Harmonics?

[hayter]

What is a harmonic? It has one (whatever it is) in Typical Situation. This isn't Dave related, but it's a Dave tab so I felt like it would be appropriate.

[filmdude100cms]

its when you rest your finger on the string to mute it, pluck it, and imediatly remove your finger to get a ringing sound.

[Jer1400]

More specifically, put your finger (gently touching the string) over the actually fret (the bar-looking thingy ) and hit the string. The most noticable ones are at the 5th, 7th, 12th, and 19th frets.

[dmbguitar718]

More specifically, put your finger (gently touching the string) over the actually fret (the bar-looking thingy ) and hit the string. The most noticable ones are at the 5th, 7th, 12th, and 19th frets.

Yep. You can also get sound out of 3 and 9, but its a bit harder.

[Ranting Thespian]

You can tune with harmonics too (which I think gives you a clearer perception of the tone)

This is how I tune by ear with harmonics for my guitars:

5th fret low E --- 7th fret A

5th fret A ---- 7th fret D

5th fret D --- 7th fret G

5th fret A --- 12th fret high E

7th fret high E --- 5th fret B

[dmfollower]

You can tune with harmonics too (which I think gives you a clearer perception of the tone)

This is how I tune by ear with harmonics for my guitars:

5th fret low E --- 7th fret A

5th fret A ---- 7th fret D

5th fret D --- 7th fret G

5th fret A --- 12th fret high E

7th fret high E --- 5th fret B

I don't have a whole lot of knowledge on this topic but i've heard that its not good to tune with harmonics cause its not perfectly in tune and then you'll develop a bad ear. I've heard it from like 5-6 different people. Anyone hear that?

[whip3512]

You can tune with harmonics too (which I think gives you a clearer perception of the tone)

This is how I tune by ear with harmonics for my guitars:

5th fret low E --- 7th fret A

5th fret A ---- 7th fret D

5th fret D --- 7th fret G

5th fret A --- 12th fret high E

7th fret high E --- 5th fret B

I don't have a whole lot of knowledge on this topic but i've heard that its not good to tune with harmonics cause its not perfectly in tune and then you'll develop a bad ear. I've heard it from like 5-6 different people. Anyone hear that?

I have heard that, but it's better than me just trying to wing it. If I don't have my tuner around, then I'mma probably use harmonics. It's much better than me fretting notes on the 5th fret anyway (and 4th for B string )

[taylordb]

That's really not true. Tuning by harmonics is a perfectly valid way to tune. But to do it correctly you have to start with a known baseline that is correct...in this case an A440 tuning fork.

I'm too lazy to do a search, but there was a big thread on this in the past....alot of people in disagreement on the tuning topic.

[Boyd]

That's why I learned to tune my e by ear and then do the ol' e-5 a-0,a-5 d-0.....somethin like that.

[Locarius]

No its a completely different mathematical system... harmonic tuning. It will be off by a few cents.

http://www.noyceguitars.com/Technotes/A ... 4.html#3.2

The Harmonic Method.

This is probably the most misunderstood method, and in fact it is inherently inaccurate! The reason for looking at perfect intervals and even tempered intervals was partly to throw light on this method of tuning.
Harmonics are produced when a vibrating string is made to vibrate in multiples of its fundamental pitch. For this reason, harmonic intervals are always "perfect" or pure, and this method, when done exactly, does not work on a guitar, which is made to tune to the equal tempered scale.

The common tuning method is as follows:
Tune the A string to a tuning fork, the tune the bass E to the A by playing the fifth fret harmonic on the E string (produces a note E, two octaves higher than the open string) with the 7th fret harmonic on the A string (also produces a high E). This is represented on the A and D strings, then the D and G strings. Then the fourth and fret harmonic of the G string (a B note) is played with the fifth fret harmonic of the B string (also a B, two octaves higher than the open B). The fifth fret harmonic on the B string is then used to tune the 7th fret harmonic of the top E.

If you follow this method accurately, the guitar will just not play in tune, and the G-B interval will be particularly bad. In fact, the G will be a pure major third away from B, and the tempered major third is a much wider interval than the perfect third.

In order to see how much difference there is between tuning the guitar to perfect intervals (such as when using the harmonic method) and tempered intervals, let's look at the open strings of the guitar, when tuned correctly to tempered intervals.

Whenever two notes tuned properly are played together, "beats" will be heard, (i.e. an alternate increase and decrease in volume will be heard. A perfect interval has no beats). The beats occur when adjacent open strings on a guitar are played together, as follows:

String: 6 5 4 3 2 1
Note: E A D G B E
Interval: Fourth Fourth Fourth Major Third Fourth
Beats: 0.3 / sec 0.5 / sec 0.6 / sec 0.8 / sec 1 / sec

It should now be apparent that the harmonic method of tuning is inaccurate, but if you understand why, you can compensate for its inadequacies and still use it.

I find a composite method of tuning works for me as follows:

Tune the E, A, D, and G strings using the harmonic method described earlier but widen each interval by the finest margin possible, e.g. While tuning the D by playing the seventh fret harmonic on the D with the fifth fret harmonic on the A, pull the D up until it is perfect i.e. no beats, then raise it ever so slightly to widen the interval just a touch (The difference here is two hundredths of a semitone, or two cents -- pronounced "sonts"). Then, having tuned the lower four strings this way, check them by playing the 12th fret harmonic on the E to check the E note on the 2nd fret of the D string, and likewise for the G string using the 12th fret harmonic on the A. A further check using the fifth fret unison method is also helpful. With a little practice you'll find that you've tuned correctly with the slightest adjustments made initially to the harmonic method. To tune the top E, use the 12th fret harmonic on the G string and the third fret of the E string, and tune the B string similarly using the 12th fret harmonic on the D string. As these last 2 strings involve unison notes in tuning, then no compensation for the harmonic method is necessary. Then, if the guitar is in tune, the fifth fret harmonic on the bass E string should be in unison with the open top E string.

If you've done everything correctly, and the guitar is still out of tune, then it's likely that the strings are faulty or the bridge compensation is not correct.

If the above information is confusing then it's probably due to the fact that I've tried to cram in too much information. For those who'd like to read up on this subject more fully, below is a list of recommended material:

*

The Acoustic Foundations of Music,
by John Backus, published by W.W. Norton and Co. Inc., NY;
*

Complete Guitar Repair
by Hideo Kasimoto (Oak Publications); and
*

John Carruther's column in Guitar Player.

[CBalvarez]

man i wish these kind of sites were around when i started playing, i had to figure all this shit out by myself