Most musicians with good relative pitch will notice immediately if a note is out of tune relative to its surroundings. If it bugs you, then there’s a lot of music you probably can’t listen to. If it doesn’t bother you, then you know how someone with absolute pitch is affected by sound. Sounds sound good or bad or somewhere in between based on your personal preference, whether you have absolute pitch or not.

Part of the problem with this myth comes from the sloppy use of language to describe an experience. A single note can be out of tune relative to the surrounding tones. That’s one example of being out of tune. A single instrument can be out of tune relative to the other instruments in an ensemble. That’s another example. But if all the tones or instruments are tuned differently than A440 kHz, it’s not out of tune. It’s just a different tuning.

History tells us that we haven’t always listened to music with the A440 kHz standard. In Mozart’s time, stringed-keyboard music music was meant to be played at a range of around A420 to A430. There are also different tuning systems and temperaments.

If this myth were true, then there would be quite a few people with absolute pitch who couldn’t listen to Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue, which on record was globally tuned a little sharp. And if you don’t like Kind of Blue, it’s got nothing to do with absolute pitch. It just means that you’re crazy!

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Instead of quitting according to the time you give yourself to ear train or after completing a particular exercise, quit on a high point.

If you’re interested in “hacking” your ear, i.e. finding creative solutions to common ear training problems, you’ll find this [tag]EarTrainingHacks[/tag] tag useful.

Graham: Kevin, that’s hillarious!

But you’re absolutely right. Part of having AP or what I like to call “Absolute Sound” is that you can really learn to listen to your imagination in a new way. I believe that we all have masterpieces in the depths of our imagination that we tend to squelch. It’s a constant stream of music that we can tap into and if we have prepared the ear enough to translate what we hear, then we can compose great works of art.

Believe me, I love my iPod. But it’s really important for me to balance my listening to the outside (iPod) and listening to the inside (imagination).

Thanks for that great insight!

Graham: No, just your ability to be happy.

My best APP student, Jeff Lobe, is a bass player at University of North Texas. He’s really going places!

Work on AP on your own time and let the out of tune fools have their moment to shine too.

Graham: Michael, my course doesn’t require an instrument. I wanted to make it available to anybody and that’s why I made it so you wouldn’t need an instrument. It does include all the sounds needed.

LIABILITY DISCLAIMER
Portions of the course you can do in the car – The Pitch Language Units specifically. BUT doing anything other than driving when you should have your attention on your driving can be dangerous. So be smart! If you have an accident because you are concentrating on anything other than your driving, I accept no liability.

Phew! Got that out of the way.

Have you ever learned a language while driving? If so, then you know it can be done. But if you’re in heavy traffic or need to concentrate on the road, then obviously you should turn the audio off.

The first couple weeks of the course are the shortest and the easiest. And they really need your undivided attention for only 15 minutes at a time. You could even do it on a break at work in private.

But the pitch language units are perfect for long drives (about 35 minutes).

Hope that answered your question Michael.

Graham: Hi Ross. F# and Eb have characteristics that are easy to point out to the newbie. Beyond that, I avoid naming each note’s characteristics other than by actual note name, i.e. C, D, Eb, etc. Adding more and more mental concepts to the notes just gets in the way of simply being able to name the note when you hear it, I believe anyway.

I think having a precise ear helps you hear and play precisely. That, to me, is much more than a party trick. I avoid ever mentioning absolute pitch in interpersonal settings because it brings up so much baggage. People can be jealous or start trying to stump you and throw you off or whatever. It’s not worth bragging about.

But AP is worth having simply because if you can play what you hear, then you’re miles ahead of average musicians – and even some more experienced musicians.

AP makes transcribing music and figuring out what other artists are doing much easier and faster. And again, your musical imagination is easily translated into actual music that people can listen to.

I find that motivation to have AP is a personal thing. We all have our own reasons. Some of mine are:

• I solo better
• I write and compose better
• I arrange music better
• I adapt better in live music situations
• I’m not limited by habit
• I’m able to move beyond technical know how into playing what I feel

Geez, there’s so much more. But really I’m curious why everybody else wants AP? Please comment.

Graham: Jim, here’s what I think the most powerful technique for absolute pitch is.

First, spend a week or two “opening up” your listening or “unlocking” your listening. Spend a single day on each note for an entire 15 minutes. Describe what you hear outloud. Describe your experience using all 5 senses. I use a method similar to this in Absolute Pitch Power and I call it the Journey Method.

Then, use the “inside/out” approach. Think of the note in your imagination (inside) and then hum the note or play the note on your instrument (outside). If your wrong, correct your mistake.

Finally, use the “outside/in” approach. Listen to notes being played (outside) and then identify what you think the note is (inside). Start with single notes – don’t use recorded music unless it’s monophonic. Then move up to polyphonic music once you’re 80% correct with single tones.

I use a combination of the last two steps in my pre-recorded Pitch Language Units.

Hope that helps.

Graham: Shaan, can you commit 15 minutes a day 5 days a week? In my experience, that’s all you need. I still practice my listening skills about 30 minutes a day. I’m still systematically trying to get better. It really pays off.

I like to focus on “quick and easy” too. That’s why I schedule it in and commit to it. That’s the only way I know how to do it. I wish there was a magic pill. But it’s just like going to the gym. Some days are harder than others. But going to the gym 3 days a week for 30 minutes is better than not going at all.

Bottom line, if you “really really want it”, then you’ll make the minimal time required to get it Just know that it can be gotten!

If you’re having “time” problems, I highly recommend this book:

“Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity” (David Allen)

Check out Getting Things Done on del.icio.us: http://del.icio.us/tag/gtd

And get my practice schedule.

Graham: Here’s the first site I found in Google about guitar tuning:
http://www.guitarsite.com/tuning.htm

As for ear training, I recommend choosing an already existing method and then sticking to it. Mine’s good (www.absolutepitchpower.com). There’s software out there that’s good too. I use Practica Musica (www.ars-nova.com)

Spend at least 15 minutes a day ear training at least 5 days a week. A huge part of being a great musician is developing the art of listening. So let your ear training practice help you experience the joy of listening.

Graham: I believe Absolute Pitch Power is better than David Lucas Burge’s Perfect Pitch(R) Ear Training SuperCourse. ~One of the reasons is because my course doesn’t take as long to say

I bought Burge’s course a long time ago. The testimonials really got me excited. I listened to it whole heartedly (It’s very long – mine’s shorter – one of the reasons why I think mine is better). It was going fine at first. I already had a really strong relative pitch so I was using that a lot in the beginning. Then it started getting harder and harder and I started asking myself, “Where am I resisting that makes it so hard?” Maybe I could relax my ear and it would come to me.

So I started using a lot of what I know about how people learn to improve upon what he taught me. His course is pretty old and doesn’t take into consideration the major advancements that have taken place in accelerated learning. < = another reason why I think my course is better.

That's what made the difference. I tossed aside his dated learning technology and his verbose teaching style and followed my own method.

So, in a nutshell, my course is shorter - making it faster - and more up-to-date - making it easier.

Oh yeah, my course isn't as expensive as Burge's.

This is your opportunity to learn ALL of my absolute pitch shortcuts!

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Visit this post any time after 7PM EST Thursday evening and ask any question about absolute pitch in the comments area. I’ll answer EVERY question that comes in right there on the spot.

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