Harmonic's are they VAMPS?
Suddenly came this in my mind,,HARMONIC'Swhat are they? YEAH right i know how to make them and find they are diamant's in music,,but can you play whatever you like or do they belong also to a scale or key,,what are the tones or notes,,is this ever told in a lesson,,i can't remember...
Here's a lesson from TommyE. The video shows mostly what I called "forced" or "fingered" or "fretted" harmonics. At 01:54 into the video he talks about "open" harmonics (ie. not fretted).
Harmonics are just another way to play a note. You coule play almost any note on the fretboard as a harmonic note. But the harmonic you choose to play may not fit the song you are playing. It's like trying to pick out a melody or lead riff for a song. Some notes are just clunkers.
Harmonics are just another way to play a note. You coule play almost any note on the fretboard as a harmonic note. But the harmonic you choose to play may not fit the song you are playing. It's like trying to pick out a melody or lead riff for a song. Some notes are just clunkers.
Hi Willem,
There's a pretty good description of guitar harmonics in Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guitar_harmonics
Tom
There's a pretty good description of guitar harmonics in Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guitar_harmonics
Tom
Willem,
Tom's Wikipedia link was very cool. I had not seen that before. After reading that, you couldn't have any question about harmonics. Or could you?
Here's one. Is the sound you hear coming from the string or the guitar's body? This applies only to acoustic guitars only, of course, and Wikipedia only discusses the physics of the string.
I have been experimenting with harmonics to evaluate the health of an acoustic guitar. By comparing harmonic performance against the spectrum analysis of the body, I can tell somewhat how well the nut-neck joint-saddle-bridge are able to transmit vibration to the body.
You have already pointed out any given guitar can perform at different levels. Remember the thread you started about why guitars sound better some days than others? With a healthy guitar in a "happy" environment (temperature and humidity where that particular guitar plays its best), you can expect to get mode 5 and 6 harmonics (at just under the 4th fret and just over the 3rd fret). When you have a REALLY good guitar, and it's REALLY happy, it will voice mode 7 and 8 harmonics from the body.
Tom's Wikipedia link was very cool. I had not seen that before. After reading that, you couldn't have any question about harmonics. Or could you?
Here's one. Is the sound you hear coming from the string or the guitar's body? This applies only to acoustic guitars only, of course, and Wikipedia only discusses the physics of the string.
I have been experimenting with harmonics to evaluate the health of an acoustic guitar. By comparing harmonic performance against the spectrum analysis of the body, I can tell somewhat how well the nut-neck joint-saddle-bridge are able to transmit vibration to the body.
You have already pointed out any given guitar can perform at different levels. Remember the thread you started about why guitars sound better some days than others? With a healthy guitar in a "happy" environment (temperature and humidity where that particular guitar plays its best), you can expect to get mode 5 and 6 harmonics (at just under the 4th fret and just over the 3rd fret). When you have a REALLY good guitar, and it's REALLY happy, it will voice mode 7 and 8 harmonics from the body.
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neverfoundthetime
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That was a great video! Buttuh.....now I know my guitarplaying-limits agáin, haha, lol! Thanks, very educational!
ffsooo3 wrote:
ffsooo3 wrote:
Here's a lesson from TommyE. The video shows mostly what I called "forced" or "fingered" or "fretted" harmonics. At 01:54 into the video he talks about "open" harmonics (ie. not fretted).
Harmonics are just another way to play a note. You coule play almost any note on the fretboard as a harmonic note. But the harmonic you choose to play may not fit the song you are playing. It's like trying to pick out a melody or lead riff for a song. Some notes are just clunkers.
wrench wrote:
Tom's Wikipedia link was very cool. I had not seen that before. After reading that, you couldn't have any question about harmonics. Or could you?
Dan, you are absolute right,what a story,,and my question was only that i want to hear witch tone they make and if they fit in the key whatever harmonic you play,,now i understand only they are ''overtones''
Here's one. Is the sound you hear coming from the string or the guitar's body? This applies only to acoustic guitars only, of course, and Wikipedia only discusses the physics of the string.
I have been experimenting with harmonics to evaluate the health of an acoustic guitar. By comparing harmonic performance against the spectrum analysis of the body, I can tell somewhat how well the nut-neck joint-saddle-bridge are able to transmit vibration to the body.
I think the guitarmakers or luthier's experiment as well and they know what material they can use..its(or is it it's) very intresting to read and know something and test guitars,,how good is a ''vintage'',,i'm not a collector but it is good to know,,
You have already pointed out any given guitar can perform at different levels. Remember the thread you started about why guitars sound better some days than others? With a healthy guitar in a "happy" environment (temperature and humidity where that particular guitar plays its best), you can expect to get mode 5 and 6 harmonics (at just under the 4th fret and just over the 3rd fret). When you have a REALLY good guitar, and it's REALLY happy, it will voice mode 7 and 8 harmonics from the body.[/quote]
someday's the guitar sounded a kind of dead and i know that it was'nt me(it could be)and now i know it as to do with humidity,..i must find out what you mean with modes /harmonics
Tom's Wikipedia link was very cool. I had not seen that before. After reading that, you couldn't have any question about harmonics. Or could you?
Dan, you are absolute right,what a story,,and my question was only that i want to hear witch tone they make and if they fit in the key whatever harmonic you play,,now i understand only they are ''overtones''
Here's one. Is the sound you hear coming from the string or the guitar's body? This applies only to acoustic guitars only, of course, and Wikipedia only discusses the physics of the string.
