How I Taught Myself Perfect Pitch (True Pitch) 

Most people claim they cannot memorize pitch accurately. Their audiation (hearing a note in your head after you’ve heard it externally) may last a couple dozen seconds, then they forget the pitch till they hear it again. This video explains how to get a permanent audiation - where the notes you hear in your head never leave. You can generate it from your subconscious at any point without a reference. So yes... it’s not absolute perfect pitch. We’re out of luck on that one, folks. I made a follow-up video recently called “An Alternative To Perfect Pitch” where I admitted this video is a bit of a clickbait - to lure people without perfect pitch and show them that there is still a way that they don’t need an external reference to identify any note. Sorry for being misleading! I hope this helped out anyway. We don’t need perfect pitch to have strong ears or permanent audiation 😎 !

When I was 5 I discovered that our house vacuum cleaner was an F and now I recognize every F. Only the F's. Do I have the shittiest perfect pitch in the world?

Ive tuned my guitar so many times that the sound of the e string is engraved in my brain

Rick Beato is having a heart attack over the title right now.

This is 100% possible. Every music student in Taiwan, where my wife grew up, learns to recognize absolute pitch in ear training class. For some reason, in the west, we have this idea that you're "born with it".

Every note sounds like C to me

I feel like Bruno Mars and Dwayne Johnsons baby just taught me perfect pitch. Thanks dude! EDIT: Haha so many likes. Check out my music: Rooze - Malibu

This is like the only "perfect pitch" video on youtube thats actually helpful and not just talking about its imposible to learn perfect pitch as an adult.

I feel like 95% of people could make a video like this and it would be cringy. This was actually pretty funny and helpful.

"I won't call it perfect pitch" *Calls it perfect pitch in the title*

Going to try this and report back in a few weeks. I hadn't heard this method. It sounds way more intuitive than the "colour" method I've tried before. I have very good relative pitch from playing trumpet, piano, and being a vocalist but I've never been able to figure out perfect pitch. I think this is gonna work as your few samples, I heard the vowels you were saying and think it's genius. Great work sir.

Me and him: C Shows keys it's a b flat My head is aguring it's a C then I rember I play a b flat clarinet.

You nailed it! And it IS actually a stage of genuine perfect pitch. There are different stages of pitch awareness: 1. Chroma awareness = You´re aware of a fixed, octav independend quality of the pitches, called chroma. 2. Chroma discrimination = You can identify the tones on your own familiar instrument. Here true perfect pitch begins. 3. Refined chroma discrimination = You can tell if a tone on your instrument is too sharp or flat. 4. Universal chroma discrimination = All chromas are clearly perceived through the "disguises" of many different timbres. 5. Spectral discrimination = Refined chroma discrimination across all timbres and sounds. 6. Aural recall = Without actually hearing a tone, you can imagine its chroma and sing it out in the right pitch any time. These progressive levels of chroma awareness are not completely sequential or isolated from each other. "True pitch" is Chroma Discrimination. The vowels you "transcribe" are the chroma!

If this dude shaved his head... He would look like Dwayne Johnson

If my future child does not have perfect pitch, I'm getting a refund.

“Eating dirt and playing super smash brothers,” that hits deep man. That hits deep.

Well son of a _pitch!_

I always felt like the prevailing wisdom that adults can't learn perfect pitch is lazy thinking. Just because we haven't found a reliable method for everyone doesn't mean we should give up looking. That's why I'm glad to see videos like this.

i've listened to the black parade so many times that i can easily recognize a g note on any instrument

I accidentally developed perfect pitch. As a kid, I HATED sight reading (still do, but I was basically musically illiterate at 5 lmao) so I just learned to associate my piano teacher’s fingers with the correct sounds. Later, I didn’t need to visualize my finger or a keyboard in order to recognize a sound.

10:45 imagine skipping to this part of the video or being somebody watching this without context.

This is what I did to an extent, but I guess I have really good memory. I memorized a bunch of songs starting notes and relate those notes to what Im hearing so: A to me is the first note of Paganinis 24th Caprice B is Rondo alla Turca by Mozart C is the main melody from Berliozs symphonie fantastique 5th movement D is Canon In D's first note E is either Seven Nation Army or Fur Elise F is the fortnite theme (yes, as a meme), G is welcome to the black parade Bb is The chicken by jaco pastorious Eb is Demons by Imagine Dragons C# is This is How I disappear by MCR G# is Na Na by MCR F# is All Star

I play piano, i taped colored tape on my keys, C (red), D (Blue) and so on. It really helped me, when i heard a note i was thinking of a color, this helped me a lot!

