Perfect Pitch Training

Did you know that 1 in 20 people are tone deaf.

I used to think that 1 person in 20 was me.

I used to think that only the 'gifted' people had perfect pitch.

To be honest after several years of playing guitar i had all but given up on ever being able to listen a song and play it by ear.

It was a very frustrating time in my guitar playing life.

I tried all the conventional perfect pitch training and nothing worked, but then I discovered a few simple things that saved me from toneless oblivion...

• Name any Note or Guitar Chord Just By Ear
• Sing any tone from memory
• Compose music in your head
• Play a song after listening to it
• Tune your guitar effortlessly

Can you remember when you first had to tune a guitar?

It was difficult and frustrating. I used to think I'd never bee able to tell the difference between a flat and a sharp.

These days I just pick up a guitar and tune it by ear.

I don't even use relative tuning anymore

Well the good news is if you can hear the difference between two notes you can get perfect pitch but it is hard work...

Below are 2 techniques I used to train my ear - neither will give you perfect pitch over night but both will help you train your ear slowly...

This technique is great for teaching you how to hold a pitch in your head.

The idea is simple. Pick up a guitar and play a random note. Walk away from the guitar and do something else but try and keep the sound of the note in your head. When you get back to your guitar play the same note again. The note in your head and the note you play should be the same.

This is best done with one of your mates

Ask one of your friends to play a note on the guitar for you. You then have to name the note that they played. This is a great way to tarin your ear and an added bonus it helps you put a name to notes you hear - a talent very few guitarists - even good ones - have.