Perfect Pitch

[Lee_home]

Is this really so important? i know i'm not a pro in part because i'm not a full time musician... and i know that i have so much to learn... i've heard some stuff about this and i know that this is important... or well relevant....
but so many people said to me that this is the REAL stuff to know....... is it?

[blacklight_uk]

I have perfect pitch and it definitely speeds things up a little bit in the studio. It's something you should look into definitely if you want to be a full time session musician but I wouldn't say it's ESSENTIAL. As long as you know what you're doing and have a good musical ear and a decent understanding of the theory and your instrument that should be enough.

What's far more important is your attitude and your networking skills. Being good at your instrument is only half the work. The other half is being a businessman.

That's the advice that was passed on to me by a pro I've known for a few years. He played piano on Ultravox's Vienna among other things. Awesome guy

[basshole]

I'd like to think that "Perfect feel" is more important than perfect pitch.
I.e it's more important to find and feel the core of the song/part you're going to play. Chords, notes and key is only one question away.

[Orphin]

Is this really so important? i know i'm not a pro in part because i'm not a full time musician... and i know that i have so much to learn... i've heard some stuff about this and i know that this is important... or well relevant....
but so many people said to me that this is the REAL stuff to know....... is it?

Not many people have perfect pitch. I think most of them have it since birth. Then there are lot of people that say that they have perfect pitch but infact have a very good relative pitch.

Perfect pitch means that you can for example tune a string on the guitar, say the A string without a tuner, tuning fork, another instrument or what ever.

Having perfect pitch doesn't necesarily have to be a good thing, becuase a singer with perfect pitch for example will not be able to sing to a guitar tuned to 435Hz. It will be sharp.

Saying that it's important is like saying that you need to be a proffesional Formula 1 driver to drive a regular car properly.

My 2 cents.

[blacklight_uk]

a singer with perfect pitch for example will not be able to sing to a guitar tuned to 435Hz. It will be sharp.

Nah. You'd KNOW that the guitar wasn't in tune and it'd be annoying as hell but that doesn't mean you'd not be able to sing to it!

[colfaxrev]

perfect pitch is for american idolers, they sing perfectly on key (the good ones) but they completely miss the target on feeling it seems.

[yvon]

This is a fairly rare thing I understand.

I once met a kid who was. He was one of the students of my daugther's piano teacher.

He (the teacher) made a little demonstration in front of us. He would play ANY note on the piano randomly, and the 5 years old kid would tell him right away, without any hesitation, the notes he was playing (without watching the keyboard, of course).

I was amazed.

I could spend the rest of my life learning music, never will I ever come close to something like that.

[divadisvet]

Not many people have perfect pitch. I think most of them have it since birth. Then there are lot of people that say that they have perfect pitch but infact have a very good relative pitch.

Perfect pitch means that you can for example tune a string on the guitar, say the A string without a tuner, tuning fork, another instrument or what ever.

This is absolutely true.

Perfect pitch is innate. You're either born with it or you're not. One can learn relative pitch, but learning perfect pitch is impossible. It really is a fascinating ability.

As for it being important... no, it's not. The number of successful musicians that have perfect pitch must be very low... merely because the ability itself is so rare. It's worth noting that having perfect pitch doesn't make one a sure fire talented musician as there are many other things that 'play' into musicianship. Having perfect pitch might raise the possibilities a bit, tho...

...

In case anyone is wondering, I've studied this in graduate school. I currently do therapy and neuropsychological testing for a living.

[MaxRossell]

Yeah, there are so few people, let alone musicians out there who have perfect pitch that it's definitely not a required skill to be a good musician. And as some people have pointed out, it's more of an innate gift than a skill you can learn.

I would say that good relative pitch, however, is really valuable to any musician, and can be learned as long as you're not tone-deaf (tone-deafness is a condition that is every bit as real as having perfect pitch, it's almost like the diametric opposite, where you can't match a note no matter how many times it's played to you - it's probably just as rare, most people who would describe themselves as tone-deaf just have zero ear-training).