Now explain to me how can I do this in my drums.

Every My Chemical Romance fan has perfect pitch but only for the G note

When I was 6 and started playing piano all I played was the C scale over and over and over again... I’ve since memorized C and just count up or down from there. Incredibly useful!

Mi have perfect pitch but it only works for E A D G B E

"Your main instrument you play everyday" Me: "I play drums. Everyday." 😹

You are a very gifted musician. You are looking at the problem from the perspective of making the most of the ability we have and can develop, it is such an inspiring attitude. Thank you so much for posting this video.

This was an excellent video and you taught me something that I had been doing subconsciously while I played clarinet. In high school band we would do ear training exercises and it was basically this: Note is played Hum the note Think of the fingering for that note Play the note This is effectively what you're doing, you are just doing it all mentally. Even today, seven years later, I still do that in my head to reproduce notes. I haven't played my clarinet in 7 years but I now use that practice to help me place tones on guitar. Very useful skill and anyone who plays an instrument can learn it.

Rick Beato: "Wait, that's illegal!"

Dude. I've always though "Surely, if I can recognize a persons voice a week after I first meet them then surely there's a way I can also learn to recognize a note because of its distinct timbre." but i've been to lazy to come up with any method to test this out. So thank you for doing this for me!!

I got the impression, that the saxophon actually is one of the best instruments to learn true pitch.

I have never found a video so helpful and so simple to follow and understand. Thank you so much man. So much respect

Yours is the first video I’ve seen that describes something similar to what I did 30 years ago, when I taught myself around 18. I started with song associations, but with enough playing and practice, I no longer needed the songs which were a crutch that slowed me down. All the other associations came. Like the emotion, sometimes color, and voice of every note. A sounded like a quick “ack!” and G sounded like a boomy rising “broooooom” and C sounded like squeaky descending “beeeeerrom”, regardless of instrument. It made sense why certain songs were written in certain keys. Like C was sunshine innocent happy, and made sense why so many kids songs were in C. Not just because it was all white keys and easy to play. However move a half step up and C# was on the verge of crying. And a half step down and B was just a dull sadness. F was a melancholy happy, F# was angry, G was a more glorious happy. Those are all I remember right now. And no I never drank or smoked or used drugs. Just freedom of mind and time to develop musically. It’s been a long time. For various reasons life happened and I wasn’t able to keep up with the pitch recognition, or even the musical skill. But I miss it and wish I had the opportunity to get it back.

Dude, your facial expressions throughout the video were killing me! xD Nah, but in all seriousness this actually makes me want to learn perfect pitch, i’ve never thought about giving notes literal vowel sounds and i can hear it all too, i also play alto sax and will begin to incorporate these tips whenever i practice, ty for thy useful tips siar!

Deaf people: nice try bro

Is this like Dwayne johnson and bruno mars rolled into one?lmao😂

You have an excellent understanding of the subject discussed. Thank you for this. I have tuned over 45,000 pianos and this is the first time I heard something I can actually use to improve my sense of pitch. (Not for tuning pianos; pianos aren't tuned by pitch but by comparing dissonances and consonances).

I kinda figured this out on my own, also on alto saxophone, and at the beginning of the video I was within a half-step of most of the notes he guessed. It's nice to hear it explained.

You just spoke my mind, this is what I'm trying to do and worked. Your example of the baseball player was my exact words pronounced by you. Thanks for your video dude :like:

I have the G from welcome to the black parade engraved in my mind so I just check intervals but it's still a little hard You are awesome fam!

Fun fact: the sound in this video is half a semitone sharp. I wasn't sure if it was the piano or the video but the sax confirmed it.

