| Author |
Topic: Harmonic Tuning Question |
Walter Bowden
From:
Wilmington, North Carolina, USA
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Posted 1 Mar 2010 4:09 pm |
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Hey Y'all. I'm trying to learn harmonic tuning using Buddy Emmon's CD and chart and it's going pretty well. I can see it being very organic and good for the ear training too. I feel like this is what a lot of players may have used before electronic tuners. My question is this; A lot of the harmonics are picked at the 24th fret. It sounds like the same harmonic on the string you are picking is there at the 5th fret too. It's easier for me to hit the harmonic at the 5th and it sustains a bit better. Would I be going wrong or defeating some purpose if I use the 5th fret as reference rather than the 24th fret? All reply's welcome. Walter
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Emmons S10, p/p, Nashville 112, Zion 50 tele style guitar, Gibson LP Classic w/Vox AC30, Fender Deluxe De Ville and a Rawdon-Hall classical |
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Earnest Bovine
From:
Los Angeles CA USA
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Posted 1 Mar 2010 5:42 pm Re: Harmonic Tuning Question
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| Walter Bowden wrote: |
| Would I be going wrong or defeating some purpose if I use the 5th fret as reference rather than the 24th fret? |
Either way you get the same result: the string vibrates in 4 sections of equal length. Frequency is 4 times the fundamental, or two octaves above the fundamental. |
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Russ Wever
From:
Kansas City
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Posted 2 Mar 2010 12:31 am
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Also, the harmonics (on the same string) at fret 7
and fret 19 are the identical in pitch, as well as
the harmonics at frets 4 and 16.
On an aside, if you like to tune octave strings by
comparing the 12 fret harmonic of the higher string
to the 5th fret harmonic of the lower string
(resulting in unison), you can get a closer
comparison (because the unison will be a fifth
higher playing a harmonic on fret 7 of the higher
string and a harmonic on fret 3 of the lower string.
All of this is dependent on having
strings that are in good condition.
~Russ
_________________
www.russface
www.russguru |
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Walter Bowden
From:
Wilmington, North Carolina, USA
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Posted 2 Mar 2010 2:51 pm
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Thanks guys. And Russ, I was going to ask if I can do the same using fret 7 instead of 19. I really appreciate your and Earnest's reply. Best wishes.
_________________
Emmons S10, p/p, Nashville 112, Zion 50 tele style guitar, Gibson LP Classic w/Vox AC30, Fender Deluxe De Ville and a Rawdon-Hall classical |
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Russ Wever
From:
Kansas City
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Posted 2 Mar 2010 10:56 pm
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I had an email from a friend regarding my post above:
| Quote: |
In the Harmonic tuning post you typed "3rd fret" where it should be "4th"
Click EDIT before there an epidemic of newbies with detuned octave strings. |
My reply to him is below and we both thought
it may be of interest to post it here -
I appreciate your pointing this out, but fret 3 is indeed correct -
Consider two strings that are an octave apart, lets say strings
4 & 8, which are E notes on our common E9th tuning.
If you harmonic str 4 at the 12th fret and str 8 at the 5th fret
so that they are sounding simultaneously, you will hear two
E notes in unison ( or near-unison if one is slightly out of tune)
this allows you to adjust one of the strings in respect to the
other, by monitoring the speed (or lack thereof) of the 'beat-note'.
Similarly, if you harmonic str 4 at the 7th fret and str 8 at the
4rd fret so that they are sounding simultaneously, you will hear
two B notes in unison to do a like comparison; only now the
B note that your are hearing is a fifth above the E note you
hear in the first example above.
The higher the unison pitch is, the better you will be able to
'fine tune' . . . Just as the the harmonics at frets 12 and 5
'split' the scale length into halves and quarters respectively,
the harmonics at frets 7 and 3 'split' the scale length into
thirds and sixth respectively.
Now, with all this said, if you actually put a ruler along the
fretboard you'll see that fret 4 is actually a bit 'flat' of where
a physically accurate 1/4 of the scale length would be, and
fret 3 is even moreso of bit 'flat' of where a physically accurate
1/6 of the length of the scale would be: so to say 'harmonic'
at the 4th or 3rd frets, the exact 'node' of where the harmonic
is produced is 'close, but not dead-on' these frets.
I know at least most of this you're already aware of,
but I wanted to include it in my explanation.
On an 'aside', legendary bassist Jaco Pastorius made
extensive use of harmonics, that give not only an octave,
a fifth, a third, and two octaves above the open note,
but also some being 'in the cracks' (in between frets,
some in the area of being between fret 3 and what would
be fret 1 1/2) , that give a dominant seventh, a ninth,
three octaves and more.
~Russ
_________________
www.russface
www.russguru |
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