Perfect pitch vs. relative pitch?

Question

I would like to know how important perfect pitch is, to being a musician. I see a lot of advertisements for programs that promise that you can "acquire" perfect pitch, but I think it's bogus.

I have relative pitch, for example, if I hear a song on the radio, then I can play it on the guitar, chords, solo, arrangement, but I can't point out what key it's in.

I would like to be great as a guitar player, is that possible if you have relative pitch, or is perfect pitch essential?

Answer 1

I don't have perfect pitch, but I have very good relative pitch.  I have had no problems being a professional musician without PP.  I play multiple instruments, the main one being a string bass (no frets) and I play in tune.  The folks I know with perfect pitch (and are musicians) say it's more of a curse than a blessing.  Sure, they can start the song on the right note without help, but there are times they hate having it.  

For example:

playing clarinet - the note you see is not the note you hear (same for all the transposing instruments.)

the fluorescent light in the office is humming an out of tune B flat.

That guy is singing that song in F, but it should be in G.

And so on.  

Also, I would like to add something about "acquiring" perfect pitch, as told to me by a music professor with it.  You can train yourself to find A, then with relative pitch, you can have a kind of perfect pitch.  (ask an oboe player . . . )  Get a pitch pipe or tuning fork that is an A.  Many times a day, sound the A.  Then after a week of that, hum the A first, then check yourself with the tuning fork.  You'll get to where you can pluck an A out of thin air.  Then when you hear a G or an E, you can figure it out by interval.  Make sense?  Then his disclaimer was that he did NOT enjoy having perfect pitch.

Answer 2

perfect pitch is over-rated! most musicians i know that have true perfect pitch seem to have been born with it. There is a huge liability to having perfect pitch because when playing/singing chords/arpeggios not all intervals are perfect. ex.(the 3rd in a major chord is played a bit flat to make the chord ring true).

it is much better to be able to match pitch & sing on key than to buy into some bs hype that is essentially just a marketing ploy for one more ear training program.

Answer 3

Hi "miss"...

I do not have the slightest idea of how to do it.

But, still practicing ...

Greetings "miss" ...

Answer 4

Relative pitch is good and even if you don't have perfect pitch to detect the key of the song, you need to have some sort of perfect pitch to play your instrument.

Otherwise, you will play in any key and it will sound like garbage. Correct ?

If your timing is perfect and you realize when you made a mistake, then you are a good musician  because, a guitarist can easily camouflage any bad notes with slurs, bends, etc..

If I would give you a give to play in, this is a form of perfect pitch and a singer who sings on key, will sing in any key you give him and that is considered perfect pitch also.

Answer 5

Practice.  That's all you have to do.  Lots of practice.  The rest comes on its own.

Answer 6

If you can play the guitar to accompany music you hear, you must already know how to tune it.  If it's a well built guitar, and the neck hasn't warped, or anything like that, then all you have to do is get your fingers behind the right fret at the right time, and pluck the right string (or strings) and you will get the right pitch.  Your guitar will have no choice but to give it.  Perfect Pitch really means you can start a song on exactly the right note without the need to ask the piano player "Will you give me a C, please?".  Perfect pitch is not essential, and with all those frets to stop the strings in the correct place, relative pitch is not essential either, not for guitar.

Answer 7

parkermbg is right!  Perfect pitch is definitely not necessary, and most musicians do not have perfect pitch.  You can be an excellent musician without perfect pitch.

Answer 8

Perfect pitch is not generally required, and it is not as common as it sounds from when you hear people talk.  There are also different manifestations of perfect pitch.

There are those who can hear a note in isolation and name it accurately.  These are extremely rare.

There are those who can hear a note in isolation and tell if it is true. I can do this.  Those who can do this generally hear harmonics more clearly than others and are extremely sensitive to the frequencies of sound waves.  Most of us have asperger's or autism or something similar, with a sensory integration hypersensitivity for sound.

There are those who, once hearing a melody can reproduce it accurately in the same key, often weeks or months later. Those of us who can do this have excellent pitch memory.

Others can hear a melody and play it on an instrument in the same key.  Some call this perfect pitch, but it is actually good pitch memory combined with a practiced familiarity with one's instrument and sensitivity to the different "flavors" offered by different keys.  I believe this is what you are saying you can do.  Even this skill is rare, and although it improves with practice, many will never be able to acquire excellence in this area.

Some can hear a note in isolation and produce any desired pitch  interval accurately.  This is generally referred to as relative pitch.  This also improves with practice, but there are some with inborn talent in this area.

One important distinction needs to be made as well.  Any good vocalist or instrumentalist knows the difference between hearing a pitch and being able to reproduce the pitch accurately.  (Although for purposes of facility in documentation I did not differentiate between these in the above descriptions).  This very definitely improves with practice, since the majority of skill in this regard is physical.

The more sensitive you are to good music, the more difficult it may be to tolerate bad music.  This is especially true with those possessing hypersensitivity to sound.  Off pitch notes can at times become physically painful for some of these individuals to endure.  I suppose that this could be referred to as a "thorn in the flesh to keep {them} from exalting {themselves}" to quote Paul. Kara K and parkermbg are VERY correct about this.

From the way you have described your own abilities, it sounds as though you have a very good start at becoming a wonderful musician.  The rest is study, practice and consistent motivation to excel.

I wish you the very best