Help me, I'm slowly going insane trying to develop perfect pitch?

Question

I really want to be able to play any song by ear.

I don't care if I develop perfect pitch, relative pitch or whatever, as long as it lets me do this, I try "listening into notes", I try, telling how far apart they are, I got one of those ear training programs, and i sit with my instrument (bass guitar) and attempt to play various songs on cds and mp3s, yet none of it seems to work. I can only tell what note I've heard after I've just heard it a minute ago (or less) intervals are impossible, and looking up the tab to see how I did always proves my failure.

Meanwhile, I can drown the pitch of EVERY SINGLE HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCE OUT OF MY HEAD!

I can't tell what pitch it is, I just can't help but to sit there and listen to it in every possible way trying to determine it.

I don't want to wait years to develop an ear, I want it now and will go to any length to get it, but I'm going crazy because if it, what can I do?

Answer 1

good luck!  perfect pitch is not something you can easily develop...it takes years and years of work IF you develop it, unless you're born with it.  my younger brother has perfect pitch.  i have been singing for WAY longer than him, but i don't have it.  he was born with it, i will probably never get it.

Answer 2

okay okay, hears a little help

first of all perfect pitch is impossible to develop, but relative is quite easy, however it may take TIME!!

start with this

Major second- to recognize this, it's just the next note in the scale

Major third- Think of a triad chord on a piano, and you should be able to come up with a major third

Perfect fourth- sing here comes the bride, that's a perfect fourth

perfect fifth- twinkle twinkle little star is a perfect example

major 6- the NBC theme is a good example

7th- i forgot about this one, but i'm sure you can look it up

octaves are easy

email me if you have any more specific questions, i myself developed perfect relative pitch, where given one note i can tune a guitar or harp or cello or bass or whatever simply by hearing the intervals, however this skill took me about a year to develop.  i can give yo usome tips though.

good luck

Answer 3

For perfect pitch, the only way I know is muscle memory (ie, lots and lots of repetitions).

For relative pitch, try memorizing/singing the distance on do-re-mi scale. Convert notes of the song you know into do-re-mi (1-2-3), and try singing the do-re-mi over and over. And do that for multiple songs. It helps. (This was how I learned relative pitch).

Answer 4

well....not to burst your bubble or anything, but these things take time. Keep practicing, keep playing, keep learning songs, and pay attention to the pitch.

It will eventually be very easy for you to find something just by fiddling around with your instrument (voice), but in all honesty, dont think this can be done in a couple of days, you will be setting yourself up for dissapointment.

Its not always all about the end results...the journey is just as important...

Answer 5

Whew - just breathe, honey.  You do not need perfect pitch to play by ear.  You need ear-training skills of the RELATIONSHIP kind - some good relative pitch to make sure that you can sing and play in tune (on  a varying-pitch instrument like any wind or string - not needed on a keyboard - most of the time . . .).  I have taught ear training since 1971.  The BIGGEST single skill is solfege - being able to sing (can because that proves you can hear) and interval n the scale, starting from DO - and then starting from any place.  

1.  Sing a scale - up and down.  Easy, huh?

2.  Now sing do-re, do-mi, do-fa, do-sol, etc.  Then from the top down do-ti, do-la, do-sol, etc.

3.  Still with me?  You might want to check yourself with a keyboard on this step.  Arpeggios ("broken chords")  do-mi-sol-mi-do; re-fa-la-fa-re; etc.  

4.  At this point, you might want to think of a simple songs like Row, Row, Row You boat, etc.  -and see if you can sing it in solfege.  A lot - but not ALL kiddie songs start on do.  Al lot of the END on do - so you can work you way backwards.  Try WRITING down the solfege, and writing donw the pitches, in any key you want - even try a few different keys - it is ALL good for you.

This should help.  But you need to be clam and patient.  I wrote my MM thesis many years ago in using computer-assisted instruction to develop ear-training skills. You know what?  Plain old-school stuff, in a class, pr by yourself with solfege or a keyboard, yielded better results.  (The only factor that CAI excelled in was privacy - you could do things over by yourself with a computer, and not be embarrassed in class when the teacher played the same interval 2 and 3 times for you.  Research found that after the third try, NOBODY got it right - they were too stressed - but if they used a computer instead of being in a class, they gave themselves more tries - good!)

So - whether you have a nice singing voice or not - this is about training your EAR.  Do not worry if you make a vocal sound that resemble a farm animal in digestive distress  - that is NOT the point!  It is to get the right PITCH - pretty or ugly, but the right PITCH.

This is learnable.  I have had students who could not MATCH a pitch, and ended up being able to solfege on NYSSMA level 4 in a few months.  Do not be frustrated.  This is such an intangible skill - learning to play an instrument is SO much harder.  Persevere!  I give you a LOT LOT LOT of credit for doing this!

About the SINGING - I stated that we do not expect you to sing SOLOS - you sing to prove to yourself - and to others - that you can AUDIATE - hear the music in your head, and be able to analyze it.  Now - wasn't Bobby McFerrin a bassist - and now he *sings* if you can call it that - his act is really about EAR TRAINING SKILLS.  He even gets the audience to do some amazing things, be copying back what he asks - becasue he is FUN.  You can even see his left hand doing the bass fingerings when he "sings" - he is using his instrument as a reinforcement for his audiation - even when there is no bass there!  When I correct part-writing assignments at my desk - I often finger them out (like playing them) on the desk, becasue I can FEEL certain errors, like bad parallels, faster than I see them, after correcting a steaming heap of homework.  We use as many senses as we CAN to learn!