Perfect Pitch Training Tutorial

[chrisp2u]

A friend of mine had them and I tried listening to them a bit... they made me sleepy. Seems like a lot more work than what is advertised. I guess it could work if you really stick with it. I might give it another shot at some point.
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c

[Sounds Great]

Training? I dunno, maybe. Personally I think you have it or you don't..

[Toad]

Originally Posted by Sounds Great

Training? I dunno, maybe. Personally I think you have it or you don't..

thumbsup thumbsup thumbsup
Both Pitch & Meter!!

[Dopamine]

My goal isn't to have perfect pitch, it is to improve my ear. Just wondering if anyone has gotten anything positive out of these things.

[confooshus]

I don't know why you'd even want it... I think it would drive me crazy.

[Sounds Great]

Originally Posted by confooshus

I don't know why you'd even want it... I think it would drive me crazy.

Nah, only when listening to Ashley Simpson.

[PlugHead]

IME,

I'm one of the fortunate (or unfortunate, depending on the situation!) folks with perfect pitch. I have known a few people who developed very good relative pitch, and some bordering on nearly perfect pitch. They did not take the course you mentioned, merely honed their already keen ear into very discerning ears.

One thing that was mentioned to me (via one keen-eared and hard working individual) was to try to work at memorizing one note: if you're a guitar player, memorize A (440) or a violinist memorize the A, or another open string, if you're male, and can at least sing half-assed, know your highest note before falsetto - yes this is hard, esp. when you have a cold/early AM, etc., etc., but - keep at it daily, and you'll hopefully begin to recognize the pitches from the way they resonate in your head/ears. Once you have that, through interval studies you can determine other pitches against what pitch you already know...

Nothing too scientific about this, but it DOES take a lot of focussed training - it's not something you can expect to fall in your lap - everyone I've talked with about this claims they worked endlessly on it, and in the end - results!

Best with it,

Originally Posted by Dopamine

I've seen these courses advertised in Keyboard mag for ages. Just wondering if anyone has tried them and if they work. Any info appreciated!!

[Dopamine]

Originally Posted by PlugHead

If you're male, and can at least sing half-assed, know your highest note before falsetto - yes this is hard, esp. when you have a cold/early AM, etc., etc., but - keep at it daily, and you'll hopefully begin to recognize the pitches from the way they resonate in your head/ears. Once you have that, through interval studies you can determine other pitches against what pitch you already know...

Cool suggestion! FWIW, I was tuning a gtr yesterday and noticed my pitch discernment was rusty. That's what made me think about this. It's probably because I haven't played (keys, my main instrument) in a while.

[max cooper]

I'm getting to the point where I can write charts from a recording without having an instrument in front of me.

it's definitely learned in my case.

Maybe it's a form of synesthesia because I definitely associate colors with pitch.

[numrologst]

hey max your color association is definately a sign of synesthesia. I know a few people with perfect pitch and they all claim to see colors with pitch.

"perfect pitch" is definately something that you are born with...like others have said...you either got it or you don't

No tutorial nor practice can give you perfect pitch, in it's truest sense. People with perfect pitch can hear a pitch and say thats an Ab, or that's a G. And then you say sing an Eb and they hit it. Those people are few and far between.

But you can definately practice to have very very good relative pitch. You gotta practice hearing our intervals, and chordal progressions.

May times I can hear distinct chords on guitars. Mostly open chords because they have very distinct sounds.

You can also make yourself hear intervals both in single notes an chordally. And you can make yourself know when something is slightly sharp or flat.

That's all practice and I was stringed instrument player for a while... Then I started playing keys, namely piano and my ear developed the most after I picked up the piano... But it took a good 5 years of consistent music playing to develop my ear to the point it is today... At this point, I don't think my ear will get nay better, and i wont hear pitch any more perfectly

[Sounds Great]

Hey! Sorry if i'm a little off...

Just got back from singing at the bar...



Fun, I never sang 4 songs befcore. Ended with "Breakdown"

Brought down the house. yeah, rigggght.

And no autootune. . dfegad

[abit]

U don't need ppitch to be a solid professional musician.
True - or U have it or not.
But I knew guys with a ppich who couldn't sing in pitch.

They were really terrible.
But some of them were great musicians.

