Questions tagged [tuning]
The system of pitches used by an instrument or in a piece of music, or the practice of adjusting the pitches that instruments or voices produce to be in accordance with the chosen system. When relevant, please also include the tag of your instruments, e.g. [guitar] or [violin].
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When stringing a cigar box guitar, how does A, D, G correspond to G, D, G?
I have built a cigar box guitar. This is a 'learn by doing' project, so I came into it knowing nothing about either music or building things. From that perspective, it's been a successful project, but ...
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How should this kalimba be tuned?
I found this kalimba (thumb piano) at the school where I teach. At least, that's what I think it's called. It isn't very authentic or well built (made in China).
It sounds awful. I'd like to tune ...
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Why are the perfect fifth and fourth called "perfect" in 12-ET when they differ by approximately 2 cents from just intonation? [duplicate]
The terms "perfect fifth" and "perfect fourth" are commonly used in music theory to describe these intervals in both 12-tone equal temperament (12-ET) and just intonation. However, ...
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Pythagorean diatonic scale vs pure notes
I am new to music theory, and was looking at the history of tuning. I got intrigued by Pythagorean tuning, and the subsequent adoption of equal temperament. So I tried to derive them myself. This was ...
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Tuning an Archer upright grand piano? [duplicate]
I'm about to embark on a bold adventure - tuning an Archer upright grand piano for the very first time, with zero formal training. My only guidance is a YouTube video, and I'm wondering... am I crazy?!...
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Mandolin restringing
I am wondering how to change mandolin strings? I know, I know, YouTube is my friend for this, but it seems to me, if I leave the slack they tell me to leave, (pull back 1 fret,) I do pull back a fret, ...
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How to listen for two cents when Tuning for equal temperament?
One difficulty when tuning a piano is to sense the difference between equal temperament and just intonation. Let's consider A=440Hz and E=(660Hz in just temperament), a perfect 5th above A. After ...
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How to detune a half step?
I have a clip-on guitar tuner. It is set to 440 cps. I want to tune down a half from E to Eb. What cps do I need to change it to?
P.S. I don't know what a cent is.
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G string becomes out of tune in F shape barre chords
So I have been playing an acoustic guitar for quite some time and after buying my first electric guitar I've noticed a strange thing. Everything seems to be in tune and regulated, except one thing. ...
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Warm up time before tuning wind instruments
I have read that the air temperature in a wind instrument affects its pitch to a noticeable extent (see for example here and here). A temperature change of 5°C can result in a difference of 3 to 4 Hz, ...
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Looking for an alternative guitar tuning to fit classical counterpoint exercises
Have a very strange problem, hopefully there is a lurking genius who can solve it cause I'm stumped.
I'm studying a stuffy counterpoint composition manual written hundreds of years ago and trying to ...
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Finger placement problem [duplicate]
I can't use my pinky finger on my guitar like the rest of the fingers
It automatically gets rotated and it Mutes the string below it and also ruins the string that I'm holding with my pinky finger
...
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New tongue drum - no musical experience whatsoever - notes map? [duplicate]
I just purchased a new tongue drum off eBay. The listing title was: "BURNING&LIN Steel Tongue Drum" but under brand on the listing's details page, is: "Unbranded." It is 15&...
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Tuning a snare drum
I can tune tom toms all day long (sometimes it takes me less..!) but I haven't found an effective way of tuning a snare drum. What are good methods for effective tuning?
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I'm having issues intonating my old electric guitar, my acoustic is apparently not intonated but it sounds fine?
I recently took out my old childhood Fender squier to hopefully fix it up and begin playing it again. This guitar hadn't been strung, worked on or played since about 2007. I restrung it, but after ...
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E1 gradually goes flat as I move up the fretboard
I moved my saddle as far as it can go towards the neck, and still the intonation is bad. Please do not write about moving saddles, because I did that. I would be grateful if you could tell me about ...
