I am having problems singing in tune without background music (acapella) is there any way I can over come this or what do you think it is? (serious answers please this is very important)

If you are able to hear and reproduce a tune, then "hearing" or "tuning" are not your problem. Your problem is "intonation" which is a different animal all together. If your intonation is flat it's usually the result of a technical problem (assuming that it's not just nerves).

Faulty intonation for singers is rarely a function of faulty hearing. If, most of the time the notes you actually sing sound pretty good inside your own head, but sometimes sound just a hair, or maybe two or three hairs, under pitch to the person who's standing across the room- why is there a discrepancy? If you’re hearing the note or phrase correctly, why don't you reproduce it correctly?

Step 1: achieve an understanding of the three main elements of good vocal technique:
good breath support,
relaxation of tension in the vocal mechanism,
and good placement.

Of these three elements, good breath support is the most important.

Good breath support will relax the vocal mechanism which will allow you to have good placement.
Simply reinforcing good breath control practices can often take care of intonation problems: Remember to think about the bellows and to let the abdominal muscles do the work while releasing tension in the jaw, neck, and upper body. You won't always HEAR the difference between your own well-supported and poorly supported sounds, but you should be able to FEEL the difference. A well-supported sound will feel solid, as though it has dropped naturally into a groove, rather than being forced, pressed, or manipulated.

Although good breath support can go a long way toward promoting good vocal intonation, it can only go so far if there is tension in the vocal mechanism. Once good breath support is in place, you can improve intonation simply by working on exercises that loosen the vocal mechanism and encourage healthy placement.

Relax your jaw, tongue, and neck and concentrate on producing pure, open, slightly vertical, and well-supported vowel sounds. Almost invariably, intonation will begin to improve as correct singing takes hold.

Placement-this is a little tricky. Most people use metaphors when they are talking about placement because it’s too hard to explain it concretely without using overly complex technical and anatomical language. Basically, the voice should stay above your top molars. Imagine it spinning in a loop inside your head. The Voice comes up from the windpipe, up over your molars and then loops forward. Feel the voice leaving your head right between your eyes. ALL the sensation should be here-none of it should be in your throat or mouth.

Good breath support
+Relaxation of tension in the vocal mechanism
+Good placement.
= Good intonation

Most singers sing with a plug in one of their ears. This is so the singer can hear his/her voice while singing. Try this, it will help you to sing in tune.

Practice the scale with the notes on a piano, or other musical instrument. On a piano you might sing C,D,E,F,G,A,B & C, going up, and the same coming back down. Hit each note and sing it, then sing it without the piano note. Keep doing this until you're so sick of it, you'll want to quit singing and become an accountant or something. The idea is to train your voice to go automatically to each note without the help of the musical instrument. If you have to hear the note before you can hit it with your voice, you may just not have the musical talent it takes to hear the different notes in your mind. Can you sing "Mary Had A Little Lamb" without musical accompaniment? If not, you may be out of luck. If you can, there's hope for you. Practice!!!!

When I am "one step forward" in my head it helps. Know what I mean? You have to hear it in your head before you sing it.

solution : get a better ear
... so, basically practice makes perfect
the more you practice and sing the better your pitch will be - for some it comes naturally, others, not so! good luck x

If you sing scales or vocal exercises along with a CD every day there will come a time when you can hear them in your head and be able to sing the exercises whilst 'listening' to your memory of the exercises. Singing in tune without background music is difficult. Get some background music of the song you want to sing acappella and practise singing along with that, every day, until you can hear the backing in your head. Then try singing along to your memory of the backing track. So its - practise, practise, practise I'm afraid. Good luck.

You have to listen a lot, then imagine a lot... sing out loud with recorded music, then work alone in your car, shower, etc. It will come.

I think you should try to spend more time with music. For me, I played the piano since I was 6 and now I have perfect pitch. I think it's more of hearing the pitches again and again which eventually results in singing in tune. You learn to differentiate between the pitches I guess.

im in a band and sometimes have the same problem they way i don it is by imagining the music is there in your head and also pretty much practise makes perfect that oldsaying lol but its true hope it helps

sing in tune with background music, then partway through turn the music off, and try to keep up the same pitch, etc. Think about it while you're doing it, and try to remember what you're doing correctly while the music IS on.