Perfect Pitch vs. Relative Pitch

Q. Why do I need Relative Pitch when I can have Perfect Pitch?

Many people have an impression that Perfect Pitch is "superior" to Relative Pitch. But that's like comparing apples with oranges.

The truth is, Perfect Pitch and Relative Pitch are completely separate skills, each with its own universe of powers and abilities.

Perfect Pitch and Relative Pitch are complementary -- like the two hemispheres of your brain. They work TOGETHER.

Let's compare the two:

Without Perfect Pitch
or Relative Pitch:

A completely untrained ear has little or no comprehension of what it hears. Basically: zero.

This is the experience of the common man or woman who has no musical training at all.

Of course, anyone can ENJOY music -- without ANY training whatsoever. For the average person, music is experienced and enjoyed on a purely vibrational level, without any knowledge at all of what is going on. And that is perfectly fine for most people.

But an untrained ear doesn't deliver to you an experience that can UNDERSTAND the music.

Without Perfect Pitch or Relative Pitch, your knowledge of the music you hear is really nil -- bleak and blurred. You do not know what chords are playing, nor the names of any pitches you hear. You cannot clearly find the harmonies or see into the structure of the music.

In fact, to the untrained ear, all details of the music are lost.

With Relative Pitch
(and WITHOUT Perfect Pitch):

Your ear now hears the music with a clear, sharp focus.

Now you clearly hear what is going on in the music. You know all the chords you hear: Major Seventh, Dominant Ninth, Sharp Five, etc. -- and you can probe deep into all the musical harmonies BY EAR.

With Relative Pitch, you can name ANY KIND of chord -- instantly -- BY EAR:

As you compose or play by ear, Relative Pitch also tells you how to harmonize a melody -- and how harmonies progress to create a musical flow.

When you can FOLLOW THE FLOW OF MUSIC by ear, you can improvise and play by ear to an impressive degree.

To put it simply: Relative Pitch gives you mastery of the musical language -- all BY EAR.

With such crystal clarity and focus, Relative Pitch confers countless talents and skills on you. In fact, many musicians believe that Relative Pitch is all you need in order to be a great musician. And for many people, this is probably true.

But Relative Pitch lacks a certain aesthetic experience. It lacks the artistic experience of pitch COLOR.

What do we mean by pitch color?

Well, with Relative Pitch, you are hearing all the tones as "black and white." In other words, they all sound the same. The only real difference is that some tones sound "higher" and some sound "lower."

Relative Pitch cannot tell you when you hear a G#. Nor can Relative Pitch tell the difference between a C major chord and an F major chord.

Something more is needed in your experience to know the EXACT tones you are hearing.

With Perfect Pitch
(and WITHOUT Relative Pitch):

Perfect Pitch give you the perception of an ARTIST. It endows you with the rich COLOR of every pitch you hear.

When you hear a C#, you know it's a C#, and not a Bb -- similar to the way you can tell red from blue.

This experience revolutionizes your abilities in music, because now you know the EXACT TONES you are hearing. This opens up countless talents to any musician.

However, without the clarity of Relative Pitch, the experience of Perfect Pitch may not be fully focused.

Contrary to popular ideas about Perfect Pitch, Perfect Pitch ALONE does not give you the full details of the music.

To gain the full details of what is going on, another dimension of hearing is needed. That is the dimension of Relative Pitch . . .

With Perfect Pitch
AND Relative Pitch:

Now . . . here's how Perfect Pitch and Relative Pitch work TOGETHER:

Relative Pitch tells you, for example, that you hear a Major Seventh chord.

But now the question is: WHICH Major Seventh is it? Are you hearing E Major Seventh? G Major Seventh? Or maybe . . . F# Major Seventh?

This is where your Perfect Pitch comes into play. Perfect Pitch tells you the EXACT TONES, so you can pinpoint the ROOT of the chord you are hearing.

In the example below, the root of the chord is D, so now you know that the chord is D Major Seventh:

Working together, Perfect Pitch and Relative Pitch give you complete knowledge of the chord -- all BY EAR.

Learn the Language of Music

Q. Yes, but doesn't Perfect Pitch also tell me the KIND of chord I'm hearing?

No. Perfect Pitch tells you the EXACT TONES. It is your sense of Relative Pitch that lets you understand how tones RELATE to each other to form chords.

It's like this:

LETTERS in the alphabet are used to make WORDS that you understand. These words then create SENTENCES that you can understand.

It's similar in music . . .

Individual PITCHES are used to make CHORDS. Each chord has its own particular quality. Chords then flow to create musical PROGRESSIONS that make a musical statement.

Perfect Pitch tells you the EXACT PITCHES you hear (the "letters" of the musical alphabet). Only Relative Pitch lets you understand the actual LANGUAGE of music by ear.

Course Contents