This is also something i’m wondering about, following your inner voice has no label to it, it’s just direct tone. So if I’m going 1234 or do re me fa so etc… it’s not really got any connection to the raw tone in my head. It seems like trying to come up with a system to grab on to music is a flawed pursuit. I often feel i’m grabbing at nothing in the dark trying to apply logic and meaning to my inner humming voice you know?
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Well, solfege is supposed to be relative - so you pick a note that is “Do” and whether or not that one is exactly perfect is much less important than the rest of the notes you are solfeging being “in tune” relative to your Do. It’s really all about intervals, and because you don’t exactly have the ability to sing a perfect ‘C’ just yet, you treat it like those days that you played guitar without a tuner and that damn thing, while being in tune to itself was probably tuned to a Low C, and many cents off of that.
Give yourself the freedom to create music just using your voice and then imitate that with your guitar - if that makes any sense? You can explain and define it afterwards. I hope that helps?
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You’re thinking of “relative do,” where you determine what note you want it to be. However, I believe that the more common practice is do=C. The problem with names like C, D, E, etc. is that one can’t sing them.
I use relative do, but my GF with perfect pitch only uses the fixed do (but doesn’t use the extended words that they have for sharps and flats).
I don’t have absolute pitch, but I am certain that when they hear the tone in their head they know exactly what the note is, and they could immediately play it on the piano (or whatever).
For regular people (including most people at conservatory) without perfect pitch, I’m not sure if they use relative do, or what. I think that @joebegly went to conservatory, perhaps he (or somebody else) could tell us what happens there in this regard.
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Yes, relative Do - apologies, I don’t think my post was helpful - move along hahaha
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I thought that your post was helpful, that’s why I was responding to it! 
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Yeah no worries, eons ago when I was at music school we were all taught a moveable do solfege and the course was a lot of pitch guessing, sight-singing melodies and chords, scales modes and intervals, rhythms, etc etc. It’s tough to explain it - it’s pretty involved! Upon re-reading what I posted I think it comes across as confused jabbering hahaha whups
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Have you ever interrogated her on what she experiences when listening to a tone? Lol I know not exactly polite to constantly be on about it, but being your gf you guys are basically one person in a way. I’m really fascinated with perfect pitch, it’s one of the few true obvious abilities some people have and don’t have. Can go quite deep I suppose in how we all experience reality differently, tho I think most of us experience life in very similar ways, if not exactly similar, so any change in that is really interesting to me.
Thats something I will do at some point, record my vocal soloing and then learn it on guitar. Tho there are so many things I “will do” at some point but still haven’t lol. I know that knowing something and realizing something are very different things. Talk the talk vs walk the walk you know.
All I have been able to piece together is the following: All top piano concert artists have perfect pitch, as it apparently is necessary for memorizing large bodies of work. Naturally, they know exactly what note is where, and I suspect that this type of detailed tracking of every note is what helps their memorization process. They have a “mental piano” in their head that their fingers copy on the actual physical piano. In other words, they apparently hear the note in their mind a split-second before their fingers play it.
Most people in conservatory do NOT have perfect pitch and I am told for various ear training courses instructors will play an appropriate reference pitch. I think one can be a great musician without perfect pitch, but apparently not a great concert musician able to play a huge repertoire by memory. Why is all of this memorization necessary, I wonder? This guy, a very interesting story,
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Is she able to turn it off? Like I’ve got a fan on right now and it’s got a tone associated with it, I could find it if I played my guitar n matched the tone. But otherwise it’s literally just mmmmmmmmmmmmmm, I wonder would she experience gggggggggggg lol you know.
I think perhaps the fact I associate the tone with a phonetic vocal might be a form of perfect vocalization if you get me? Only just come across my mind.
I’ve a question if you don’t mind asking kgk, and I understand if you’d rather not ask her. Though I’m wondering when she hums melodies in her head, does she use her inner voice? Or does she uses the notes. You know?
I think when most of us sing a tune in our head we’re using our inner voice, humming along, rather than paying the tones.
If I try, I can play the tones, but I have to focus on not using my inner voice. Does that make sense at all?
I will ask her, but my guess is that any time that she thinks of any musical expression the notes are explicit and not “fuzzy.” If you don’t hear back relatively soon kindly DM me as a reminder.
UPDATE: I asked, and anything that she thinks of is composed of specific notes and she could immediately play it on a piano if she wanted to. I always wanted to try to trick her by asking what key this song is in, but I don’t dare. 
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lol perhaps we non perfect pitch disabled people can appreciate uhh not nonsense, but fun music 
Tho seriously I struggled with this exact thing at uni, I had to solo, over a non harmonic song, and because I used to much harmony n melody I got reprimand… I’m like, yeah…
And I need to incorporate that randomness, this song by pill is very much like that hip hop village song. they both have a flair beyond classic harmony
Every librarian has it’s theory…
I’m genuinely intrested what she would say about these type of songs. I’m being facetious saying non perfect pitch people can enjoy random songs more. They must have a different experience tho…