David Duchovny admits he is a ''beginner'' when it comes to singing.

The 'X-Files' star has launched a music career, despite having never sung before, but he's hopeful people will enjoy what his songs.

On his new career path, he told Billboard magazine: ''I'm a beginner in terms of my voice. I've never sung; it wasn't even a hobby or anything, and all of a sudden I'm standing in front of a mic going, this is for real.''

However, Duchovny - who is making folk music - doesn't think he would have any chance of winning a talent show like 'American Idol' with his vocal abilities.

The 54-year-old actor said: ''I'm never going to win 'American Idol' but I do have something to say.''

Talking about the transition from acting to singing, he explained: 'It was much more piecemeal than I imagined. It's very much like acting. You don't have to be perfect all the way through you get plenty of takes. It was a complete learning experience by total immersion.

''I'm not a guy who came out of the womb with perfect pitch. I do have enough of a sense of pitch that I know I'm not singing it correctly so I'm in that hell where I know I'm tone deaf. But I listened to the album and I liked the singing on it. I'm tickled by it.''

Duchovny's debut LP 'Hell of Highwater' is released on May 12.