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Definition of Chromatic and Diatonic Semitone in 31 TET
I am trying to learn about music theories in 31 TET, I learned that 2 fifthtones are a chromatic semitone, 3 fifthtones are a diatonic semitone, 4 fifthtones are a neutral semitone, five fifthtones ...
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Potential intonation problems by having a 0.5" difference between half scale lengths?
I don't know if this is the right place to ask this but I saw someone ask a similar question here.
I'm assembling a guitar from a body I bought for cheap. Unfortunately, the body won't line up ...
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When did the oboe wind up being the standard to tune other instruments in an ensemble / orchestra?
As a follow up to the question why does the orchestra tune to the oboe, I'm asking since when this became standard practice? For example, was it since the Modern oboe, or already since the Classical ...
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Should I purposely detune my piano for tuning practice?
I'm currently studying as a piano technician, and I'm just starting to learn how to tune a piano. I want to tune it a few times before going out and doing others people's pianos, but I'm not sure what ...
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Is there a historical connection between the charango and the jarana jarocha?
Context: Charango, Jarana jarocha
The Andean charango and the jarana jarocha (jarocho means "from Veracruz, Mexico") both usually have five courses of strings. The middle course has two ...
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Isn't it obvious the pitch value alphabet language of music is Chomsky regular? [closed]
The formal language of music is the language of the pitch value alphabet A = 0, 1, 2,...N. The language is the set of all horizontal and vertical strings of pitch value letters (integers).
Formal ...
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What is the specific key and tuning for this tongue drum I just got? [duplicate]
I just got a tongue drum and I'm not sure how to look up music or tabs specifically for it. The numbers starting at 1 and going around clockwise are: 1, 6 with a dot below, 2, 5, 1 with a dot above, 5 ...
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Is there a mathematic reason why Standard tuning for guitar is number 1 in the series of tunings? Could AI find it given a guitar with no tuning? [duplicate]
Physics, Mathematics, and Linguistic Stack Exchange simply refuse to accept questions about the mathematics of tablature and guitar.
But what is tablature besides lines and numbers?
These sites often ...
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Why can I not tune up newly bought classical guitar to proper pitches?
I bought classical guitar yesterday online, and it is impossible to tune the 1st string to E.
I can only tune up to Eb, and if I apply more tension to the string, it looks like it's about to snap.
Is ...
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Ukulele - tuning the C string
I just bought an inexpensive Ukulele — the model is Aklot Concert Ukulele — I bought one for my niece as it sounded so good.
I am having a problem with tuning. When I try to tune the C string, the ...
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Why would tuner app confuse C5 with F2?
I bought my first kalimba a few days ago and it figured out it needs to be tuned.
I started tuning it using two different smartphone apps and noticed something strange: everything works fine — except ...
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Emulating a 415 Hz tuner?
Is it possible to use a standard 440 Hz digital tuner to emulate a 415 Hz tuner, even if it doesn't explicitly support setting the A4 frequency?
I'm learning to play the viol, and I can't find a good ...
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Why is the standard tuning for the balalaika so weird/counterintuitive?
I'm mainly talking about the prima balalaika, since this is the instrument whose tuning I'm familiar with.
What is the justification behind having the standard tuning for the balalaika be e-e-a? Why ...
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Perfect Pitch: Are tones recognizable by themselves or only in comparison with another tone?
Are the frequencies C4 = 260 Hz and A4 = 440 Hz actually noticeably different to someone with “perfect pitch”? I ask myself, what did they learn differently growing up to notice the difference in ...
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How to use a spectrum analyzer to help practice an instrument
I recently started playing the trumpet my first brass instrument and I got a tuner to help with practice. I got istrobesoft by Peterson on android, it got a display of its real time spectrum analysis ...
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Custom scale and key signature
I am currently experimenting with microtonality in LilyPond. Mainly, I would like to switch to the Pythagorean tuning and lower or raise pitches by a syntotic comma, as in the this snippet. However, ...
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How to open piano for tuning
I am trying to open my piano for tuning, but I am not sure how to do it right.
