How to speak with an American accent?

Question:For the character I'm playing in my upcoming School Production I need to speak in an american accent. But, being english, I'm not too familiar with all the different types of american dialect, ie southern. I definitely know that my character doesn't have a southern accent, but I dont know any other types of american accents, so could you possibly give me any tips on the different dialects, and how to speak them?

Merci :) x

Ps, my character is Killer Queen from We Will Rock You, if that gives you any more ideas, and I'm basing my accent on the one that Mazz Murray from the London cast uses...

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: For the character I'm playing in my upcoming School Production I need to speak in an american accent. But, being english, I'm not too familiar with all the different types of american dialect, ie southern. I definitely know that my character doesn't have a southern accent, but I dont know any other types of american accents, so could you possibly give me any tips on the different dialects, and how to speak them?

Merci :) x

Ps, my character is Killer Queen from We Will Rock You, if that gives you any more ideas, and I'm basing my accent on the one that Mazz Murray from the London cast uses...

Repeatedly bash your head against a wall until you've lost 90% of your mental capacity.

That should do the trick.

Being American myself I don't know exactly what to tell you since I don't know your character, but if this is the typical "fake hollywood" American kind of Accent then there is not alot to it. basically you can even get away doing it by not pronouncing your vowels as much and shorten the time it take to say an individual word, also if you speak a little faster it helps

say "like" and "totally" in every sentence and finish every sentence with "dude". also, make the tone of your voice go higher in random places

Don't worry. Nobody from England knows either.

I would love to help plz email me at thewebkinz13@yahoo.com I will help ya if ya email me

Obey medium Dave

There are so many different accents it's hard to generalise. There are the cultured Californian tones, New York accent, etc. Then there is the ignorant uneducated mumblings of people from Louisiana. So it depends what part you are playing. You're best going for a vague "midwestern" accent. Oh yes and remember to keep saying "awesome" all the time.

hmm.. Sorry I am not acquainted with the show, David Allen Stern has a dialect series CD you can buy online, the sound tends to resonate in the back of the mouth, Amercians resonate the sound more in thecenter and we aren't afraid of hitting that hard R as in WateR.

This can help you place the dialect: Does she sound like marisa Tomei in my cousin vinny (buy new york cd)

Does she sound like Katherine Hepburn try East Coast (non new york) Maine

Does she sound like JFK look for Massachusettes accent

Does she sound like Julia Roberts go for Texas

Does she sound like Reese witherspoon try california.

Does she sound like the lady in Fargo that would be Minnesota area

A California accent is the standard US Speech for newscasters actors and radio other regions de-accent themselves to get that California sound.

His CDs are the best because he is a linguist and he really understands the physical mechanics of accents. Sorry I don't know the show.

Southern accent?

Look up Dolly Parton.