Don't waste your time and money for this scamy book or what ever it is.
It the same thing if you'll buy a book how to make money with real estate.


What U really need is to learn harmony, scales, theory, and develop a really good relative pitch as mentioned above.
And how to develop this skills is anothers story.


PS A lot of very well known musicians, artists had/have no any idea how to read or write music.
I think It doesn't mean ppl don't have to learn.

[PlugHead]

Another thought...

An indispensible tool you can carry around everywhere (cept maybe on flights - they might think it's a weapon/terrorist tool!!!) is a tuning fork.

Get used to striking it and constantly listening to A 440 (or 441/etc. depending on what is your ref.) and this also helps to ingrain (a certain) pitch, and you might eventually learn it without an instrument to constantly reference pitches.

PS - don't listen to the naysayers - you never know until you try!

Perfect pitch is both a blessing and a curse: it has helped me innumerable times from lifting licks/chord progressions (without the help of an instrument I might add!!!) to writing charts, to blah, blah, blah...

It has also killed my enjoyment of participating/listening to various moments throughout my career - as well makes it near impossible to sight-transpose charts (as I "hear" what I "see") but - all in all - a VERY valuable tool in being able to expedite many, many things in ALL music related tasks...

YMMV, but only if you HAVE perfect pitch, other than that, only your opinion may vary...

[SteveE9C6]

Perfect pitch=Nolan Ryan

I'm really not to convinced that this is something inherent or a gift one is born with. Many years ago, I was taking a jazz improv course in college. We did interval drills until they were coming out of our ears. The prof taught us to memorize A 440 and identify any other note via intervals. This has helped me many times over the years.

[DAWgEAR]

You're talking about the David L. Burge ear training courses that, at one point, were in all the magazines?

The one most commonly advertised is the Perfect Pitch course, but there is also a Relative Pitch Course. See his website, eartraining dot com.

The relative pitch course is fantastic and equivalent to a year or so of serious college-level study. He claims it can be completed in 90 days -- don't feel bad if it takes you a year or longer! I own most of the eartraing courses and software and there is nothing else like it in terms of its depth, thoroughness, and integration with theory. A bit pricy, but very, very, highly recommended! If you are serious about developing relative pitch, it is a no-brainer.

The perfect pitch course? I've owned it for a decade, and I still do not have perfect pitch. Good course if it did what it claims, but IMHO, it's a novelty. Not recommended except for entertainment and amusement.

Also very highly recommended for relative pitch development (and a very different but complementary approach to Burge) are Bruce Arnold's (Muse Eek) courses.

[DeepSpace]

Originally Posted by abit

U don't need ppitch to be a solid professional musician.

Relative pitch is where it's at.

[DAWgEAR]

Originally Posted by PlugHead

An indispensible tool you can carry around everywhere (cept maybe on flights - they might think it's a weapon/terrorist tool!!!) is a tuning fork.

A Kratt chromatic pitch pipe. Fits in your pocket. I carried one everywhere and used it while driving on my long commute for a few years. Got the idea from one of Carl Verheyen's columns. Between the courses I mentioned above and this device, my relative pitch greatly improved.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/produ...0&src=3SOSWXXA

Can be found at most music stores.

[WDG]

I don't have perfect pitch but people who don't sing on key or pitch drive me batty. The worst problem I am having right now is that I have an 8 month old son and people are getting him electronic toys that have people singing off pitch and a toy that plays simple songs that breaks meter. You know it's kind of like playing with people who break meter then you start to do the same. I am worried that hearing this is going to mess me up.

[Mystr Tiger]

I tried that perfect pitch course many years ago. It was interesting, explaining how different pitches are different colors, and how each of the different keys have a different effect because of the color. As I recall, F# was explained to be the strongest color. It went on to explain how transposing keys results in not just a pitch change, but a color change, and that that's why some keys work and other don't for some songs. I have (perhaps psychologically) noticed this effect.

The course also talks about memorizing a pitch. I'm able to do this now for the most part, but I'm not perfectly reliable, sometimes missing by a half step.

I was never really able to accomplish perfect pitch, but maybe I gave up too early. I might try again if I get the time, but for now I'd rather practice my guitar, which I don't do enough as it is.