The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing the strings against frets with the fingers of the opposite hand. A plectrum or individual finger picks may be used to strike the strings. The sound of the guitar is projected either acoustically, by means of a resonant chamber on the instrument, or amplified by an electronic pickup and an amplifier.
The guitar is classified as a chordophone – meaning the sound is produced by a vibrating string stretched between two fixed points. Historically, a guitar was constructed from wood with its strings made of catgut. Steel guitar strings were introduced near the end of the nineteenth century in the United States; nylon strings came in the 1940s. The guitar's ancestors include the gittern, the vihuela, the four-course Renaissance guitar, and the five-course baroque guitar, all of which contributed to the development of the modern six-string instrument.
There are three main types of modern guitar: the classical guitar (Spanish guitar/nylon-string guitar); the steel-string acoustic guitar; and the Hawaiian guitar (played across the player's lap). Traditional acoustic guitars include the flat top guitar (typically with a large sound hole) or an archtop guitar, which is sometimes called a "jazz guitar". The tone of an acoustic guitar is produced by the strings' vibration, amplified by the hollow body of the guitar, which acts as a resonating chamber. The classical Spanish guitar is often played as a solo instrument using a comprehensive fingerstyle technique where each string is plucked individually by the player's fingers, as opposed to being strummed. The term "finger-picking" can also refer to a specific tradition of folk, blues, bluegrass, and country guitar playing in the United States.
Electric guitars, first patented in 1937, use a pickup and amplifier that made the instrument loud enough to be heard, but also enabled manufacturing guitars with a solid block of wood needing no resonant chamber. A wide array of electronic effects units became possible including reverb and distortion (or "overdrive"). Solid-body guitars began to dominate the guitar market during the 1960s and 1970s; they are less prone to unwanted acoustic feedback. As with acoustic guitars, there are a number of types of electric guitars, including hollowbody guitars, archtop guitars (used in jazz guitar, blues and rockabilly) and solid-body guitars, which are widely used in rock music.
The loud, amplified sound and sonic power of the electric guitar played through a guitar amp has played a key role in the development of blues and rock music, both as an accompaniment instrument (playing riffs and chords) and performing guitar solos, and in many rock subgenres, notably heavy metal music and punk rock. The electric guitar has had a major influence on popular culture. The guitar is used in a wide variety of musical genres worldwide. It is recognized as a primary instrument in genres such as blues, bluegrass, country, flamenco, folk, jazz, jota, mariachi, metal, punk, reggae, rock, soul, and pop.
Homework Statement
A 65-cm guitar string is fixed at both ends. In the frequency range between 1.0 and 2.0 kHz, the string is found to resonate only at frequencies 1.2, 1.5, and
1.8kHz .
What is the speed of traveling waves on this string?
Homework Equations
f = v/2l
The Attempt at a...
Hi all!
I am currently conducting an investigation into the way in which frequency varies when you change the tension on a guitar string.
I am aware of Mersenne's laws, and that frequency should vary in square root proportion to tension. I'm looking for an explanation that goes beyond simply...
I need a little help with a project I'm working on. Here's the gist of it; I am taking two coils, hooking one into the input of an amplifier circuit and the other to the output. Both coils will be over an electric guitar string. The guitar string when vibrated will have a changing induction...
Homework Statement
I am trying to calculate the flexural rigidity across the span of a guitar soundboard.
The soundboard is comprised of a number of struts, the shape of which can be approximated to a triangular section sitting on a rectangular section. This makes for straightforward...
Hey guys, I was messing around with my guitar (classical guitar) and my amp lately. I put the treble on lowest, bass highest, reverb highest, mid highest and mid frequency lowest. When I pluck a string when my guitar is close to the amp, the amplified sound from my amp causes that string to...
Homework Statement
A guitar string of diameter 0.6 mm and length 0.82 m is subject to a tension of 153 N. If the string stretches an amount 0.36 mm, what is Young's modulus of the string?
Homework Equations
Y=Stress/Strain
Stress=F/A
Strain=Amount of stress/Original Length
The Attempt at a...
I would like to calculate the maximum distance, crest, a guitar string will travel at it's center when plucked in order to determine how high the string needs to be on the fretboard to avoid striking parallel frets and thus avoiding "fret buzz".
Example:
0.762 mm string thickness with...
So I recently came across this video in youtube: . The vibrations of the string definitely look like sinusoidal waves to me and I know that if a string is fixed at both ends then it will display the pattern of nodes and antinodes by producing a standing wave at certain frequencies. Is this how...
Hello all, I am trying to understand what the relationship is between the length or height h of a guitar neck and how far in the x direction it is displaced (δ) given the same tension in the strings and width of the neck, and assuming the neck is anchored and rigid at the guitar's body. Is it...
Ok, is doubt this actually works well.
