This has come up a few times in discussions, and I figure it warrants its own thread.
I have a "pitch sense" that comes naturally to me. Honestly, I don't know how to describe it better than "perfect pitch," although it's not totally perfect as it can be tricked and doesn't get me 100% accurate, although usually it gets me well within a semitone (right to the point where the "beats" of out-of tune strings or notes played together get really nasty).
-The Way It Works For Me:
The way I perceive a note is that a it seems to "sing" its name to me as it's played, sung, or generated. It's that simple, and that weird. Each note has its own "consonant" sound that my mind "hears" it as. I hear "Enter Sandman" as a sort of "pitched" "E, EGBbA" (when played in standard tuning) as opposed to what I can only assume others hear as notes.
Basically, I can name a note that is sung or played as long as there is nothing to change the "consonant" sound of the note (i.e. lyrics, heavy wah use, envelope filters, whammy bars, some particularly jarring harmonic squeals), since anything that changes said "consonant" sound changes the way the note "speaks" to me, screwing up my pitch.
I have problems with super low notes that have a lot of distortion on them (grindy downtuned bass with little attack, or bad double bass players playing in "unison") as they just don't seem to speak clearly. Conversely, synth pads, vocal ahhs, and lyrical instruments or sounds like cello, violin, oboe, or Joe Satriani are very easy for me to pick up on.
Extremely fast somewhat chromatic licks like Symphony X's riff to "Inferno" or some of Vai's more widdly solos are also difficult for me to understand as each note doesn't get a chance to "speak" clearly, and I have a hard time approximating a tonality and figuring out the notes that way.
Chords are a mixed bag. I usually hear the root or fifth, unless there's a standout note in terms of dissonance in which case I usually hear that as the "speaking" note. But, I do have enough musical ear training to be able to identify most 6ths, 7ths, 9ths, and sus- chords by how they sound, and kind of work backwards from there. It is slower than normal, though... it's like memorizing that 2+2 is 4 versus having to mentally add two and two to get four each time.
It can, also, like I've alluded to in previous threads, be "tricked." If an instrument gradually wanders out of tune, or is there to provide a seriously flawed (maybe just under a quarter tone) "reference pitch," my sense of pitch may temporarily realign to that "standard" if I hear it for long enough or aren't specifically concentrating on it; although if given two pitches I will nearly 100% of the time choose the more correct one.
However, with songs that are entirely a half-step down or up (nothing less or more), my pitch sense "moves" to make it easier to hear what the notes are singing... after all "Db" is easier to process when it's just "D". I can tell when this happens, though, unlike the above example of <quarter tone detunings.
-What it means for me, and how I hear things:
I don't actually know or understand how most people hear music. It's weird to think that. I can't even think of a good analogy for it...
When listening to multi-instrumental music, my mind likes to select whatever instrument is most prominent and focus on that, digesting its pitch. I can also consciously choose instruments to break down. I have a very hard time hearing an ensemble in its entirety without really really concentrating on it... and the instant my concentration wavers I focus on a single melody line or instrument again.
-If due to some effect I can't understand the notes (wah, lyrics etc.) my mind attempts to identify notes anyways, usually wrongly or confusedly, which is pretty distracting.
Transposing (and guitar alternate tunings) are a real bitch as I essentially have to relearn the whole song or fretboard since I'm not hearing what I'm expecting to hear as I play something.
Learning most riffs and jamming is relatively simple, though, since I can follow the bass player pretty easily or even identify the chords being played. Usually the only reason I may not be able to play something exactly right is due to a lack of guitar technique or chord/fretboard knowledge. I can usually approximate it though.
The only other issue I have deals with my speed of thought. I usually have to think of a melody before I can play it, making it pretty hard for me to really rip it up on any instrument.
-My musical background; so you know where this might have come from:
I have played cello since 3rd grade (that makes 13 years now) and guitar for about six. My first sevenstring came about two months ago, but needs some setup and fret work (and a new bridge pickup) before I can really get to grips with it.
I didn't consciously develop this skill; instead, I just didn't realize that it was exceptional until I started playing non-classical (i.e. less heavily notated) music and realized that most people just couldn't pick up and play with my riffs and such the way I could with theirs.
Anyways, that's the gist of it. Getting this out has helped me understand a bit more of how it works and why.
Does anyone else have perfect pitch, or good relative pitch, and any explanations of how it works for them? Any weird experiences?
Or am I just a freak?
EDIT: Wow, that's a lot of text. Making it easier to read...