harmonic question

[Dheibs]

What exactly causes harmonics?

[Davy28]

placing your finger on a string directly above a fret without depressing the string, then playing the string to get a bell-like tone. The best harmonics are the 5th, 7th, and 12th frets.

[a1075dd63aa12]

placing your finger on a string directly above a fret without depressing the string, then playing the string to get a bell-like tone. The best harmonics are the 5th, 7th, and 12th frets.

and 19th fret and over the soundhole

[dmbguitar718]

hahaha or you guys could just avoid his question.

anyway, a harmonic is caused by both sides of the string vibrating. certain points on the guitar are like that. i'll get a diagram for you.



so yeah, certain points are like that. both sides of the string are vibrating in sync like the diagram shows. (both sides meaning the side to the right of the finger producing the harmonic, and the left side of the finger.





that made absolutle no sense, sorry.

[Matty Boom]

well first you have to know what harmonics are

in physics, the word harmonics refers to the normal modes of vibrations for standing waves...like in the diagram above, if you pluck an open string, it is the first harmonic and it has the fundamental frequency, f1...now the second harmonic is the second diagram, where you have a full wavelength in the picture...it's a harmonic because it's also a normal mode, which means it has a very basic integer relationship to the fundamental mode...the second harmonic, it has a frequency of 2f1, and since pitch is basically related to how we percieve frequency, the pitch of that will be an octave up...so that's an explanation of the 12th fret harmonics...and you can relate those ideas to the other frets

fizix is sweet

[Matty Boom]

placing your finger on a string directly above a fret without depressing the string, then playing the string to get a bell-like tone. The best harmonics are the 5th, 7th, and 12th frets.

and 19th fret and over the soundhole

19th fret harmonic = 5th fret harmonic because you're cutting the wave into a new wave of the same proportions with the 19th and 7th frets...same with the 5th and the soundhole

[dmbguitar718]

damn matty. haha.

[czech]

PS, you can tune your guitar using harmonics really Fing easy. It's the only way I can tune my guitar without a tuner.

[fatjack]

PS, you can tune your guitar using harmonics really Fing easy. It's the only way I can tune my guitar without a tuner.

its not as accurate as you think, technically they are off by a few cents

[czech]

PS, you can tune your guitar using harmonics really Fing easy. It's the only way I can tune my guitar without a tuner.

its not as accurate as you think, technically they are off by a few cents

technically a guitar cannot be in tune accuurately by less than 5 cents due to the nature of sound traveling through air as a medium. and if your ear could pick up anything off by 3 cents you are full of it.

[fatjack]

PS, you can tune your guitar using harmonics really Fing easy. It's the only way I can tune my guitar without a tuner.

its not as accurate as you think, technically they are off by a few cents

technically a guitar cannot be in tune accuurately by less than 5 cents due to the nature of sound traveling through air as a medium. and if your ear could pick up anything off by 3 cents you are full of it.

yeah, i know, its not even noticeable, i really just wanted to use the word "technically"

[dmbguitar718]

cents?

[czech]

PS, you can tune your guitar using harmonics really Fing easy. It's the only way I can tune my guitar without a tuner.

its not as accurate as you think, technically they are off by a few cents

technically a guitar cannot be in tune accuurately by less than 5 cents due to the nature of sound traveling through air as a medium. and if your ear could pick up anything off by 3 cents you are full of it.

yeah, i know, its not even noticeable, i really just wanted to use the word "technically"

i know

but my question which you might have an answer to.
if you plug your acoustic directly into your tuner can you avoid that variation or is it still going to be off by around 3-10 cents since it still has to travel through air to get to the pick-up?

also, when I am tuning my guitar using my tuner, is it better to tune it to when I hit the open string it initially is exactly on tune, but then falls a little flat after the note, or should I tune it to be exactly on when the note is sustaining. i think thats the right term for it.

[czech]

cents?

i guess its a measure of pitch? its a more accurate way of saying how flat or sharp a note is getting. +/- 10 cents is considered accurate tuning. and liek i said earlier, getting a guitar in tune by more than 5 cents is nearly impossible.

[dmbguitar718]

i gotcha.