Thank you! You’re actually the first person I’ve heard talk about this. I’ve actually had music teachers argue with me that only each instrument has its own timbre, not each note. Finally. Thank you.❤

Developed whistle pitch early in life because the wind instrument accompanied me everywhere. My mother and my grandmother told me to never loose my head. Good thing it’s attached to my body; thus, whistling will continue until death do us apart. Thxs 4 sharing

Dammit dude! You just outlined brilliantly how I did it (I have a video of me identifying notes this way). No one has ever described my own experience so well! I took it a step further though and really learned to hear into the harmonics of each note. I play a note and mentally focus my ear on each harmonic from the fundamental up to about the 11th or 12th harmonic. Each pitch sounds like a unique vowel sound. It also creates a kind of shape/texture experience. Each pitch a unique shape/texture. At some point, with years of practice, your experience of these pitch qualities expands to pretty much any timbre and you automatically identify notes, chords, keys regardless of timbre and without having to fish around in your head to find your "true pitch" instrument sounds. You just hear those sound qualities independent of timbre. I use apps on my phone and computer to work on this more. Also...I remember Shawn Thunder Wallace's video on "true pitch" from years ago. I took issue with it back then because at that point I had made a lot of progress with perfect pitch without even being aware of what I was doing. So his "true pitch" concept didn't really sound like my experience. But I realize now that that was going on under the surface the whole time. And since my recognition of pitch had expanded to include other timbres, I didn't see how it related to a single initial timbre. As of late, I've been referring to it as "micro-timbre" - the subtle differences between the pitches within a single instrument. And the way you described the vowel sounds while playing and singing the notes was exactly my experience! Friggin awesome, man! The only thing I want to add is that I really feel that there's more to it than just being a parlor trick. Developing this perception has really changed my entire experience of music over the years. Each pitch has its own unique character and this has a huge effect on the sound of different keys and adds an extra layer of meaning to songs and pieces of music. So it's not just this dry naming-of-pitches thing. There is a whole different dimension to music and has deepened my connection to it in a massive way. Like, a lot of times, the unique sound of a particular key that a piece of music is in is a big part of what I love about it. Like, it just wouldn't be the same in any other key.

Naysayers “perfect pitch cannot be acquired” This guy: “I acquired perfect pitch” Naysayers “it is not perfect pitch because you acquired it” Beg the question much? This guy has perfect pitch. Yes some have it better some have it worse. He has it

My tinnitus gives me an unshakable reference for the rest of my pitch/tuning...

At first, I was held off by the clickbaity title, but you really had some great points here. Well explained. It gave me some confidence for training more!

This was pretty amazing. The most interesting presentation that I ever heard on music. Nobody ever broke this down like this to me, and I’m playing piano, bassoon, guitar, violin. Ukulele? Anyway. This was fabulous. Thank you.

I just loved the intro XD how casually you approached the camera

Super cool discussion dude! Thanks a bunch for this! I play saxophone too, and just by playing I've memorized a a handful of notes, but haven't put in the timbre reps to get them all. Before this, I hadn't really understood what people meant by "true pitch" or perfect pitch on a specific instrument (the audiation part by imagining yourself playing your own instrument). That was the light bulb moment. I did start learning perfect pitch by memorizing beginning notes of tunes I love though! That totally helps get the keys of songs very quickly too once you practice singing the notes of the songs. That's also audiation because you're recalling a tune, but it makes a lot of sense to learn your own sound for you instrument. I'll try it this way too now :D

the amount of character you have makes this video so enjoyable 😭🖤

Great video Mane. Don't call yourself nothing. You are a musician, saxophonist, hornist, and pianist. You have way more of a handle on this absolute pitch than I do.

Is it weird that instead of color I can hear notes as numbers? When I hear notes I can mentally see a number and the note with it.

I’ve watched this a few times and wanted to try it as my transcribing is poor to say the least. I’ve tried multiple times ear training apps but I can never stick at it and usually I get frustrated because I might do it for a month and my ears seem to have not developed at all. This seems a good way to relate ear training to your instrument. I will update if I manage to get good at this or not

“People who are ‘born’” Yeah, if you really were even born

Pause: What you said at around 4:30 was brilliant. When we hear a note; we know what note that is just by hearing it. We can identify that note linguistically just like we can identify colors linguistically by identifying the terminology. There are a lot of colors, and someone who hasn't went to Art school might not be able to accurately portray that color using words, but it still looks the same. It's the same with perfect pitch, we all have perfect hearing- it's just knowing and understanding the language.