Some guitarists shield their guitars in the cavity of the pickup and the pick guard with conductive foil. This is supposed to work like a faraday cage.
The pickup is basically a solenoid that "pick ups" the magnetic field from the magnetized string. So...
I have a lab to find the relationship between the two. I know the relationship, but I have to be able to measure the force of tension in a guitar string, or calculate it WITHOUT using the frequency. Is there an equation to solve for string tension where is it set up like a guitar string that I...
Homework Statement
I have a question pertaining to the simple harmonic motion of the midpoint of a guitar string with a frequency of 4.40 x 10^2 Hz and an amplitude of 1.60 mm. I've been asked to deduce the initial displacement, velocity and acceleration of the midpoint of the string, but am a...
First Post!
So I was curious about how I could relate my new found knowledge of electromagnetic inductance on guitar pickups and I came across this on the internet:
http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/Music_p004.shtml#background
Which says, "All of these...
I'm not electrical minded but I am wondering why my guitar pickup like most have the these rod shaped magnets.
Why are they that shape and why is it important?
I would like to make my own pickup to understand better how it functions and to see if I can achieve the attempt in making one...
(I hope this is the right section). For those who play guitar, you might have noticed that plucking the open 1st string (E) causes the 5th (A) string to vibrate. Why is that? It doesn't happen with any other string/note that I'm aware of. I'm sure there's a physical explanation for it. :confused:
Say we have a guitar with electrical pickups near each end of one string. Say this guitar string is ideal in that it looses no energy to any form of "friction". Say the electrical pickups can act to both remove and add energy to the guitar string in the two dimensions perpendicular to the...
Hi Everyone,
I appreciate any useful feedback and advice on this project as honestly it has become the bane of my existence and a real downer everytime i look at my half assembled guitar. Guitar? yes guitar and I know one might be tempted to dismiss this post or just refer me to the myriad of...
Hello ,
I have recently joined a guitar class. And I am facing a problem with the terminology. I have to confess that terms such as notes, chords , scales, pitch seem Greek to me. I have had no experience with music before.
I am on the lookout for a book/website which teaches this stuff. It...
Hey everyone! How can i learn the basics of electrical engineering? Specifically, I'm interested in building guitar stomp boxes. I've looked at them and random schematics and it can't be THAT hard, at least to copy existing designs. And, although, I really want to get started and get that first...
Homework Statement
I have a bit of a problem in class. I am attempting to do an assignment on sound in relation to a guitar. For this I need to explain how the guitar is a highly energetic intrument. I do not know if looking at is like a helmholtz resonator is a waste of my time or not but I'm...
I am doing a project, where I am measuring the tension exerted by different guitar strings from different sets for the classical guitar.
I have a Vernier dual force sensor to do it, so the method would be just attaching one end of the guitar string to the Vernier sensor, while the other end...
My guitar amp's been acting up for the last year or so, and as I'm finishing up the second year of my electrical engineering degree, it's been occurring to me that my inability to do anything to even try to fix it is pretty sad. I'm pretty sure that something like this isn't outside of the...
Now we can get many devices that can make guitar sustain longer, even sustaining it indefinitely or to be more precise, sustaining forever. For example, the EBow,(http://www.ebow.com/home.php) the Fernandes Sustainer and the Sustainiac. But I believe, even when the battery power will not getting...
I have a discussion on how guitar pickup work, pickup is a coil with thousands of turns and magnet poles in the middle of the coil under each strings. My idea is the magnet poles magnetize a short portion of the string and when the string vibrates, it create a varying magnetic field. When the...
As the title says, a guitar effect I built introduces a lot of white noise, which goes away when I touch it's case.
I removed the circuit from the case and found the noise also goes away when I hold the input sockets. How do I fix this?
Thanks for any help!
Change in guitar string tension - Please help?
Homework Statement
A particular guitar string is supposed to vibrate at 220 Hz, but it is measured to actually vibrate at 225 Hz. By what percentage should the tension in the string be changed to get the frequency to the correct value? Do not...
Homework Statement
A particular guitar string is supposed to vibrate at 217 Hz, but it is measured to actually vibrate at 222 Hz. By what percentage should the tension in the string be changed to get the frequency to the correct value? Do not enter units.
Homework Equations...
Homework Statement
A guitar string vibrates at a frequency of 440 Hz. A point at its center moves in SHM with an amplitude of 3.0 mm and a phase angle of zero.
a. Write an equation for the position of the center of the string as a function of time.
b. What are maximum values of the magnitude...
Hello again!
Homework Statement
You are designing a two-string instrument with metal strings 35.0 cm long. Both strings are under the same tension. String S_{}1 has a mass of 8.00 g and produces the note middle C (frequency 262 Hz) in its fundamental mode. (a) What should be the tension in...
