Imperfect Perfect Pitch

“Can you tell me what note this is? OOOO…”

That’s usually how it starts when people find out I have perfect pitch. I can’t lie, it is a very fun party trick. I went through this experience at CALE 2026 with some of my friends who discovered I had it. For whatever reason, after playing those games again, I had many questions about the topic.

This essay is for the musicians who happen to stumble upon this, or even just those who are generally curious about the topic.

How did I even discover that I had this ability?

I had first discovered my perfect pitch around the end of 2023. I don’t recall exactly how the conversation started, but I remember it was about music theory and how to play music. People were talking about how interesting perfect pitch is, and for whatever reason, I went around trying to identify music notes just by listening to music and sounds.

I believe there was construction going on at the University of Guelph around this time, and I distinctly remember picking out a B-flat. One thing led to another, and I found one of those “Identify the Note” videos on YouTube. I got a lot of them right.

I should preface this by stating that music has been a huge part of my life. I had taken piano lessons since I was in nursery school, and only quit because of high school and because guitar became more interesting to me once I got more into rock music. My parents have always told me that I was really good at listening to songs on the radio, for example, and playing them back on the piano.

Even when I listened to my dad play, I could occasionally play back what he did. Obviously, I didn’t play it well since he has been playing his whole life, and my age was in the single digits at the time, but at the very least, I knew what notes he was playing.

So what?

Great question. I ask myself this constantly. Quite honestly, the answer to that question really depends on who you ask.

I personally believe that there are three categories that perfect pitch uses fall into: “helpful if you know music theory” and “purely party tricks.” These aren’t mutually exclusive, though. For example: note identification. It’s a party trick if someone just wants to play a musical note using their phone, or even just by humming.

This then becomes “helpful if you know music theory” when you learn about major and minor scales, root notes, and how songs are structured as a whole. For example, with knowledge that all of these scales have different notes, I can identify the keys of songs by listening to them and constructing scales in my head based on the notes I hear. Using the root note, I can identify the key, and though I don’t always know the exact intervals for major and minor scales, I can determine that based on whether it sounds happy or sad, for example.

Another party trick that is somewhat useful is that I can tune a guitar by ear and only be one or two cents off. I still rely on tuners, though, because of that.

Perfect pitch also makes improvisation easier. This one is really helpful for playing instruments. Many people, when playing guitar, for example, need to understand systems like CAGED. When I improvise, I play by the interval, which is basically what you’re doing anyway, but it comes a bit more naturally to me than it may to others. Do I still make mistakes? Absolutely. That’s because I don’t practice enough, though.

It is also stupidly easy for me to transcribe music. I can listen to guitar chords and riffs, and easily pick out individual notes in a guitar chord and know what string they are on. This is solely because each string has a different voice. The higher strings sound lighter, and the lower strings have more weight to their notes. I’m sure if I wanted to make a bit of extra cash, I could go onto one of those tab request websites and set up an account.

Similarly, when I’m trying to come up with my own chord structures, I mentally understand what I’m hearing when I put my fingers on the guitar frets and strum. There’s this intuitive understanding that I have where certain sounds “just make sense.”

But you titled this essay “Imperfect Perfect Pitch!” Where does it go wrong?

Usually, for me, it tends to go wrong when I overthink the notes. If I struggle for even half a second, my mind begins to overthink.

For me, perfect pitch is akin to having a bunch of reference notes in my mind, and I categorize what I hear into those boxes. For me, F is a bit more finicky than other notes because I don’t practice it enough. Ironically, that has made me better at identifying F notes.

As a result, perfect pitch comes a lot more naturally to me when I am exhausted, as I do not have time to overthink. Circling back to CALE 2026, when we were on a bus Friday evening, my friends were still trying to get me to guess notes. I was in a state where I was falling asleep while walking, quite honestly. I hadn’t slept well the night before. As a result, I was able to identify notes with no trouble.

So what’s the point, really?

The point is that perfect pitch is a tool, not just a trick. Even if it’s not always an accurate tool, it is there. Like any good tool, you must maintain it to ensure it works properly by practicing note identification and engaging with the music you listen to, or it may rust over time.

I feel like many people view perfect pitch as a party trick, which isn’t a bad thing, but the reality is that it’s actually quite useful. I can hear entire melodies in my head, and if I ever wanted to write songs, I’d have an advantage. I am grateful for the ability, because it means I can pursue my passion for music more deeply, with ease, and a better understanding than if I didn’t have it.