Personally I reckon I have pretty good relative pitch, and it's probably one of the most important things I've learned as a musician, simply because it helps me figure out how to play something before I pick up an instrument. That might sound like a mere shortcut, saving you a couple of minutes here and there, but the reality is that in terms of making music immediate and spontaneous - and, yes, in terms of making other people respect you as a musician and value your judgment sometimes even above their own - it's become so important to me that I sometimes feel sorry for musicians who don't know it because of the amount of extra work they have to do.

Someone plays you a phrase, and as long as you know what the first note is, you can play it almost right away - that's useful in pretty much any musical situation.

[customandrew]

Is this really so important? i know i'm not a pro in part because i'm not a full time musician... and i know that i have so much to learn... i've heard some stuff about this and i know that this is important... or well relevant....
but so many people said to me that this is the REAL stuff to know....... is it?

Not many people have perfect pitch. I think most of them have it since birth. Then there are lot of people that say that they have perfect pitch but infact have a very good relative pitch.

Perfect pitch means that you can for example tune a string on the guitar, say the A string without a tuner, tuning fork, another instrument or what ever.

Having perfect pitch doesn't necesarily have to be a good thing, becuase a singer with perfect pitch for example will not be able to sing to a guitar tuned to 435Hz. It will be sharp.

Saying that it's important is like saying that you need to be a proffesional Formula 1 driver to drive a regular car properly.

My 2 cents.

Having perfect pitch is always a good thing...and the singer will be able to compensate for the guitar and quickly change to the "imperfect" pitch...

I have perfect pitch and have had it for as long as i remember...just like you guys said.

Ive made good use of it and its been fun to have friends quiz chords...

[Foef]

Is this really so important? i know i'm not a pro in part because i'm not a full time musician... and i know that i have so much to learn... i've heard some stuff about this and i know that this is important... or well relevant....
but so many people said to me that this is the REAL stuff to know....... is it?

Not many people have perfect pitch. I think most of them have it since birth. Then there are lot of people that say that they have perfect pitch but infact have a very good relative pitch.

Perfect pitch means that you can for example tune a string on the guitar, say the A string without a tuner, tuning fork, another instrument or what ever.

Having perfect pitch doesn't necesarily have to be a good thing, becuase a singer with perfect pitch for example will not be able to sing to a guitar tuned to 435Hz. It will be sharp.

Saying that it's important is like saying that you need to be a proffesional Formula 1 driver to drive a regular car properly.

My 2 cents.

I'm with you on this one, David.


Grtz, Bert.

[Fred the Shred]

While it is indeed a very useful asset, it is far from essential for a professional musician. I believe the rarity of this feature, combined with Man's permanent desire to justify his flaws, has turned it into some sort of "magical mojo" that, since it isn't attainable, is often looked at as "the thing" missing to make us spectacular, when in more than 90% of the cases I've seen, what is missing is a good bit of practising and an open mind.

[Lee_home]

humm ok thanks for all the advices.... i will next moth to start music theory lessons....( well i know something but i want to improve my skills and i thinnk i'll start practicing my relative pitch... as i heard perfect pitch its something that born with us didn't born with me so i need to learn it well ok try

[Lee_home]

damn.....now i realisedt hat i have a lot to practice and thank God i have time to spend learning in music

[nguideau]

I think you can work to "learn" to improve your pitch. I understand that having perfect pitch isn't really a learn-able skill, but you can improve your ear through experience. For instance, when you started playing guitar, it was probably really hard to get it in tune without a tuner to get at least one string set. But after playing for a number of years, don't you guys find that when you string up a guitar, you can get it MUCH closer by ear than you could before?

For instance, I can't hear any note any time and tell you what it is. But over the years of playing, I've become able to really pick out what the G in standard tuning should sound like. So I can usually tune that string, and then relative tune from there, and find that I get pretty close when I plug into a tuner and double-check.