The fallboard hinges on the upper panel, and weirdly the fallboard is connected to the body.
Here's a picture:
And here ...
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How bad is Gibson's tuning instability?
I recently tried a Gibson SG Tribute in a guitar shop. I liked the feeling a lot. The fretboard felt great and the neck felt very comfortable.
However, I have heard many comments from my friends and ...
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Why is C the tenor of phrygian?
After teaching some students about medieval church modes, I took a question as to precisely why the tenor/confinalis of phrygian/mode III was C rather than B. I answered according to what I had been ...
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Is it possible to play in D-tuning (guitar) on keyboards?
On a guitar it's possible to play in different tunings and depending on this the positioning of fingers and the sounding will vary, but is the same possible on keyboards, I as a keyboard player can't ...
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How to calculate 21-limit just intonation
I am looking for ratios of 21-limit just intonation tuning system to later compare it with the 31-EDO tuning system since they are to some extent similar and close. How could I calculate 21-limit just ...
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What would've given more accurate consonant ratios than 12?
So my understanding is 12 notes was chosen in a chromatic scale cause in tuning, the twelfth root of two gives values quite close to simple ratios. For example for a fifth, the twelfth root of 2 ...
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Piano oscillation on a single string
Why is that when the hammer hits only one string on the piano, there is an oscillation and not a solid note throughout. I hear it like a wave of sound, not an absolute pitch. It doesn’t happen on ...
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Why is the solo/featured instrument in so many Baroque-era concerti silent during the slow movement?
Is the reason the soloist is
often silent during a Baroque-era concerto simply to provide a break from all the virtuosity often required within the outer movements? Or is it to allow a string soloist ...
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Why is equal temperament based on n-th root of 2?
Why is Equal temperament based on defining the smallest ratio as the n-th root of 2, 2^(1/n). Or how did someone arrive at conclusion, that he/she/they must use 2? Is it because A5 is A4*2?
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Notating Octatonic Music in MuseScore
I'm trying to do something with MuseScore that I'm not sure is possible, and I'd appreciate some help trying to figure out a creative way to do this.
So I'm trying to write in an octatonic mode with ...
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Consonant vs. Dissonant Major Thirds: Historical Process and Significance of Tuning System
In the comments to the question Why is the fourth against the bass considered a dissonance?, I wrote
A 5:4 third was considered dissonant until musical tastes changed and declared it consonant.
To ...
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What is this sound effect called? [closed]
In this video:
...from 1:13 to 1:20 there is a special sound connection between the clarinet and the accordion. I don't know how to describe it but sounds like a very ...
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Is there a way to find the pitch for noisy electronic output? [closed]
Is there a method available to help differentiate notes on a wide variety of electronic noise sounds (not-quite white/pink noise, heavy buzzing, fuzz, etc.)?
I've taken on an odd project where I am ...
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Do classical musicians sometimes go deliberately out of pitch?
Can anyone explain to me what's going on?:
I am not and have never been a professional classical musician, but I don't think you need to be one to see that something ...
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Dissonance in SWV 447
I'm a huge fan of Heinrich Schütz and in particular of the Dresdner Kammerchor's recordings of his work. This moment in bar 169 of "Vater Abraham, erbarme dich mein, SWV 447" really caught ...
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When and/or how did Western music shift from downward to upward scale concepts?
The ancient Greeks constructed their scales from top to bottom.
For example, Wikipedia:
Note that Greek theorists conceived of scales as descending from higher pitch to lower (the opposite of modern ...
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Best strategy for tuning a 4 piece kit?
I recently got an acoustic kit after playing an electric kit for a while. There's a lot to learn, but one thing that I keep getting hung up on is how to tune my kit.
I've read a bunch of guides, and ...
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How to indicate the temperament to use when playing on a score? [duplicate]
If I understand correctly, when you only play in a specific key, just intonation is more exact than equal temperament.
Therefore I would like to how to indicate on a score that a piece should be ...
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