tuning nightmares...
psycosmic
Posts: 504
i'm sure this has been around on this board before... but i just got an email from jack endino and i spent an hour browsing through his site and stumbled across this great article...
http://www.endino.com/archive/tuningnightmares.html
the whole thing is very insightful... but if you just want to know a simple trick, try this one:
Here's another tip to make your life easier. You know how when you plug a guitar in and pluck a string, sometimes the tuner needle (or LED display) wavers back and forth and drives you crazy? And you have to pluck it every which way before getting a "good reading" which finally "settles down?" Do these three things:
* 1) switch your guitar to its rhythm (neck) pickup, if it has one;
* 2) roll your guitar's tone knobs all the way off, to remove all the highs; and then
* 3) pluck the open string right over the twelfth fret, not over the pickup. Try it; you'll be amazed.
Why does this work? Here's a quick physics refresher. The sound of a string being plucked is composed of a fundamental tone (the "note" itself, which also happens to be the lowest and loudest tone made by the string) mixed with a series of increasingly higher-toned, lower-volume harmonics, starting with the octave (or "2nd harmonic") and then going on up to include higher tones that are NOT all octaves. Each harmonic corresponds to the length of the string divided by a whole number. The harmonic overtones are referred to by these numbers, and they correspond to those little "nodes" or dead spots on the strings where you can lightly place your fingers and get little chimey sounds. The 2nd harmonic or "octave" spot is exactly halfway along the string, right over 12th fret. The 3rd harmonic corresponds to one-third the length of the string, and can be found over frets 7 and 19, the 4th harmonic can be found over frets 5, 12 and 24 (or right over the neck pickup), the 5th harmonic over frets 4, 9 and 16, etc.
Several things to note:
1) The harmonics that are "powers of two" (2nd, 4th, 8th) are all octaves of the lowest, or "fundamental" note. To a tuner, they are the SAME note.
2) All the other harmonics represent DIFFERENT notes. It's the unique combination of fundamental plus these various harmonics that give any instrument it's particular character or timbre.
3) How you pluck the string, where you pluck the string, and where the pickup is located under the string, determines the blend of "fundamental vs. harmonics" that you hear. Pluck it near the bridge, and you get a twangy sound with lots of high tones. Pluck it near the middle, and you get mostly a deeper, more "pure" tone. Pluck it hard, and that initial burst of energy will cause more high harmonics. Put a pickup near the end of the string (at the bridge), and it will pick up more of those high harmonics; put it closer to the middle, and the fundamental tone will come through louder.
So... What is the tuner looking for? The fundamental note of the string, and nothing else! All the other tones made by the vibrating string "confuse" the tuner, making it indecisive. Roll off your highs, use the rhythm pickup, pluck near the middle... and just mail me a check, thank you very much. (Important: remember to switch everything BACK before you start playing the next song!)
Here's another tip for tuning acoustic guitars that don't have built-in pickups. Go find a pair of headphones, any old kind. AKG 240s work great. Put the headphones "on" the guitar body, sort of straddling it front-to-back, near the hole. Plug 'em into the input of the tuner. It looks silly, but the headphones will act like a microphone.
http://www.endino.com/archive/tuningnightmares.html
the whole thing is very insightful... but if you just want to know a simple trick, try this one:
Here's another tip to make your life easier. You know how when you plug a guitar in and pluck a string, sometimes the tuner needle (or LED display) wavers back and forth and drives you crazy? And you have to pluck it every which way before getting a "good reading" which finally "settles down?" Do these three things:
* 1) switch your guitar to its rhythm (neck) pickup, if it has one;
* 2) roll your guitar's tone knobs all the way off, to remove all the highs; and then
* 3) pluck the open string right over the twelfth fret, not over the pickup. Try it; you'll be amazed.
Why does this work? Here's a quick physics refresher. The sound of a string being plucked is composed of a fundamental tone (the "note" itself, which also happens to be the lowest and loudest tone made by the string) mixed with a series of increasingly higher-toned, lower-volume harmonics, starting with the octave (or "2nd harmonic") and then going on up to include higher tones that are NOT all octaves. Each harmonic corresponds to the length of the string divided by a whole number. The harmonic overtones are referred to by these numbers, and they correspond to those little "nodes" or dead spots on the strings where you can lightly place your fingers and get little chimey sounds. The 2nd harmonic or "octave" spot is exactly halfway along the string, right over 12th fret. The 3rd harmonic corresponds to one-third the length of the string, and can be found over frets 7 and 19, the 4th harmonic can be found over frets 5, 12 and 24 (or right over the neck pickup), the 5th harmonic over frets 4, 9 and 16, etc.
Several things to note:
1) The harmonics that are "powers of two" (2nd, 4th, 8th) are all octaves of the lowest, or "fundamental" note. To a tuner, they are the SAME note.
2) All the other harmonics represent DIFFERENT notes. It's the unique combination of fundamental plus these various harmonics that give any instrument it's particular character or timbre.
3) How you pluck the string, where you pluck the string, and where the pickup is located under the string, determines the blend of "fundamental vs. harmonics" that you hear. Pluck it near the bridge, and you get a twangy sound with lots of high tones. Pluck it near the middle, and you get mostly a deeper, more "pure" tone. Pluck it hard, and that initial burst of energy will cause more high harmonics. Put a pickup near the end of the string (at the bridge), and it will pick up more of those high harmonics; put it closer to the middle, and the fundamental tone will come through louder.
So... What is the tuner looking for? The fundamental note of the string, and nothing else! All the other tones made by the vibrating string "confuse" the tuner, making it indecisive. Roll off your highs, use the rhythm pickup, pluck near the middle... and just mail me a check, thank you very much. (Important: remember to switch everything BACK before you start playing the next song!)
Here's another tip for tuning acoustic guitars that don't have built-in pickups. Go find a pair of headphones, any old kind. AKG 240s work great. Put the headphones "on" the guitar body, sort of straddling it front-to-back, near the hole. Plug 'em into the input of the tuner. It looks silly, but the headphones will act like a microphone.
~~~
Some days you wake up and sit on a park bench next to an eighty year old Russian architect, and some days you don't. I think this is my new life philosophy.
http://epplehausradio.blogspot.com/
pearl jam @ the astoria, london, 20/04/06
Some days you wake up and sit on a park bench next to an eighty year old Russian architect, and some days you don't. I think this is my new life philosophy.
http://epplehausradio.blogspot.com/
pearl jam @ the astoria, london, 20/04/06
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments
I usually use harmonics when I tune. Good clean tone is best, like in the article.
One guy in a band I played in had no clue about that stuff and I always had to give him a hard time,,, he CONSTANTLY was trying to tune with his flanger and fuzz and spacey stuff still on! He would be like "man,, my tuner doesn't work".
He drove his guitar tech crazy, too, but he played to beat hell!
Don't be mankind. ~Captain Beefheart
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Oh well,,, those days are done. :(
Now I gotta work for a living! :mad:
Don't be mankind. ~Captain Beefheart
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I guess we could all get peterson strobes too.