I doubt you have time to read 2k comments but I will comment anyway ;) I find that the more frequently and consistently that I practice, the more that the sound is in my ear. For example, I’m learning by playing 98% just by ear but my brain fills in knowledge of what notes I’m playing. When I start each session I play a few notes from Paul Desmond playing “tangerine”. I hear the notes in my head first and it is always bang on. During my practicing I move on to playing songs that I’m learning (and I always learn them by lifting). I don’t think about what key or the notes. I think about scale degrees and intervals and I just start playing. I’m consistently in the key of the recording. Those are examples of applications of your technique (true pitch). I have played other instruments for decades but just started playing saxophone this year. True pitch is certainly something that can be developed, and I’m an old dog. Young people have way more elasticity to their brains. I also find that other players’ timbre is useful for recognizing pitch. That first note of Dave Pollock’s solo on this I dig of you is so good, so hip, I can hear it at will. Just one note but for some reason it is unbelievable. The note choice, the timbre, the articulation, everything is just BAM! For example: Paul Desmond tangerine Illinois jacquet boddums up Johnny Ferreira Lucille Dave Pollock this I dig of you Hank Mobley walking the fence Lee Morgan the sidewinder Those are some songs I have lifted the melody or parts of solos and the notes come into my mind easily because the player’s sound is so freaking good. So that is another type of application of “true pitch”. Saxologic’s method has the distinction of using your own timbre and instrument to recognize the notes, and being able to apply it to all notes over the range. I will start this as a daily exercise. I also think you have developed this because you practice a lot a lot a lot a lot. One question is what about matching notes to the range of your instrument? What if the note is too high or too low? (Like for example it is a tenor solo with an Illinois jacquet Bb bomb but you play alto). 500 subscribers-now you are a legend! Thank you my friend!! I just watched a bit about the great Canadian pianist glen Gould. He developed perfect pitch very young through exposure to music and playing. He was certainly a genius and his brain was highly elastic at that age. We may be older with less pliable brains but that human ability is still there to a certain extent.

OH MY GOD I HAVE TRUE PITCH!!! I didn’t understand what it was but you described my situation perfectly!!!!! Thanks!!!

I'm also a drummer! It's fun. Keep it up! Anywho.... You don't learn perfect pitch, you either retain it or you don't. People who claim that they've learned perfect pitch at a later age simply refined what they already had. It's easy for the untrained musician with perfect pitch to get note names wrong even though they have the right pitch in their mind. It's through this training that you're able to correctly identify those notes in your head; nothing more. I didn't go into musical training until I've turned 12 and I have perfect pitch. I found out in music theory when my professor would tell the class to tune to "C" for solfedge exercises on an out of tune keyboard. I was one of the few to hear people singing in C# major which was very disorienting. My mom use to play all sorts of music from soundtracks, jazz, rock, hip hop, new wave, etc. Your dad playing the guitar had much more of an impact than you would think. Toddlers absorb everything which is why it's a shame adults underestimate them. I also use to do weird crap like arranging rows of Domino's according to pitch to form melodies or fill up cups with water at different amounts to you've guessed it, form different pitches! On the downside, having this "gift" is a kill joy, especially for something as arbitrary as music. I have trouble playing on out of tune pianos. It's unfortunate because I'd like to experiment with different tuning but it would throw me off. Guess I'll just soldier on! I assumed everyone had it due to how mundane this ability really is. For instance, when I hear a forklift at work, I would yell "that's an Eb!" *Crickets and tumbleweeds* The more important thing is relative pitch because music is about the relationship between tones and rhythms.

Also, Perfect Pitch is not just a "trick". It is wonderful in composing as your ideas go from you thoughts right to notation. It also enhances the listening experience.

thanks for this. I have been working on this for a few months now and it REALLY has helped my ear. I can get to notes faster without thinking about it. They just make themselves available now. like magic! I am very much a beginner but already notice a huge difference in hearing.

i am following a few sax channels but i grew to really appreciate the unique value of yours!

I want to bring this discussion to as Engineering point of view: when you talk about a timbre, you're talking about harmonics, or overtones, that are played at the same time. So If you use the tonic (the note you're playing) as reference, you can figure out which overtones are those, in the way of tone color, so True Pitch is literally harmonic Relative Pitch.

0:53 left a like just for the accuracy

the weird thing is that me and two sisters were raised playing music since like age 3. Both sisters started at a conservatory music school at 5 years old with weekly piano lessons. Not me. i had sporadic lessons outside of school. But...I was the only one who developed perfect pitch ear..... Why?

