath as you can while still singing an audible "ooh." The better you become at slowing down and controlling the air in your lungs as you sing, the longer you can hold a note without running out of breath.^{[11]
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3
Put your hands on your stomach and hold a note. If you are breathing correctly, you should feel your stomach expand when you inhale, and deflate as you sing the note. Practice singing and holding notes in your falsetto register for as long as you can while putting your hands on your stomach.^{[12]
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4
Practice moving quickly between high notes and low notes. The main aspect of the Tarzan yell is being able to transition from your chest voice to your higher registers, much like yodeling. If you can practice and master how to yodel, you’ll be able to do the Tarzan yell much easier. Look up videos or recordings of yodeling and try to emulate the sound.^{[13]
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Community Q&A

Question

Whenever I try yelling like Tarzan, my mom screams at me. She gets really mad and tells me to shut up. What do I do?

Community Answer

Go somewhere else to practice yelling like Tarzan, and/or practice your Tarzan yell when she's not at home.