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Perfect Pitch ear training?

G

GLbass63

May 15, 2010
9
0
#1
I see all kinds of courses for "Perfect Pitch ear training".I was just wondering how many of you have used any of these?Does any of them work? It's one of those things that sounds to good to be true.Any help on this would be appreciated.
 
#3
The courses will give you good 'relative' pitch, perfect pitch is a bit of a gift really imo, a guitarist I used to work with always had perfect pitch, whistling kettle, squeaky floorboard, he could tell you the note and how flat or sharp it was, uncanny accuracy, he explained once that in his mind he heard/saw notes as 'colours', it was a scary and mind boggling talent.
 
#6
Please don't believe the hype of "you're born with it or not"

The one they advertise in the guitar mags is great. David Lucas something-or-other. I took the course because I was always amazed how I could bring my guitar teacher any recording and he'd teach it to me. No I can't tell you that you just farted and Ab, but I have the skills I want: tuning and being able to learn songs without reference.

My tips:
1) Learn to sing the note you're hearing. Trust me it's not about your pipes, I have a terrible voice, it's about internalizing the pitch
2) Spend a few minutes a day transcribing something...ANYTHING. A cat food commercial, Bach, heavy metal etc. Just 5 minutes or until you are completely frustrated.

It takes time and patience. It took a years worth of work 'til I really began to get good. Without getting all Yanni go hug a tree on you, the course teaches you to hear colors similar to how you see colors. Still to this day sometimes I hear a song and need to grab a guitar because I think "Well it could be in Eb or D"
 
#7
Skitch it! said:
The courses will give you good 'relative' pitch, perfect pitch is a bit of a gift really imo, a guitarist I used to work with always had perfect pitch, whistling kettle, squeaky floorboard, he could tell you the note and how flat or sharp it was, uncanny accuracy, he explained once that in his mind he heard/saw notes as 'colours', it was a scary and mind boggling talent.
Click to expand...

it sounds like he also has synesthesia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia
 
#9
hachi kid said:
it sounds like he also has synesthesia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia
Click to expand...

Yes, this is how he explained visualising and recognizing notes, he must have heard the percentage of sharp or flat by 'shading them?', I used to test him with a tuner regularly, I couldn't get over his accuracy, his ears were quite something for working out very complex solo's from tracks, note and dynamic perfect.

This isn't for perfect pitch but what I use for interval and note recognition was taught to me at a Guitar Institute, association of interval by familiar tunes, e.g. 'My Way' the first two notes of the vocal line are a Maj 6th interval, Zeppelin's 'Whole lotta love' first two notes of the guitar riff are a Min 3rd, you can recognise, sing and work out intervals/chord sequences away from your instrument, by familiar association. It worked very well for me, I can get a good idea of chord sequence and fills/whatever from a track just by listening, before I pick up the bass to play it.
 
#10
I always sort of remember what E and A and D and G sound like. If you play bass, you probably do, too. This is usually sufficient to figure out what a given note is.

You can't really develop "perfect pitch" much beyond that. People with true perfect pitch are actually different, as shown by scientific studies. Nobody has ever acquired true perfect pitch as an adult. True perfect pitch is when you hear a note and know what note it is, without needing to compare it with anything. No amount of practice will get you that.
 
#11
It's not even just that you hear it and know what it is. That's an outward effect. PP folks actually hear the notes differently - such that if the played note is out of tune even slightly, it sounds cacophonous in their heads.
 
#12
I have perfect pitch. You see the note on the page and you hear the correct pitch. Play a note on the piano, I know what it is. Let's hear an Eb. Big whoop.

I'd say its more of a curse than a blessing. It sucks when you transpose, or play a song in a different key, and it can be a substitute for good interval work and sight singing.

It has its benefits like picking out the right key to sing at a table grace or something, that's about it.

Why learn something that you are better off without? Do the regular program for ear training........way better.
 
#13
Interesting discussion. My brother and I (he's 2 years younger) both have perfect pitch, both absolute and relative. We were born that way. Even as little kids we'd identify every pitch in our world, horns, squeaks, farts, bells, correlating and checking ourselves against the piano. Our parents were musicians as well (not pro) but they didn't have that sort of ear. Like our dad, my brother and I both have late-diagnosed (in our forties) Asperger's autism and experience synesthesia between color, sound and taste. We both consider bass our primary instrument, though we play others. We both skated through high school band not learning how to read, because reading was a lot harder than just playing back what you'd heard and instantly memorized. We loved challenging each other learning songs off of 8-track tapes with their lack of rewind capability. :)
Despite my own inborn ear; I do believe that most if not all children could potentially learn perfect pitch like they learn color and language, through early immersion and reinforcement. But like difficulties with learning a foreign language later in life, maybe there is something in the brain that makes it harder to learn and retain new audio programs.
 
#14
Still, perfect pitch isn't really useful for that much......I can't imagine why anyone would bother with it, and it doesn't make you a better or more complete musician. It's good for impressing people at party's once in a while (if that) but that's about it.
 
#15
klokker said:
Still, perfect pitch isn't really useful for that much......I can't imagine why anyone would bother with it, and it doesn't make you a better or more complete musician. It's good for impressing people at party's once in a while (if that) but that's about it.
Click to expand...

Give it to me then :)

I've worked on relative pitch but it needs a reference note, I only think tuned pitch when I put a new set of strings on, I can get close (ish) on the G because of the note, frequency and string tension, but on a tuner it's just close, that's all.
 
#16
Perfect pitch is a genetic anomaly. You can get better at distinguishing notes, but unless you are born with it, you will never have the same accuracy as someone who is.

The same applies in reverse, being tone deaf is also a genetic anomaly. This doesn't mean that you can't hold a tune, but more that a music sounds as awful to you as pots and pans clanking.
 
#18
trkelley said:
perfect pitch is a great inborn tool, like Jaco's thumbs (!) but not the be-all end-all skill to have, being good-looking will get you closer to "fame". i don't do party tricks without lots of beer, then my pitch is unreliable anyway. :)
Click to expand...

Thankyou for your personal insight into perfect pitch, something that has fascinated me since I was made aware of this skill years back, cool, enjoy ; )
 
#19
As long as I can recognize notes well enough to play a bassline by ear I don't need "perfect" pitch.

Of course, at this point I don't even have relative pitch yet. I can pick out rhythm by ear, but not notes (for some reason though when someone plays a Bb followed by C, I can always tell)
 

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