Relative Pitch Training! Train Your Ears Fun with a Free Game

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What is Relative Pitch? Explaining the Difference from Absolute Pitch

When you think “I want to learn to play by ear” or “I want to improve my pitch,” you often hear the term “relative pitch.”

First, let’s clarify what it actually is and how it differs from absolute pitch, which is often confused with it.

Relative Pitch is the Ability to Feel “Sound Distance”

Relative pitch is the ability to grasp the sound distance (interval), meaning “how much higher or lower a sound is” relative to a reference tone.

For example, it is the power to identify that “this is a 5th higher” after hearing a “Sol” (G) following a “Do” (C).

Comparison Table of Relative Pitch and Absolute Pitch

Feature	Relative Pitch	Absolute Pitch
Judgment Method	Judged by comparing with other sounds	Can be judged independently without comparison
Acquisition Period	Can be trained even as an adult	Limited to childhood (mainly up to age 6)
Main Benefits	Strong for understanding transposition and chord progressions	Can identify note names without a reference tone

Point:

While absolute pitch depends on talent and childhood environment, relative pitch can be acquired by anyone at any age with the right training!

3 Major Benefits of Training Relative Pitch

There is a reason why it is said that “having relative pitch makes music more fun.”

1. Playing by ear becomes overwhelmingly faster. Because you can capture the “movement” of melodies and chords as patterns, you can reproduce them on an instrument without sheet music.
2. Improvisation and composition skills improve. You can immediately turn melodies ringing in your head into sound, allowing for free performance.
3. Pitch becomes stable in karaoke and chorus. You will be able to grasp the relationship with surrounding sounds and accompaniment, leading to the correction of poor pitch.

What is Your Level? Challenge the Relative Pitch Test!

First, it is important to know your current ability.

Please use the browser game at the top of this page.

Since it supports listening to chords as well as single notes, a comprehensive test is possible with just this.

Recommended Relative Pitch Training Methods for Beginners

Here are the steps to efficiently train your pitch.

1. Develop the habit of singing with “Movable Do”

This is a method of singing by reading the tonic as “Do” regardless of the key. This makes it easier for the role of the sound (degree) to become established in the brain.

2. Memorize the “opening” of specific melodies

Linking phrases from songs you know with sound distances is a shortcut.

3. Touch it little by little every day in a game format

For pitch training, continuing “5 minutes every day” is more important than doing it for a long time at once.

• Listen to the reference tone
• Listen to the question
• Answer on the keyboard

By repeating this cycle like a game, your brain will naturally remember the sense of sound distance.

Summary: Let’s Continue the Game Every Day!

Relative pitch is not acquired overnight, but if you continue while feeling the “joy of guessing the notes,” it will definitely improve.

The training game at the beginning of this article is designed to be solvable with relative pitch, even without absolute pitch. Please try to make it a habit, starting with 5 times a day.