Online sources say that a plucked guitar string, for example, is a standing wave, and that's what produces the sound we hear. This includes the fundamental frequency and overtones.
However, what I see never discussed is what a non-harmonic frequency/wave would be like on a musical instrument. Is every note that you hear on a piano/guitar/etc. a standing wave/harmonic? Why is this the case? Is it the length of the string? Is it possible to have a traveling wave produced on a musical instrument?
The site above says:
> At any frequency other than a harmonic frequency, the resulting disturbance of the medium is irregular and non-repeating.
I think I've seen a chladni plate, for example, where when vibrated at non-resonant frequencies, the sand is scattered and irregular. What's the analogue for musical instruments?
Thanks!!
For example, if I pluck the A string of a guitar, both E strings will resonate with it. Do the E strings in turn produce harmonics associated with the harmonic series of E, or do they only vibrate at the frequency of E without harmonics? Why or why not? Thanks!
I'm MDing a show and am consolidating the strings to a keyboard part playing string patches. What's the best way to replicate harmonics without using a library? Is it just playing the harmonics in the higher register? I'm not a string player, so it's not clear to me how the written notation relates to the sounding pitches.
This shouldn't be news to many people here, but (Ross Duffin): "It is also thought that the prevalence of the octave, fifth, fourth, and major and minor thirds in the lower part of the harmonic series contributed to the development of our concept of harmony, in which those intervals form the most common components of chords. Chords in the Western (that is, European) music tradition, therefore, are not merely a culturally evolved arrangement of musical sounds into a system but a natural phenomenon based on the physical science of acoustics."
Well, I came across this paper discussing (and demonstrating) the idea of making a piano with different overtones by changing the design of the strings - specifically altering the thickness so that half of the string is double the thickness of the other half (I believe the thicker segment was placed over the center so that the top and bottom quarter lengths of the string were of half thickness). They demonstrate - and notice that major and minor chords suddenly don't sound quite "in tune". So the selection of just intervals (fifths, fourths, major/minor thirds) is a natural phenomenon... but it's one that occurs in select conditions: for instance, in strings that are the same thickness across their length.
(As an aside if you're interested in that concept on its own: they call it the "hyperpiano" because it completes at the double-octave, while the octave becomes dissonant like a tritone - and also equivalent in terms of being in the middle of the instrument's "octave.")
Okay, well, what if you made a "hyperpiano" with strings like theirs, or any other alternate design resulting in a different spread of overtones, and then built an altered tuning system around the resulting overtone spectrum so that you could do the microtonal equivalent / counterpart of building major chords out of the high presence of fifth and third harmonics on a regular string? If the major chord suddenly sounds screwed up when the overtones change, do things like diminished and augmented chords sound a little "screwed up" to us now because of their relationship to the overtones produced by the instruments they're being played on, too? If so, can we change that?
I'm specifically most interested in the idea of building an approach to microtonal chords and harmony here. It seems very few microtonal works venture
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I am a big Gojira fan and I’ve been playing guitar for about a year and a half now. I learn their songs on rocksmith and in many of their songs, such as Grind and Born For One Thing, they pinch harmonic the sixth string going down the fret board (5,4,3,etc) but it sounds like it is going up in the song. When I watch covers for these songs I see that people also go down the fretboard but the pitch rises. Can anyone explain this to me?
Specifically the cello. I can’t seem to find anything that fits the bill for me. I don’t need anymore workhorse string libraries because I’ve got that front covered. I really am in search of cello samples playing sounds like this:
https://youtu.be/awQBh9ADp98
Or this:
https://youtu.be/YIMvM8u9C-o
Any ideas?
On songs like Scream, Aim, Fire, they do really high pitched harmonic on the lowest string. Is there a specific technique to doing this? I can do high squeals on the G/B string but never in the low E.
how do i pinch harmonic on the first string??! everything else is easy its just this damn first thin string that i cant pinch
Hey folks,
When I play my open D string on my new acoustic (Fender 125-CE) I'm getting a very strong F# harmonic that can sometimes be compounded by an open B string. A G chord, for example, sounds very suspect because of the strong F# overtone. I'm 90% sure it's mostly the D string that's responsible for this. The F# seems to linger and ring for a moment even after dampening all strings, and I can't pinpoint where it's coming from.
What could be causing this?
Thanks!
Hey there,
I just got a brand new Hofner Ignition Beatles Bass. I love the tone but their is something really strange going on with the low e string. There are harmonics that peak out past the 5th fret and get louder and louder the higher I go, even overpowering the fretted note, creating an out of tune harmony.
I can't see the string touching the frets anywhere.
I also adjusted the bridge for intonation as I thought this was the issue but it persists.
I've attached a recording comparing the same notes played on the A and then the E string.
Audio Example: https://sndup.net/5v3d
I'm thinking/hoping it is just a bum E string. Any ideas?
Hello everyone! I've been having huge trouble with my low E string and it's driving me insane (lefty Fender AM original 60). The problem is that whenever I play any note along the neck on the low E note, it sounds very off, like some harmonics are messing with the low end and making it sound awful. If I play the notes muted, it kind of goes away and I can hear the right low end note playing. Also I need to mention that this problem happens with or without an amp, so it can't be the pickup height I think. Could be that I just need to change the string? It's driving me crazy 🙁
Here is an audio showcasing the problem. I play three chords, then play the individual low E string notes of those chords, and after that, I play the same note on the low E string and the A string consecutively a few times, where you can really notice the difference in overtones.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nRfVbPTuevXcr5qC9Y_cYGhCirIVJdBT/view?usp=sharing
Thank you very much and have a great day!
I'm trying to get a sound of a glissando for a string instrument. The glissando provided naturally only does a chromatic scale. Is there a way to get the play back to actually do the gliss in a sliding form?
Furthermore, I was curious if there was a way to get natural harmonics on a string into playback. I know the notation is available, but ti does not seem to do anything.
Thank you in advance :D
I see a lot of threads about this so perhaps this can be of use!
https://youtu.be/26sHBw0oAyE
Hi everyone. I'm currently in the process of writing a concerto for string ensemble, and I wanted to include a section where two violins, one viola, and one cello play harmonics. The notes I want to sound are C in the cello, B in the viola, E in the 2nd violin, and Bb in the 1st violin. Could you let me know if the notation is correct? Also, would the harmonics sound two octaves higher than what is written? Thank you.
https://preview.redd.it/40ra02d812q61.png?width=480&format=png&auto=webp&s=77c83dab657a73b597348cfdc92e03df0e85fde3
Hey folks -- I've got a quick question about the natural French horn harmonics used in the first/last movement of the Britten. The highest note in the "Prologue" is notated as an A, which in principle seem like it should be a 13th harmonic (and therefore roughly halfway between a minor sixth and a major sixth above the tonic).
But it seems like almost all the recordings I can find perform this note as a 14th harmonic, which is to say a notated (but flat) B-flat. Here's Dale Clevenger and here's Radek Baborák doing it that way.
The one exception that a quick search reveals is Dennis Brain, for whom I think the piece was originally written. Here it sounds pretty clear that he's not playing a 14th harmonic; it sounds more like a real A (but not as flat as it should be in the overtone series).
Does anyone know what the story/performance tradition is here? Are most hornists really picking the wrong note to play, or are my ears way off base?
Specifically the cello. I can’t seem to find anything that fits the bill for me. I don’t need anymore workhorse string libraries because I’ve got that front covered. I really am in search of cello samples playing sounds like this:
https://youtu.be/awQBh9ADp98
Or this:
https://youtu.be/YIMvM8u9C-o
Any ideas?
