I have perfect Pitch -1

[Mike88T]

So I just put on some DR Lowriders on my bass( found out mine is a 95 MIM Jazz with original strings) not for any reason other then 7 year old strings probably don't sound as good as they could. Anyhow, after putting on the E i realized My tuner was at the warehouse where we practice and the difference from the old strings to the new ones was so radical that i couldn't really use the tuned ones to get the new ones to tune. So not wanting to wait till Sunday practice to string the Bass I just went by the tension and my ear to put on the rest of the strings. Once they were all on I figured what the heck let me see how close I can get to tuning it just by ear. So i started with the G string and played and old Violent Femms song called Blister in the Sun, basically just B and C back and forth with an open G in the middle until I felt I was pretty close then just worked My way backwards on the Major C scale ( I think that’s what it's called I just started getting a handle on terms) and then tuned My E string the same way Using the G scale.

Well although it didn't sound just right I figured I really don't have enough experience to even do this right and since I have only been seriously Playing for less then a Year( I have owned the Bass for 3 years but just started taking it seriously) I wasn't expecting to get any results at all from My method. Add to that the Bright as heck sound of the DRs compared to my Old strings and the fact that i didn't want to over tighten them i stopped when i thought it was pretty close and I would just use the tuner when i got to practice the next day.

Well I get there and plug in to this hand held tuner and start striking the strings and it seems that I had managed to tune to D G C F. It didn't strike me at first what this meant, and maybe it means nothing, but when I got to the A string and it was tuned to G I realized what I had done.
This may seem trivial to most of you here, but one of the things that has kept me from really getting into playing was the sneaking suspicion that i was tone deaf because I find it difficult to pick out a note played by another player and know what it is, i.e.; Guitar plays an A, without seeing where he is playing, I can't say what note it is and might have to hit several notes to figure it out. Well when I realized I had tuned one note down from EADG to AGCF I mentioned it to the Guitar player he said "hey great" and I said yeah but it's wrong! He said "yeah but it's COMPLEATLY wrong, very few people have the ear to perfectly tune with no reference but being able to tune within a given scale is a very good sign that i am developing and Ear".

So this is my story , I am feeling very good about my playing right now, even though I still stink at least I can fix that with practice. Didn't even bother me that I didn't get to practice with them due to a "Real" Bass player showing up and having to use my Bass to play on cause his had a bad plug. He is really good and a pleasure to watch, although when he starts playing with 9 fingers in the middle of the neck it makes me wince.

Annnnd another thing.

Please feel free to move this wherever it belongs, my mind is in Walkabout Mode.

[dancehallclasher]

you tuned your E string up to A??

[Mike88T]

Now the story makes perfect sense

Ok well maybe it doesn't

[FalsehoodBass]

well actually you don't have perfect pitch, but you do have good relative pitch, which is also a good thing....Perfect pitch means that you know what an E is, just from memory. Relative pitch means that you can get to an E, if someone gives you an A, for example. there are much easier ways to tune than your method though....
try using harmonics, or open strings, and then you can utilize the phenomenon of beating... that wooowooo sound when two notes of almost the same pitch are played.

[Mike88T]

The gist of my rambling was that I feel now that I can tell the difference where as before I was playing a D or whatever because my tuner said it was a D. Like I said it may be a small victory but the to me the important part is that now I 'Know" that i can tune my Bass with at least one string in tune or a reference note. Until this incident I didn't realize that this had been a concern but after some deep introspective thoughts(I don't have cable TV or vidio games ) I found that I had suspected that i might not be able to ever pick up an "Ear" for the notes.

Well anyway now I know I can hooray.

[MtnGoat]

You have perfect pitch??
I hope you're not that crazed looking fool in those perfect pitch ads.
Digs