In the spirit of posting useful gadgets and stuff:
http://good-ear.com/servlet/EarTrainer

(You aren't fooling me, I know you are just trying to get ahead of me in the post count.)

Actually, this is very cool and something I need more of. My 8-year-old can sing a tune and be right on pitch. I was not born with that gift and struggle with it a lot.

-Eric

I got 12 out of 12 on beginner! Needless to say it was pretty easy, but I'm really lousy on pitch so I left it there for now. If I play the intro chords to a song on guitar, I often can't get the right note to start singing on!

Interesting, but it could sure do with improvements on the interface and design.

Uh oh Eric, now Twizzle is pulling the same stuff and even has the "audacity" to go to the site and test himself as a cover-up for his blatant "hike-up your post count" scheme.

Seeking to maintain a comfortable lead,

Curtis

O.K., just for the record, I'm not the "Martin" of "good-ear.com. (that's one more for me)

"Martin" to my family (you guys are family-feel free)

Cool! We use to drill endlessly on stuff like this in college and I found it very useful. Especially when it came to figuring out other people's tunes.

My wheels screached to a halt in the "perfect pitch" section though. That's something I just don't have.

In grad school I took a music cognition class, and there was this one study how people who don't normally have perfect pitch can still, in a large percentage of cases, identify the first note of a song they know really well. It's a fun experiment... think of a song you are very familiar with, try to "hear" the first note in your head, then go see if it matches the recording. There's often one or two songs people can do this consistently with.

Don't ask me why but my 'relative E' is the intro to Iron Maiden's 'Wasted Years'

I have a course that I am going through called "Perfect Pitch" from David Lucas Burge (I have the Relative Pitch one as well) I can see how you can learn it in theory but am a long way away in practice. I guess he has taught all kinds of people how to do it at all stages of life and is definitely not of the school that claims that you are "born with it". Of course, kids can always pick stuff up so fast that it make it seem that way when the environment is sufficiently conducive.

I also have my kids doing EarMaster (School version) which is a very nice a fun to use program. It is focused completely on Relative pitch and rhythm. I wish they had a Mac version because we have to use it via Parallels.

I have just recently recommitted to an ear training program. I now have 20 minutes per day committed to this area. I certainly need it.

Did I just hear a tire on the highway ring out a a Bb5 about 2.7 cents sharp? Ah they must have let off the gas a bit that is better.

Oh, sorry, just a delusional moment, it has now passed.

-Curtis

Oh absolutely! I've noticed this on many occasions. It's especially true when you're listening to entire albums that you know really well. When a song ends, you'll find yourself humming the beginning of the next song and most of the time you'll be spot on.