Guitar Set-Up Basics - Tuning Your Guitar
Tuning any musical instrument is the science of adjusting the pitch of many desired tones until you meet the required tone for the desired arrangement.
In other words so the strings sound right and play right! Sound is basically made up of vibrations, instruments produce the vibrations and what we hear is the sound.
The pitch is the frequency of the sound.
The sound the instrument produces is measured in hertz (Hz) One hertz simply means one cycle per second, 100 Hz means one hundred cycles per second, and so on.
The average human can hear sounds between 20 Hz and 16,000 Hz.
In music and acoustics, the frequency of the standard pitch A above middle C on a piano is usually defined as 440 Hz.
When we hear a sound that is out of tune it means the pitch of the tone is either to high or low, meaning the Hz is higher or lower than the desired rate.
An example would be the 440hz A, if its measured at either 435Hz or 445Hz then it is out of tune.
There are many factors as to why a guitar would go out of tune, most guitars are made out of wood which has a natural movement to it.
In warm and cold temperatures the wood will change shape which will in turn effect the tension on the strings causing the pitch to be higher or lower.
New strings on a guitar will often go out of tune as they are going to stretch and need to be broken in.
There are also times when you will be playing with other instruments who play in a different tuning and you will need to change the tuning of your guitar.
Have you ever witnessed a orchestra tuning, this happens before the performance when all the instruments tune to A 440 Hz, this is often led by the Oboe as it is least effected by humidity.
But still it may not be perfect pitch, the 440Hz may not be a perfect pitch it may be 441Hz but its important that all instrument are tuned to that pitch.
This is what an 'Orchestral Tuning' is.
For a composition of music it is important that all instruments are tuned the same for it to sound correct no matter if it actually perfect pitch or not.
Tuning any instrument is by matching two pitches and adjusting one of them to match or relate to the other.
You could use several different devices such as a tuning fork, these are generally in the key of A 440Hz.
A digital chromatic tuner, these are very easy to use, you can either plug them in to your instrument or they have a microphone to pick up the tuning sound.
Finally if you want to learn more about this go to Guitar set-up with Dirty Roger.
In other words so the strings sound right and play right! Sound is basically made up of vibrations, instruments produce the vibrations and what we hear is the sound.
The pitch is the frequency of the sound.
The sound the instrument produces is measured in hertz (Hz) One hertz simply means one cycle per second, 100 Hz means one hundred cycles per second, and so on.
The average human can hear sounds between 20 Hz and 16,000 Hz.
In music and acoustics, the frequency of the standard pitch A above middle C on a piano is usually defined as 440 Hz.
When we hear a sound that is out of tune it means the pitch of the tone is either to high or low, meaning the Hz is higher or lower than the desired rate.
An example would be the 440hz A, if its measured at either 435Hz or 445Hz then it is out of tune.
There are many factors as to why a guitar would go out of tune, most guitars are made out of wood which has a natural movement to it.
In warm and cold temperatures the wood will change shape which will in turn effect the tension on the strings causing the pitch to be higher or lower.
New strings on a guitar will often go out of tune as they are going to stretch and need to be broken in.
There are also times when you will be playing with other instruments who play in a different tuning and you will need to change the tuning of your guitar.
Have you ever witnessed a orchestra tuning, this happens before the performance when all the instruments tune to A 440 Hz, this is often led by the Oboe as it is least effected by humidity.
But still it may not be perfect pitch, the 440Hz may not be a perfect pitch it may be 441Hz but its important that all instrument are tuned to that pitch.
This is what an 'Orchestral Tuning' is.
For a composition of music it is important that all instruments are tuned the same for it to sound correct no matter if it actually perfect pitch or not.
Tuning any instrument is by matching two pitches and adjusting one of them to match or relate to the other.
You could use several different devices such as a tuning fork, these are generally in the key of A 440Hz.
A digital chromatic tuner, these are very easy to use, you can either plug them in to your instrument or they have a microphone to pick up the tuning sound.
Finally if you want to learn more about this go to Guitar set-up with Dirty Roger.
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