I have been experimenting with harmonics to evaluate the health of an acoustic guitar. By comparing harmonic performance against the spectrum analysis of the body, I can tell somewhat how well the nut-neck joint-saddle-bridge are able to transmit vibration to the body.
I think the guitarmakers or luthier's experiment as well and they know what material they can use..its(or is it it's) very intresting to read and know something and test guitars,,how good is a ''vintage'',,i'm not a collector but it is good to know,,
You have already pointed out any given guitar can perform at different levels. Remember the thread you started about why guitars sound better some days than others? With a healthy guitar in a "happy" environment (temperature and humidity where that particular guitar plays its best), you can expect to get mode 5 and 6 harmonics (at just under the 4th fret and just over the 3rd fret). When you have a REALLY good guitar, and it's REALLY happy, it will voice mode 7 and 8 harmonics from the body.[/quote]
someday's the guitar sounded a kind of dead and i know that it was'nt me(it could be)and now i know it as to do with humidity,..i must find out what you mean with modes /harmonics
willem wrote:
someday's the guitar sounded a kind of dead and i know that it was'nt me(it could be)and now i know it as to do with humidity,..i must find out what you mean with modes /harmonics[/quote]
Hey Willem,
Look at the chart in the middle of the Wikipedia page that Tom linked. There is a column for the mode number and a column for the fret positions to achieve those modes. There is some serious math that defines modes, but basically a mode is an overtone of some multiple of the fundamental frequency. We are all familiar with harmonics at the 5th, 7th, and 12th frets, but as you can see from the chart, there are many others. I found that healthier guitars can produce harmonics of higher modes. Actually, I also found that if a guitar can produce harmonics at modes 5 and 6 (3.9th fret and 3.2nd fret), it usually can produce the rest, all the way up to mode 10. Conversely, unhappy and unhealthy guitars don't produce strong harmonics above mode 4. Again, this is acoustic performance. The string will always perform the same, but the acoustic body can change its performance level with environmental conditions.
Guitar builders really know more than they talk about, and they actually use harmonics as one of the tools they use to voice guitars. The best example I know of occurs on the 6th string. Pluck it open, then pluck it at the 3rd fret. Note how much the body vibrates at each note, and you will observe the G note vibrated more strongly than the lower notes. A guitar body does not produce notes strongly below G because the body needs to be larger to do so. Instead, the bodies are tuned to have a strong harmonic at the next octave to make the lower note sound louder. By the way, this how they get dreadnoughts to sound so boomy. I can literally talk to my dred and it produces G# overtones in 8 octaves.
I need to use spectrum analysis less and the metronome more!!!!
Dan
wrench wrote:
Tom's Wikipedia link was very cool. I had not seen that before. After reading that, you couldn't have any question about harmonics. Or could you?
Dan, you are absolute right,what a story,,and my question was only that i want to hear witch tone they make and if they fit in the key whatever harmonic you play,,now i understand only they are ''overtones''
Here's one. Is the sound you hear coming from the string or the guitar's body? This applies only to acoustic guitars only, of course, and Wikipedia only discusses the physics of the string.
I have been experimenting with harmonics to evaluate the health of an acoustic guitar. By comparing harmonic performance against the spectrum analysis of the body, I can tell somewhat how well the nut-neck joint-saddle-bridge are able to transmit vibration to the body.
I think the guitarmakers or luthier's experiment as well and they know what material they can use..its(or is it it's) very intresting to read and know something and test guitars,,how good is a ''vintage'',,i'm not a collector but it is good to know,,
You have already pointed out any given guitar can perform at different levels. Remember the thread you started about why guitars sound better some days than others? With a healthy guitar in a "happy" environment (temperature and humidity where that particular guitar plays its best), you can expect to get mode 5 and 6 harmonics (at just under the 4th fret and just over the 3rd fret). When you have a REALLY good guitar, and it's REALLY happy, it will voice mode 7 and 8 harmonics from the body.
someday's the guitar sounded a kind of dead and i know that it was'nt me(it could be)and now i know it as to do with humidity,..i must find out what you mean with modes /harmonics[/quote]
Hey Willem,
Look at the chart in the middle of the Wikipedia page that Tom linked. There is a column for the mode number and a column for the fret positions to achieve those modes. There is some serious math that defines modes, but basically a mode is an overtone of some multiple of the fundamental frequency. We are all familiar with harmonics at the 5th, 7th, and 12th frets, but as you can see from the chart, there are many others. I found that healthier guitars can produce harmonics of higher modes. Actually, I also found that if a guitar can produce harmonics at modes 5 and 6 (3.9th fret and 3.2nd fret), it usually can produce the rest, all the way up to mode 10. Conversely, unhappy and unhealthy guitars don't produce strong harmonics above mode 4. Again, this is acoustic performance. The string will always perform the same, but the acoustic body can change its performance level with environmental conditions.
Guitar builders really know more than they talk about, and they actually use harmonics as one of the tools they use to voice guitars. The best example I know of occurs on the 6th string. Pluck it open, then pluck it at the 3rd fret. Note how much the body vibrates at each note, and you will observe the G note vibrated more strongly than the lower notes. A guitar body does not produce notes strongly below G because the body needs to be larger to do so. Instead, the bodies are tuned to have a strong harmonic at the next octave to make the lower note sound louder. By the way, this how they get dreadnoughts to sound so boomy. I can literally talk to my dred and it produces G# overtones in 8 octaves.
I need to use spectrum analysis less and the metronome more!!!!
Dan