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Why you DON'T want Perfect Pitch

Adam Neely · explainer · Watch on YouTube

Music theory, synthesis & productionNeuroscience & the brain

What it is

Adam Neely explains what perfect (absolute) pitch is, how it differs from relative and quasi-absolute pitch, and why he would not want it. He covers its drawbacks, including drift with age.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN links it in threads on absolute pitch as a musician's useful summary of its downsides and age-related decline.

  • 6 people recommended it
  • 4 different months
  • 0 strong recommendations
  • first 2021, last 2025

What HN commenters said

  1. “Adam Neely also has a video about age-related degradation of perfect pitch and about perfect pitch in general”

    Covers age-related decline of perfect pitch and perfect pitch generally.

    leoc, 2021-08 · Recommendation · in “Perfect pitch study: Why can’t we identify music notes as well as colors?”

  2. “It has other drawbacks. Video on the subject”

    Explains drawbacks of perfect pitch versus relative pitch.

    mkr-hn, 2021-08 · Recommendation · in “Perfect pitch study: Why can’t we identify music notes as well as colors?”

  3. “interesting video on that topic by Adam Neely”

    Interesting look at the disadvantages of perfect pitch.

    2pEXgD0fZ5cF, 2023-04 · Recommendation · in “Children aged 2-6 successfully trained to acquire absolute pitch”

  4. “Adam Neely had a good YouTube video on it”

    Discusses perfect pitch as cognitive rather than ear physiology.

    eskaytwo, 2023-06 · Recommendation · in “How My Children (N=2) Acquired Absolute Pitch”

  5. “This video by Adam Neely was helpful”

    Helpful for understanding pitch drifting with age.

    physicles, 2025-02 · Recommendation · in “Learning fast and accurate absolute pitch judgment in adulthood”

  6. “I think this video gives a nice summary of all this from the point of view of a musician”

    Musician's summary of the problems of perfect pitch fading with age.

    soyyo, 2025-02 · Recommendation · in “Learning fast and accurate absolute pitch judgment in adulthood”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: absolute pitch, relative pitch, music cognition, ear training, adam neely

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