Do you have perfect pitch?

viz

http://www.classicfm.com/discover/music/perfect-pitch-test/#vvydRm89tC6WOYVd.97

stickyfiddle

Not perfect, (2/4 on test) but excellent relative pitch, which is great for playing guitar and also for not grimacing when records are half a tone out from standard to match a piano or whatever,

viz

Cool. I got 4/4 but I think they should have ordered the questions 2, 3, 4, 1 - put the concert pitch one at the end because it put us immediately into relative pitch once we knew it was an A.

axisus

I can tell you that I don't without doing a test. Far from it. 

I recall reading a Vai interview once where he said he taught himself via sleep learning amongst other things. I think that another was having an A note droning in the background a lot.

MatthewShreddery

Absolutely not. Thankfully.

guitarfishbay

Nope.

octatonic

Flawed test. Got them all right but I know I don't have perfect pitch, just OK relative pitch. I just sang the intervals from note to note, once you knew the first one it was fairly easy. They should have kept the answers until the end.

frankus

know butt eye reed purr fecked leigh. Did you mean "hear"? you might mean perceive

Megii

No. Good relative pitch though. Although... there is this weird thing I sometimes get, where just before a TV theme starts, I'm able to imagine and hum the tune at the right pitch - so I guess that's a kind of pitch memory thing happening. But it's not all that reliable. Don't know if anyone's observed a similar thing themselves?

MatthewShreddery

@Megii

yep I do that

Megii

MatthewShreddery said:

@Megii

yep I do that

Bugger, I thought I was special...

MatthewShreddery

We're both special

octatonic

Can you transcribe from memory though?

steamabacus

I read recently (sorry, I can't remember a link - it was on the BBC News site) about a piece of research where it was proved even those with so-called perfect pitch would not notice when the reference pitches were moved ever so slowly away from concert pitch over time. This shift was done very gradually. The vast majority of test subjects with 'perfect pitch' had not noticed the shift. It would seem that 'perfect' pitch is a lot more complicated and nuanced than is usually imagined.

[edit] aha - The story is still on the BBC News site ....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22871651

Fuzzdog

I'm another one without 'perfect pitch', but with very good relative pitch.  As soon as I have a frame of reference, it all fits together in my head.

Does let me cheat with the 'perfect pitch' thing though, as I only really have to memorise one correct note to hum in my head and I can work it all out from there.  Weirdly, my brain usually uses the start of 'Tom Sawyer' by Rush to get a reference 'E'.

joeyowen

3/4 damnit, I knew the last one was wrong before I even clicked it I guess it was a bit of guess work

axisus

At the end of the day, any multiple choice quiz is flawed as you have a reasonably good chance of guessing

ICBM

No. I like Neil Young.

Moss

4, but based more on relative pitch than anything else

koneguitarist

Had a guy that used to come in my shop that could tell what inversion of a chord you played plus each of the notes with his back to you. Incredible to witness

Sambostar

octatonic said:

Can you transcribe from memory though?

That is the easy bit, the hardest bit is remembering it.  That is how I work everything out.  Listen, listen and listen for a solid week, then after it's in your mind, work out the riffs and solos from in your head in silence. I haven't the patience to sit and stop and start a tape.

Of course perfect pitch can be learnt, you just have to practice a lot.  It's a lot easier if you sing though.

Some days I think my lower hearing register is going and unlike what you'd think, it's more like colour blindness, where the colours or notes all roll into one.  It's still OK though.

I didn't understand any of the questions.