[lohankin]

Perfect pitch is very common, can be developed by training. My daughter said once she was the only one in their class who didn't have perfect pitch (she was on music program at university). Musicians don't agree whether perfect pitch is necessary, or even whether it's beneficial. What you do need is 'absolute relative pitch' - the ability to identify intervals. I don't have perfect pitch, but I can play any melody from the first listen right away, transposed into key of F major (or G minor for minor keys). I just know these keys very well. The secret of learning how to play by ear is: transpose everything into the same key, and play it there. Never try to master all keys - it's impossible (very few people, even among world-class musicians, can play in all keys equally well). (I'm speaking about piano. On other instruments, the situation can be different).

[brooklyn_ashey]

why was this down voted. as a career musician, I'd agree with this- but maybe not the transpose it into the same key part. Perhaps that is a piano related issue? (although f major is a horn player's key, so the key confused me) It is true that even world class professional musicians hate playing in certain keys because the key itself does not sit well under the fingers on a particular instrument. For example, the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto sits great under the fingers of every pro level violinist, and that is because it sits great on the violin. That's why he wrote it in D!