How to develop perfect pitch

Question

If someone would play a random note I'll know what it is but I can't just hear a song and play it. How am I spouse to do that?

Welcome! This topic has already been covered, in this thread as well as many others that you can find by searching: What are some useful and effective exercises for training absolute pitch? — Andy Bonner, Nov 10 '22 at 15:49
I suspect you're not asking how to develop perfect pitch - by at least one definition of perfect pitch, anyone who can identify heard notes by name without looking at anything or needing a prior reference note already has perfect pitch, and it seems like you can already pull that off - but how to figure out music by ear, which is a different enough art. — Dekkadeci, Nov 10 '22 at 16:41

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 10 '22 at 15:30

If someone would play a random note I'll know what it is

That is all that perfect pitch is. It is not a magical bullet.

Hearing a song and playing it takes a lot of musical training. Identifying the starting pitch for someone without absolute pitch is a matter of playing one note and then reorienting themselves with relative pitch.

Having absolute pitch saves you maybe a second of work here.

With some people, perfect pitch surfaces in the course of lots and lots of training, so sometimes it is assumed to be a (sometimes coveted) indicator of musical prowess.

So with a solid musical education and good musical skills, your absolute pitch recognition ability (assuming that you don't lose it over the course of training your musical abilities) may give you an edge for impressing musicians. But an edge needs substance behind it if it is supposed to make a difference.

Come on, dv-er. Explain yourself - if you can. – Tim Nov 10 '22 at 19:38 — Tim, Nov 10 '22 at 19:38

score -1 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 10 '22 at 15:52

It will depend mainly on how well you can play an instrument, and we don't know that.

Absolute pitch might work - slowly, were you to recognise and play a tune note by note, but what a slow process that will be.

You also don't say whether it's merely the melody, or the harmonies which go alongside. That's a completely different kettle of worms. For that, just possessing absolute pitch isn't a lot of, if any help. You need to have a good grounding in music theory to be able to decipher the chords, and lots of experience in doing just that.

Sorry, there's no quick route to where you want to be.

Come on dv-er. Explain yourself. – Tim Nov 10 '22 at 19:37 — Tim, Nov 10 '22 at 19:37

How to develop perfect pitch

2 Answers2