PERFECT PITCH!?!?

Does anyone know the secret to perfect pitch?? I have heard about people being able to listen to listen to a song and easily figure out how to play it. i know it takes practice, but what do you practice to learn??? and how long does it usually take. any help on this would be very appreciated.

Being able to play what you hear really isn't perfect pitch and is something you can learn, Step one- Don't use tabs to learn new songs, Step two- sit down with your guitar and a CD player and learn songs one note at a time, figure out what key the song is in, learn the chords, then the licks, solos etc..., this is great training for your ears, but it's not perfect pitch.......

Perfect Pitch would make that easyer though.

I remember I've seen a little boy on TV who can name the notes his teacher plays on the piano with out looking at her... I guess that's perfect pitch.

I haven't gone that far though, but I can tune my guitar without a tuner almost perfectly... I memorize some of the most played notes very hard (like the standard E & A), so that I can recall them from my memory and hear them in my head, and tune my guitar to it..

I think people are born with this, I believe that most of the people who plays music tend to have it to some extent... but it should be developed by listening a lot of music and playing them.

Also training yourself by doing some by ear transcribtions is very helpfull... someday you'll find your self guessing what notes are being played easier, and figuring out whole songs much faster.

Thats kinda what I try to do, memorize tones that is. Its not hard at all. If you were persistant at it I dont see how you couldn't develope perfect pitch.

well, I can't say I have perfect pitch... I'll be a liar , since I can't name EVERY note by just hearing it... I still can name few notes by just hearing them though, and I can tune my guitar from anything (let's say drop few steps, or untuned at all) to standard pitch without a tuner or anything to refer to , then after checking it , I find it perfectly tuned...

also I can figure anything I hear on my guitar, which is more important to me than memorizing all the notes just to be able to name them all! I don't think this 'perfect pitch' is impossible to achieve , but it would take a lot of time that people like me can't afford.

I was impressed by the little boy I saw on TV cuz he was about 7 years old ... I don't remember that I could tune my guitar back then, even using a tuner ! since I didn't have guitar at that age ;0)

[Edited by SLY on 10-14-2002 at 01:29 PM]

It would be a lot of bother trying to achieve perfect pitch like that. I would work on my relative pitch instead.

Yes, I totaly agree with you... Achieving (perfect) relative pitch is more practical.

Depends on what kind of song it is. If it´s some 3-5 chord pop song, I would listen it through once and be abel to play it. But if it´s a Dream Theater song, maby after 100 times but probably never.

Hav anybody tried that 16-notes lead from Dream theater´s Beyond This Life (it goes on the main riff at the tempo around 170) Man, that´s wicked.

actually, i read this article on guitar world and in guitar legends that anyone can achieve perfect pitch by buying like 5 cds for like $160. it looks like a big scam! but, exactly how do you find out what key a song is in if you don't even know what notes are in the song? also, how long does it take people to memorize the notes on the fretboard 1-12? and why is it so important that people are able to sightread on the guitar instead of reading from tab?

Originally posted by I_am_the_smartest
and why is it so important that people are able to sightread on the guitar instead of reading from tab?

Tab gives only one position while in most cases, several positions are possible. And if you want to be able to communicate properly with other musicians, you have to be able to read notes.

I'll teach you all to have Perfect Pitch for just $120, sorry no checks, and I give my personal guarantee that if it doesn't work, I'll teach you again for just $110, sorry no checks.......... This perfect pitch thing keeps coming up like it's the secret to great musicanship, everybody wants the "secret" thats going to transform their playing overnight, Great Musicans are either born or made, having perfect pitch has nothing to do with either, Perfect Pitch is a great thing to have if you want to be a musical Parrot, but what's it have to do with creativity, skill, technique, etc, it might be helpful, but hardly necessary, name 10 great musicans, do some research and find out if any had perfect pitch, you'll probaly find it more common in circus sideshows than in concert halls........

Originally posted by I_am_the_smartest
actually, i read this article on guitar world and in guitar legends that anyone can achieve perfect pitch by buying like 5 cds for like $160. it looks like a big scam! but, exactly how do you find out what key a song is in if you don't even know what notes are in the song? also, how long does it take people to memorize the notes on the fretboard 1-12? and why is it so important that people are able to sightread on the guitar instead of reading from tab?

Finding out the key of the song is possible without knowing the notes, but it's easier to guess the mode... for example , sad sounds are usualy minor modes , happy & joyful songs are in major modes, eastern sounds are usualy a harmoinc minor mode or an exotic scale... being able to determine a specific mode comes with experience with that mode.

what do you mean by momerizing the notes on freatboard 1-12? memorizing them to be able to name them when you just hear them?
well, if you can name the high 'e-string' note for example, you can't be so sure it was played on open e-string, since it could be also played on every other string including the low E-string on 24th frett (in case you have 24 fretts).

anyway, you should try to develop yourself to be able to figure out any notes and play them on guitar when you hear them on a record ot so... it may take more or less time depending on the tempo,technics used, and of course your level.

also, being able to sightread on guitar instead of reading tabs or standard notation is very cool, cuz you gotta learn how to depend on yourself... sometimes you may not find tab/note for a specific song that you realy need... what are you gonna do then, suicide?

Why go for perfect pitch? It may help you pick out things by ear, but thats not my gig. I sight read my songs.
Also, I dont need it to figure out weird tunings. I have an okay ear, and I know what a guitar sounds like in drop D, standard, whatever. Its not perfect pitch, its memorizing the sound of a few really important notes.

What is sight read, I´ve heard it before but I don´t know what it means really.

Sight reading is reading a song written in standard notation as your playing it.

haha...saxophone? sweet :) a little embarrassing but i played the clarinet before. i never really once thought about memorizing what different notes sound like. only until guitar did i hear of ppl playing hard things almost flawlessly just by listening to them.

I usta play clarinet too.

WOW! People are still debating this. Honestly my opinion on whether "Perfect Pitch" is worth obtaining. That is a question you should ask yourself, I believe as a musician: it is worth a look. Afterall, your overall musicianship (whether your transposing your favorite songs, or writting your own songs) is based 100% on your ability to hear. You have to hear it before you play it and be able to recognize what it is you hear to learn it. So I would think at least learning the sound of 12 notes would help tremedously. Your call.

The best way to learn notes is to sing them as you play them*. Say you play a C, just sing in pitch with your guitar. For some reason, this method will implant the sound of the C in your mind very naturally. And just go on til you learn all 12. Josh, I see you said that you knew the sound of the important ones, well why not just learn them all. If you can learn a few of them, you can learn them all.

*Note: Play notes around the middle C range, the pitches are much easier to hear in this spectrum. As you go lower they become muddy (bass players know what I mean), and the higher you go the more fragile and tinted they become.

This is still not Perfect Pitch, cause that is a far broader range of perception. This is just what most people are really after, and it's a invaluable skill to know all 12 notes.

Also, just another note here is a small list just off the top of my head of people who have Perfect pitch: Frank Sinatra, B.B King, Miles Davis, Tommy Mars, Eric Johnson, Yngwie Malmsteen and countless classical musicians.