# Test your musical ear...
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-your-musical-ear/381445
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [November 22, 2006, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-your-musical-ear/381445 "2006-11-22T18:11:34Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@newcrasher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcrasher)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2006, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-your-musical-ear/381445/1 "2006-11-22T18:11:34Z")
I took this [test](http://jakemandell.com/tonedeaf/) and got a 75%. I really thought I had done much better.
It plays 2 musical lines, one after the other, and you have to decide if it is the same line repeated or if the 2 are different. There is a fairly interesting ananlysis of how you did at the end.
So how did you do?
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### Author:  [@velvetjones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velvetjones)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2006, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-your-musical-ear/381445/2 "2006-11-22T18:37:31Z")
%77.8
Which sucks because I’m a musician and I thought I had a better ear than that.
Some of the samples were tough for me to pick out because of the particular type of sound file it was.
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### Author:  [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2006, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-your-musical-ear/381445/3 "2006-11-22T18:45:43Z")
I’d taken it thru a Sweet Adelines message board where it was stated that Baritones and Arrangers tend to score higher than others - I’m neither and I got an 87.4%
\*\*newcrasher \*\* - do you sing?
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### Author:  [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2006, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-your-musical-ear/381445/4 "2006-11-22T18:47:53Z")
86.1% and I’m willing to be that most of my misses where ones that were the same, but I marked them as different. I think I was trying to listen for much more subtle differences then there really were.
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### Author:  [@newcrasher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcrasher)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2006, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-your-musical-ear/381445/5 "2006-11-22T18:50:50Z")
[QUOTE=anyrose]
I’d taken it thru a Sweet Adelines message board where it was stated that Baritones and Arrangers tend to score higher than others - I’m neither and I got an 87.4%
\*\*newcrasher \*\* - do you sing?
[/QUOTE]
I play guitar and sing in a choir. When I play guitar, I am not scared to accompany myself, but I am no great singer…
…why do you ask?
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### Author:  [@Hockey\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hockey_Monkey)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2006, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-your-musical-ear/381445/6 "2006-11-22T18:51:10Z")
63.9%
Some of the samples were beautiful.
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### Author:  [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2006, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-your-musical-ear/381445/7 "2006-11-22T18:52:34Z")
88.8%, and there was one I knew was different but hit the wrong button without thinking. :smack:
I’m happy. I thought I’d lost more hearing than that in the sweaty, cement-floored concert halls of America.
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### Author:  [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2006, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-your-musical-ear/381445/8 "2006-11-22T18:53:30Z")
[QUOTE=newcrasher]
I play guitar and sing in a choir. When I play guitar, I am not scared to accompany myself, but I am no great singer…
…why do you ask?
[/QUOTE]
Musicians tend to score higher than non musicians, and singers tend to score the highest among musicians
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### Author:  [@DeVena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeVena)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2006, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-your-musical-ear/381445/9 "2006-11-22T19:02:46Z")
83.3% Correct
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### Author:  [@ErinPuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ErinPuff)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2006, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-your-musical-ear/381445/10 "2006-11-22T19:11:29Z")
86.1%. I know it’s supposed to be hard, but I’m disappointed in myself! (I’m a music major and got an A in both semesters of ear training, although it’s been a couple years since then.)
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### Author:  [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2006, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-your-musical-ear/381445/11 "2006-11-22T19:32:33Z")
86.1% Correct. I think I overthought a few of them, but that was harder than I thought it would be.
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### Author:  [@Zog\_10](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zog_10)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2006, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-your-musical-ear/381445/12 "2006-11-22T19:51:56Z")
77.8 and I am not a musician at all. However, I do hang out with a lot of musicians so I may have devloped some over time.
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### Author:  [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2006, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-your-musical-ear/381445/13 "2006-11-22T20:06:23Z")
83.3%
I kept wanting to say “umm, play them again!”
dangit.
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### Author:  [@Dervorin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervorin)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2006, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-your-musical-ear/381445/14 "2006-11-22T20:15:32Z")
Only 72.2%. I have to say I’m disappointed with that.
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### Author:  [@newcrasher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcrasher)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2006, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-your-musical-ear/381445/15 "2006-11-22T20:28:25Z")
Apparently I suck…
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### Author:  [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2006, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-your-musical-ear/381445/16 "2006-11-22T21:14:46Z")
[QUOTE=AHunter3]
83.3%
I kept wanting to say “umm, play them again!”
[/QUOTE]
77.8% and same here.
There were more than a few where I couldn’t remember the first one when it came time for the second.
On the cool side, I was correct on the one that only 22% of people get right.
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### Author:  [@Godfrey\_Daniels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Godfrey_Daniels)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2006, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-your-musical-ear/381445/17 "2006-11-22T21:42:11Z")
83.3%. I can live with that.
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### Author:  [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2006, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-your-musical-ear/381445/18 "2006-11-22T21:43:10Z")
I came in here to test my musical ass. Anyone got that website?
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### Author:  [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2006, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-your-musical-ear/381445/19 "2006-11-22T22:03:52Z")
83.3% when I took the test a while ago. BTW, there are 36 samples, so that score is 30 right out of 36.
In a couple of the samples I could hear the difference by the third or fourth note of the second version of the sample.
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### Author:  [@yellowval](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowval)
#### Post date: [November 22, 2006, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/test-your-musical-ear/381445/20 "2006-11-22T22:25:59Z")
Another 83.3%
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