It's so crazy how we can practice in our head when we can't do it in real time, we can almost improve just as much as we normally would by literally THINKING🤯

Lol, I watched this whole thing at 75% speed without realizing it and thought you were totally stoned. Love your videos! Great content.

that’s crazy. i have “true pitch” but never thought about why i have it. the vowel thing is so true but never did it consciously

when he played that first note at 1:50 , nocturne op 9 no 2 started playing in my head

This is musical memory. And from guessing /knowing the g you can guess the rest

I was in chorus in elementary school, junior high school, high school and college. I was also in county level junior and senior honors choruses for 4 years during high school and masterworks chorus during high school. I have also taken voice lessons. But i need to work on developing perfect pitch and this video will help. Thanks so much.

in the middle of this video i got an ad for a website that teaches you perfect pitch... youve been outplayed, nathan

this dude's so chill

Joke's on you, i was over 6 when the first smash came out.

To recognize a note I have 1 specific music to each note. Example : When I hear a D I immediatly think of "La valse d'Amélie" G# makes me think of the first note of "fantaisie impromptu" Bb its unravel etc... It's all based on a very distingued note of a song.

Something I never talked about but shocked my husband after 30 years. I was playing on my keyboard and then he put some music on and asked what was the first note and I just hit it on my keyboard. He tested me over and over and finally I told him I can hear and repeat the note. I sing flat lol I may not be able to sing in pitch but I sure can hear if you get even 1 semi tone off.

I am beginning to identify the notes by memorizing exactly the timbre, as I do for singing. But they told me it was impossible, now I know which direction I'm going, and I will continue, thank you very much

That is why I struggled in Music Theory. We had to sing a scale without a reference. He would say, “Sing a Doran scale”. I always practiced with an electronic piano. So it all sounded the same. I get it now!

12:20 nobody: sound-sight synesthetes with perfect pitch:

I have perfect pitch and a really helpful tip to use is to finds songs that start with a particular note/chord. Example, let’s take a d note. Songs that start with D can include hey there delilah or something, Am: senorita , C: Imagine by John Lennon and so on. It’s up to you what songs to choose as long as you can tell what note they start with and once you can do that, you’ll be able to apply it to music or even random sounds and can tell which notes are being played.

Wow I tried this for about 3 mins and I pressed a note and it felt like a Ah or A to me, I verbally said “wow”. Also this is called anchoring in psychology, I guess I’m just surprised that it works so accurately in practical things like pitch. Thanks a bunch

Right on my man! Haven't thought about pitch on the keyboard from a vowel perspective. Even as a keyboardist, I find your videos quite helpful. thank you for the work you do.

1:51, I recognized that note instantly because of Chopin's nocturne :0

10:44 I tried doing this in class. The other kids thought I was mental...

This is the first time I've seen a 15 minute long vine

Lol I always saw this video being recommended but just decided to watch it.. It's your personality that really sold this idea to me xD Thanks for the great info

Dude, you are chilled I really admire your style ❤ I’m happy I came across your video on RU-vid, it’s worth listening to!!

I’ve played heart and soul so much I’ve literally embedded the c scale into my brain

I worship you

i upvoted when you said smash bros

A very useful video that needed to exist. Your speech style naturally has me being more receptive to the information (super learning?).

Your an in incredibly smart and nice person, I hope your life unfolds in a way deserving of your generosity and talent.

If you can do this with your voice would that be best?

oh my god bruno mars thanks for the idea!!!!

Great video man! This is the first time I've heard the term "ture pitch" I can't agree more to this idea I was in an orchestra when I was twelve I had practices once a week Somehow I have memorised A because I tuned my instrument A (alto sax haha) Then I have memorised C, then F, then Eb I am still making progress though But will singing work for this? Can I sing and use my voice as the source? Hope to see more from you!

He was very excited about those 500 subscribers, now look at him.

Oh wow, that's interesting, i'm clarinetist, i do play the alto sax and bass clarinet and it is accurate what you say, i tried this when i was watching the video and it works amazing, of course i have almost 10 years playing the clarinet, so it works better for me. Thanks a lot!!!! 👌

My friend has perfect pitch and this is exactly how he recognizes the notes.