- #1
Jimmy87
- 686
- 17
When you pluck a guitar string it resonates at its fundamental frequency plus some of the overtones. My question is, what exactly determines the note (i.e. A,C, E etc) for, say, a guitar? For example, if note A is 440Hz then what is it that is at 440Hz because some instruments have lots of overtones when you play them and some don't so for the ones that do have lots of overtones does it mean that the 440Hz is the sum of all the overtones and the fundamental or is it just the fundamental that dictates the frequency of a particular note? Also, why do you get a bad sound when you don't quite hit the right note because even if you don't hit the note surely whatever you do hit still has resonant frequencies with harmonics?