Homework Statement
The B-string of a guitar is made of steel (density 7800 kg/m^3), is 63.5 cm long, and has diameter 0.406mm. The fundamental frequency is f = 247.0 Hz. Find the string tension.
Homework Equations
F/A = YΔL/L
The Attempt at a Solution
So I know we have the A, the...
I'm a senior in high school, and currently applying to colleges in hopes to major in engineering. There are two main engineering disciplines that interest me: Electrical and Aerospace.
Honestly though, one thing I'd love to do with Electrical Engineering is to work for a guitar related company...
We have many harmonics in a string
[PLAIN]http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/3452/dfshfghdfh.jpg Why when we play a guitar string with the finger it vibrate in n=1, where L = lambda/2
Even when we press the string in a given position (to make another note for example)...
Guitar strings behave like a spring when tuned:
F = k.x is the tension in the string, where k is the contant of the string and x the displacement (when tuned). So by the equation :
v = \sqrt{ F/u}
where u is the linear density of the string. v = \lambda.f -> f...
Hi guys, I know the basics of waves and standing waves, but I am trying to understand what exactly happens when you pluck a guitar string...
So, due to standing waves, a string that is clamped down on both ends needs to vibrate in one of its resonant frequencies:
f = (harmonic number)*...
Don't know if this have been posted here yet (anyway I don't see it on GD yet)
Anyway, this is pretty cool, even if it isn't a true representation of the guitar strings' motion. The "rolling shutter" effect in the iphone's camera can be used to pick up representations of the sounds being...
Hello, I have a small (24 Watt) guitar amp which I'd like to retrofit with a
battery for outdoor playing. I actually study mathematics and do electronics
mostly as an hobby, so I may miss some fundamental things (i.e. bare with me). Basically, I have two little problems which I'd like help...
I am learning to play guitar now, I am wondering why guitar strings always give the same sound (pitch). In my opinion, it is because it is always the fundamental, but why there is never presence of harmonics during playing?
Also there is a technique in guitar playing called HARM. You just put...
Homework Statement
If a guitar string has a fundamental frequency of 500 Hz, what is the frequency of its second overtone?
A. 250 Hz
B. 750 Hz
C. 1 000 Hz
D. 1 500 Hz
Homework Equations
fundamental frequency is 2times wavelenth, lambda
and the second overtone=the third...
hello everyone
I am a physics student who is currently writing his dissertation on designing a guitar tuner.
So far I have designed my circuit to have a microphone that inputs the sound played from the string. Then a 6 way switch connected to low-pass filters filters out the unwanted higher...
I'm doing a project on a vibrating guitar string and I have completed all the simulation and experimental work, but I do not fully understand the theory behind it. I need to derive the 1 dimensional case of the wave equation, as the 1 dimensional case is considered to be the most convenient...
hey guys i plan on fixing up this old behringer vintager that honestly sounds like a piece of dirt. the amp is a solid state/ tube hybrid with 1 12ax7 tube in the pre amp. i plan on taking it and just using the fx loop out to only get the pre amp section and hook that up to my computer. from...
Homework Statement
A guitar string is 90.0 cm long and has a mass of 3.16 g. From the bridge to the support post is 60.0 cm and the string is under a tension of 520 N. What are the frequencies of the fundamental and first two overtones?
L_s = 90.0 cm = .9 m
L_bsp = 60.0 cm = .6 m
m = 3.16 g =...
HI,
I am looking for some help in finding out the right way to wire a Les Paul,the thing is I don't know the way to find the capacitor that would work, as far getting the equation correct...
I have a pickup dc resistance @17.3k. 2) the outher one is rated at 13.9k, the pots are 250w...
So if I leave my steel strung guitar overnight in my cold basement, it goes out of tune on the sharp side.
Now if I want to manually tune my guitar sharp, I have to tighten the strings = i.e. put energy into the system and do work.
So where does the energy come from to do this in a cold...
How exactly do guitar amps work and why can't I just plug my guitar into my computer and start playing with the computer speakers instead? I am just curious
This question is for a conceptual physics class (no trig involved).
1. The wave speed on a tightened guitar string is 880 m/s. What is the shortest length of string that will produce standing waves of 440-hertz frequency? (Be very CAREFUL!)
a. 0.5m
b. 1.0m
c. 1.5m
d. 2.0m
e...
Does anyone know where I can find a full table that lists the frequency values for each fret on a standard tuned guitar G string? Or failing that can anyone suggest a method of calculating them accurately? I need to work out the change in tensions required to increase and decrease the frequency...
Homework Statement
The wave speed in a guitar string of length 62.9 cm is 278 m/s. you pluck the center of the string by pulling it up and letting go. Pulses move in both directions and are reflected off the ends of the string. If you plucked the string 25.1 cm from the left end of the string...