Can You Develop Perfect Pitch?

[DaveRucci]

The way I try to do it is think of one of your favorite songs in your head, say ENTER SANDMAN for example, and try to remember that pitch in your head without a guitar. Then you know that’s your E and you have a reference note to go up or down the scale. Whammo!

[Esraug]

I have so many mental references almost all from songs.

A-none
A#-Stain by nirvana
B-I just simply memorized it
C-Last Caress by Misfits (also I've heard the scale so many times because it's the easiest)
C#-BYOB-System of a down
D-Sad But True and Outshined
Eb-I always tune to Eb on guitar, also Slayer
E-Pretty much any Metallica song (plus I play guitar so I know E by heart)
F-Smells like Teen Spirit
Gb-Butterfly by Weezer
G-Black Parade (I just know is for the meme lol)
Ab-Brain Stew/Jaded by Green Day

That's basically how I do it, just think of a song you like that you know the notes to and remember that song when you need the note

[SkyscraperGuitars]

I thought perfect pitch was throwing a banjo into a dumpster and not hitting the sides.

[advaithbala]

1:50 I get what you mean by reference point. I dont have perfect pitch, but i can almost fool people into believing i do. I have always known C in my head cause i play the piano, I know B because of the thunderstuck riff, i Know Bb because of the legend of zelda theme, and F# from minecraft music. I think you can just about mimic perfect pitch if you can remember exactly how songs sound like

[MusicTherapyLaz]

Just thought I'd add that there are "critical periods" in brain development that may be crucial to the development of perfect pitch...we're talking about synaptic connections and as the brain develops from a young age, some of that synaptic growth slows down (even reverses, but that's a longer conversation)...a lot of it has to do with what's "useful" in your environment. If your environment has a lot of music around, it's more likely your brain will develop perfect pitch...or a strong musical "ear" (like in my case). I do, however, believe you can develop a strong "ear" for music with practice trusting that sense. Thanks for the awesome video Tyler...you're fast becoming one of my favorite YouTubers!!! Peace!

[thedoorsbest]

Having perfect pitch is really helpful but not crucial.
For example Eddie Van Halen had perfect pitch but Jake E. Lee didn`t (it`s just an example, I didn`t do research on Jake E. Lee for that subject, for Eddie I am sure he had perfect pitch).
If you have good ear you will still rock and make good music. If you have perfect pitch it will be easier for you, but It`s really not crucial. Like Tyler said in a video about music theory, most guitar legends don't even know what music theory is.But they still rock !

[QWERTYMUZX]

I once had perfect pitch for like 3 seconds after practicing with an app for like 3months and then it disappeared

[WileyKRobertson]

I played "Sweet Home Alabama" so many damn times when I was a kid, I thought I was pitch perfect badass with the D note and G scale.

[Keiko_Kitsune]

I love having perfect pitch, because I can't read sheet music. It makes it really nice because when practicing with friends, I say, "This ones an E note." Or they tell me, "First do A, then G" or something. They can play with me because they know which note is the E. And I can play with them because I know what certain notes sound like. Kinda cool how people who learn differently can still play music together. I certainly feel blessed to have this gift.

[nickmaestro]

I developed perfect pitch, more like tonal memory, once I started composing and teaching band, chorus, and orchestra. Composing forces you to think of ideas, melodies and hear harmonies in your head. Teaching large group performance ensembles forces you to not only learn piano, but pull pitches out of thin air and sing them on command when rehearsing. I've also performed on viola, violin, piano, string bass, trombone, bassoon, and chorus. Over time, my tonal memory bank was solid, simply because my musical experiences reinforced the area of perfect pitch.

[jakethornton]

The absolute easiest way to identify pitches is to know your own vocal range. This won't help you on a test in music theory class or anything (can't be belting out high notes while everyone is writing, ) but in any other situation, if you know the top and bottom of your range, you can identify notes no problem.

[teemusid]

I thought I had thrown the perfect pitch, but it was possibly the longest home run I ever served up.

[LifeofEbb]

Short answer: yes

Long answer: in my case specifically perfect pitch was developed through as you described with relative pitch, which was getting reference points from a certain song and associate that with a note. Take for example most Metallica songs use E heavily, Gojira with D, August Burns Red with C etc. until you kinda create a go-to song or catalog with that tone

[thedoorsbest]

Another great lesson from you ! ROCK ON !

[LinhNguyen-imuu]

I do wish I had perfect pitch. Relative pitch helps but it can take a while to waddle to the correct pitch from a reference, which is not good when learning songs on the fly, e.g. taking song requests at a bar gig.

[adamcolbertmusic]

I have perfect pitch for a few notes. I've heard notes played, thought to myself, "Hey! That sounds like ___ note!", went to the piano (or guitar) and it was that note. Also, back in college I purposefully memorized the A-440Hz pitch on my metronome so I could tune up just now sang it with my laptop's tuner, and it's a little sharp, but very close!

[vidiac]

I've been playing guitar for a bit over one year and I can almost tell how the low E string is supposed to sound, I'm always one or two cents flat.

[RusliLPSoldier]

I have a perfect pitch is learn by ear and play the key in any song which where the original key is when the song starts in the beginning.

I only know the perfect pitch is G playing on piano to the song "Welcome to the black parade".

It's really easy to learn a perfect pitch quickly.

[trickshot]

I have perfect pitch. tehe. it makes highschool band and my own band really fun.

[MusicTherapyLaz]

I have heard that having perfect pitch can sometimes be a curse...if anything you're working on with other musicians is off, or if your "sense" of perfect pitch is off, it can make you nuts...something I read many, many years ago, specifically on the classically trained side of the musical spectrum. Having a good ear really helps...that for sure is a really good thing to develop. The more genres of music you expose yourself to, the wider your musical ear will grow (ok...not your actual ears...but you know what I mean!) Music is Therapy...Love it, Learn it, Live it!