Do ALL rock stars possess PERFECT pitch?

Re: Do ALL rock stars possess PERFECT pitch?

Go see Neil Young live, his ear is so bad he can't even tell when his guitar is out of tune. Or he simply doesn't care.
Knowing Neil, it's probably both.

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Re: Do ALL rock stars possess PERFECT pitch?

I knew a sound engineer who had perfect pitch. It was more amusing than anything else, when he would name the notes of a police siren, an elevator's "ding", etc. I don't believe he actually benefited from it in any practical sense.
 
Re: Do ALL rock stars possess PERFECT pitch?

Knowing Neil, it's probably both.

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According to the guy in the youtube video posted earlier, you lose perfect pitch by age 60.

I remember Neil being on howard stern a few years back. His guitar was out of tune and he refused to tune it in front of howard. In fact, Fred tuned it up for him and he started rocking. However, he would switch tunings on the fly live all the time earlier in his career.
 
Re: Do ALL rock stars possess PERFECT pitch?

I saw him live back in '91and it was one of the loudest shows I've ever heard. I know what my hearing is like at my age, and it would come as no surprise to me if his is even worse.

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Re: Do ALL rock stars possess PERFECT pitch?

I worked a couple Chuck Berry shows and saw him on Carson a couple times. He NEVER tuned his guitar. It sounded bad, and he didn't care as long as he got paid.
 
Re: Do ALL rock stars possess PERFECT pitch?

I worked a couple Chuck Berry shows and saw him on Carson a couple times. He NEVER tuned his guitar. It sounded bad, and he didn't care as long as he got paid.

Hey it's all about that duck-walk!
 
Re: Do ALL rock stars possess PERFECT pitch?

I knew a sound engineer who had perfect pitch. It was more amusing than anything else, when he would name the notes of a police siren, an elevator's "ding", etc. I don't believe he actually benefited from it in any practical sense.

It seems to me that the only practical application for perfect pitch would be in singing a cappella... and even then not particularly necessary.

Perfect pitch always seemed more like a nifty novelty to me instead of actually being useful. Who cares if you're off by a few hertz as long as the whole instrument is in tune with itself and/or all the pieces are in tune with one another?
 
Re: Do ALL rock stars possess PERFECT pitch?

I have good relative pitch, but only have ever met 3 people in my life with absolute pitch. Two of them were twins (creepy) and they both had a genius-level IQ, but were somewhere on the very socially awkward spectrum...the 3rd one I knew was as well, and made his living as a piano tuner, and was also very socially awkward. Maybe not enough of a sampling, but that is my experience.

And I don't believe it can be taught. Not to the level that these people did it.
 
Re: Do ALL rock stars possess PERFECT pitch?

Just realized that I forgot to answer the actual question from the thread title, so...

I doubt that any more than a handful of rock stars have perfect pitch, and even THAT might be an exaggeration. It's a rare skill already and it's really not any kind of a requirement for being a musician at any level.
 
Re: Do ALL rock stars possess PERFECT pitch?

Ithe 3rd one I knew was as well, and made his living as a piano tuner, and was also very socially awkward.
And I don't believe it can be taught. Not to the level that these people did it.

Friend of mine was a piano tuner (didn't have perfect pitch) and he had to stop because he said not only did it hurt his social interactions, but it made him start to go a little insane. He was making good money too.

And I agree with you it cannot be taught. Once you meet someone who has it and spend some time with them...you realize it's something else entirely hah.
 
Re: Do ALL rock stars possess PERFECT pitch?

"Do ALL rock stars possess PERFECT pitch?"

Only if they're true, bonafide rock stars.
 
Re: Do ALL rock stars possess PERFECT pitch?

Two of them were twins (creepy) and they both had a genius-level IQ, but were somewhere on the very socially awkward spectrum...

Sounds like a Stephen King plot device.
 
Re: Do ALL rock stars possess PERFECT pitch?

One more thing not to google: "creepy twins"
 
Re: Do ALL rock stars possess PERFECT pitch?

Exactly. When Mincer said "creepy" it sent shivers down my spine.
 
Re: Do ALL rock stars possess PERFECT pitch?

I kind of doubt that perfect pitch is purely genetic. I have a feeling it also has to do with absorbing music in infancy and getting it hardwired into one's brain as another language.

I think it's possible to learn how each note sounds. I know how C, E, G, Ab, and A sound pretty well. But I can never remember them all. I didn't start music until 15 though.
 
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Re: Do ALL rock stars possess PERFECT pitch?

Do ALL rock stars possess PERFECT pitch? Hmmm... Have you even listened to most rock music?
 
Re: Do ALL rock stars possess PERFECT pitch?

Any off-pitches annoyed the hell out of them, which means they were pretty much pissed off all the time.

I bet they all loved players like Carlos Santana! :laugh2:
I agree with other posters that it must have been rather irritating playing with them though! ;)
 
Re: Do ALL rock stars possess PERFECT pitch?

I kind of doubt that perfect pitch is purely genetic. I have a feeling it also has to do with absorbing music in infancy and getting it hardwired into one's brain as another language.

I think it's possible to learn how each note sounds. I know how C, E, G, and Ab sound pretty well. But I can never remember them all. I didn't start music until 15 though.

Thing is, it isn't about learning how each note sounds. They *know* how each note sounds. I've seen it at a pretty young age, too, around parents that weren't particularly musical. I think it is an anomaly, really. Like a part of their brain that is switched on that isn't for most people. There are people who can look at huge columns of numbers and recite them all back in order. Just a strange thing. The rest of the world's musicians learn the traditional way- using pattern recognition and relative pitch.
 
Re: Do ALL rock stars possess PERFECT pitch?

The nature vs. nurture argument will never be resolved because they BOTH are important.

No, most rock stars do not have perfect pitch.

Then there are the pop stars....

:saeek:
 
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