Who has "perfect pitch"?

Not perfect, but I can usually identify certain notes. I am more accurate with frequencies. If I hear a tone, I can usually name the frequency pretty accurately.

I used to work with a guy who had perfect pitch. I tried to trick him by playing a note on a synthesizer, but with the pitch bend wheel down a bit. He said, "It's almost a B-flat, but it's partway down to an A." He could also tune a guitar string-by-string without ever checking for beats between adjacent strings. Pretty amazing.

 

That is very impressive. HH

 

My wife. She is a classically trained singer. It must be genetic because my oldest daughter (not the younger 2) can hear a note and repeat it perfectly on the piano.

When I sing in the car, my daughter will ask "Dad, you really can't hear that?"

It's a gift. And I guess, a curse. I've found that when someone is singing off key it is actually uncomfortable for my wife and oldest daughter. Sometimes I don't even hear it.

 

I don't have perfect pitch, but I sometimes have pitch memory. I will get an old song in my head and go to You Tube to hear it. It will be in the same key as I remembered it.

 

Unfortunately, I do.

However, I cannot read music.
I'm in the church chior. I sing the tenor parts. I memorize the entire song. 6 or 8 pages is no problem. And, I remember them forever. It's actually a joke the rest of the chior pokes fun at, "What key are we in John?" and I'll sing it in perfect pitch with the piano. It could be a song from a few years ago. The pitch, all the harmonies, the tempo - all of it!
As a kid, they wouldn't let me play SIMON!
Once I "memorize" It drives me nuts if I hear it in another key - sharp or flat.
Those of you who do NOT have perfect pitch, be glad.



Be glad those of you who don't

 

When I was younger, had a good fastball and changeup. Curveball broke like it was dropping off a table. But never could throw a slider worth a damn.

 

When I was a drum corps member, we had a guy with perfect pitch... but he played snare!!! (one day a few of us tested him) I think he was heavily courted to play tympani, that is one instrument with which having perfect pitch can make you a god.

On that same note (no pun intended), for years after my marching stint, I could hum a perfect G on cue (verified by piano). I haven't tried it in awhile, next time I'm at my parents house I think I will.

 

I approve of this message.

 

I need a reference point first. After that I can tell you the notes. I can't just pick them out of thin air though without first having said reference note.

 

"...Laaaaaaaaa..."

Middle C

Did you get that?

 

Debbie Gibson does. I heard her in an interview talking about it. Don't ask why I was listening to a Debbie Gibson interview.

 

She's still a looker, actually better now, IMO... she was on some show I watched while stuck in a hotel in Canada.

 

I've never had any music instruction short of choir in the 8th grade, but it grinds my gears to no end when someone sings off key. It damn near killed me singing the Air Force Song at 5am during basic. I can't sing all that great, but my mental pitch is pretty good.

Basically if someone sings a note, I can find it darn near instantly on a keyboard, even though I can't play one.

 

Here's a shocker for you all: There is no such thing as perfect pitch. There is such thing as acute relative pitch, but no one has perfect pitch. It simply does not exist. it's a popular misconception.

As a professional musician and teacher, I thought I had perfect pitch too. But nope.

 

Not trying to be rude but, I can "match" a tone to a couple of cycles.*not necessarily a note* Can you? I have proved it on an oscilloscope.

We had a variable signal generator in the shop I work in. The guys plugged it into an amp and they set a particular "tone" for me to listen to. The recorded the frequency. Then I dialed the oscillator to the frequency I thought matched the tone I heard and memorized.

You can call it BS if you like but, I could nail it to within a couple cycles all the time.

 

John Smotlz...back in the day before his shoulder fell off. Go Braves.

 

Professional opera singer here.

I don't have perfect pitch.

 

The answer is NOLAN RYAN!

(Keep in mind the crappy teams he was on to amass such a great record of pitching.)