Perfect pitch is a rare ability of a person to identify or re-create a given musical note without the benefit of a reference tone.

It helps them to play fluently by ear almost without trying.

That's not the shocking part.

Only 1 in 10,000 people have it!!!!

Those are some pretty slim odds!

For those that are lucky enough to have it, it's a big deal.

And for those of us who don't have it, we can forget about playing by ear, right?

WRONG!
Read on or watch the video [13 minutes] to discover how you can develop something similar to absolute pitch in order to play by ear.

Absolute pitch (AP), often called perfect pitch, is a rare ability of a person to identify or re-create a given musical note without the benefit of a reference tone. –Wikipedia

It is not known exactly what causes this ability, but it is more common in those whose early childhood is spent in East Asia, those who are blind and those with Williams syndrome, or on the autistic spectrum.

Much research has been done to specify whether it is specifically genetic, or a result of auditory development in early childhood - but no conclusion has been proven by synthesising conditions to create this ability.

Famous musicians with relative pitch:

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Ludwig van Beethoven

Frederic Chopin

Ella Fitzgerald

Brian Wilson (Beach Boys)

Michael Jackson

Whitney Houston

Celine Dion

Mariah Carey

Jacob Collier

Charlie Puth

Am I missing out?

Those with perfect pitch (or Absolute pitch) are well-positioned to play music by ear, given their ability to hear and identify pitches without reference.

However - it’s not all perfect - those with perfect pitch can become distressed when an instrument is slightly out of tune, or a song is heard either out of tune, or not in the original key.

Those with Perfect pitch can become distracted by everyday noises that they identify as particular pitches - or between standard pitches.

Any sound not perfectly in tune can become distracting or distressing.

So while it is a rare trait and can definitely prove an advantage as a musician, having perfect pitch is not always the silver bullet!

Those who possess this ability and want to apply it to music, still need to train in the area of their instrument and learning music theory to harness it’s advantages in this area.

Many people who possess perfect pitch do not become musicians.

Can I develop it?

So whether you have or don’t have perfect pitch, becoming a musician still requires ongoing training and practice.

When we understand that having perfect pitch isn’t a golden ticket to magically being an incredible musician it takes away the myth-like wonder of the ability.

Now that we understand the reality of this trait, and that regardless of having it or not, you’ll still need to learn to be a musician - how do we get close to this ability?

Those not fortunate enough to develop absolute pitch from a young age can still develop ‘relative pitch’ through training.

Relative pitch is the ability to decipher notes or chords in relation to a determined original note.

By using relative pitch, musicians can understand the relationship between notes and therefore entire melodic and harmonic passages without needing to know which specific pitches are in play.

Once the original pitch is determined, a musician with developed relative pitch can decipher entire songs within the key of the original pitch - or choose to transpose that same song into a different key with a new chosen ‘original pitch’.

How do I get relative pitch?

Through training in a number of areas, musicians can learn to recognise not just individual pitches (intervals) but groups of pitches (chords), rhythm and timbre (different instruments).

This equips musicians for playing an instrument by ear.

Greater speed and effectiveness can be acquired by also training the brain to recall pitches that have already been heard.

By recalling previously identified pitches and repeated or slightly altered passages, musicians can cut down the amount of notes that need to be identified as a whole.

This makes playing songs by ear much quicker than if each individual note or chord had to be individually identified.

HOW CAN I PLAY BY EAR?

Playing by ear is helped by perfect pitch, absolute pitch and it is also improved with developing relative pitch.

But the activity of playing by ear is not a 100% game - you can experience different levels of playing by ear with the most basic training.

Most people believe that to train the ear to play music simply by hearing it is a lifelong pursuit.

Yes, it can take a long time to reach absolute playing-by-ear fluency - meaning hearing a song and immediately playing it note-perfect, like say Mozart had done.

But musicians can experience lesser degrees of playing by ear and enjoy the outcomes.

For example, if you had only trained to recognise an interval of a major third - that ability will stand you in great stead for learning songs by ear.

You can use that throughout almost any pop song to identify melodies and chords quite satisfactorily.

The journey of training your ear has wonderful pay-offs all the way. It isn’t a case of only being able to enjoy the skill once you have the 100% pass rate.

With every level of ear training comes a greater level of playing by ear and enjoying that hard work in the songs you’re able to identify from hearing.