Timeline for Why do many classical guitarists move the fingers for vibrato like a violin?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
15 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jun 24, 2021 at 18:58 | comment | added | PJTraill | There are two ways to affect the tension without altering the length (i.e. no side-to-side movement): one, as described so far, is to press the string more or less deeply into the space between the two frets; the other is to use friction to push or pull along the length of the string. Either way, apart from vibrato, one can also use this to eliminate a beat (interference) between two notes an almost perfect justly intoned interval apart. | |
| Jun 24, 2021 at 10:44 | comment | added | Tim | @Aaron - I guess so. The string itself is stretched, therefore it's (slightly) longer, but that's over its entire length, not the vibrating part. So, it's the increased tension that changes the pitch. | |
| Jun 24, 2021 at 8:52 | comment | added | Aaron | @Tim I think I see. So when a string is stretched, even though the string itself is getting longer, its length relative to two fixed points remains the same, but with increased tension? Put another way: the string gets longer (or shorter), but the speaking length remains constant. Yes? | |
| Jun 24, 2021 at 8:49 | comment | added | Tim | @Aaron - to simplify things - fret a note on one string. When someone turns the appropriate machine head, the pitch changes. The length of that string hasn't altered. | |
| Jun 24, 2021 at 8:47 | comment | added | Tim | @fyrepenguin - saddle - fixed, fretwire - fixed. So, no, the sounding string length cannot change. The tension in the string is what changes, thus changing the string's pitch, and often, its timbre. | |
| Jun 24, 2021 at 8:45 | comment | added | fyrepenguin | @Tim the bridge-to-fret length may not have changed, but in that case, the overall string length almost certainly did (however slightly). That distinction could be a point of confusion. | |
| Jun 24, 2021 at 8:44 | comment | added | fyrepenguin | @Aaron for one, the string can either stretch or slide. If you drew a mark exactly where it contacts the fret, I would be reasonably sure that you would be able to change the relative positions of the mark & fret by varying the pressure and whatnot. | |
| Jun 24, 2021 at 8:44 | comment | added | Tim | @Aaron - a student of mine used to press harder and release some when fretting a long note. This produced vibrato, simply by changing the tension in that fretted string. The length certainly didn't alter, but the pitch did. | |
| Jun 24, 2021 at 8:37 | comment | added | Aaron | @fyrepenguin Maybe there's something I don't understand about the definition of "tension", but this just isn't adding up for me. The speaking length of the guitar string is from fret to bridge, right? The bridge is fixed, so unless the contact point between fret and string is changing, how can the string tension change between fret and bridge? | |
| Jun 24, 2021 at 8:32 | comment | added | fyrepenguin | It's akin to pulling a rope around a corner, vs. pulling on it directly. You can use the bend to get more tension in the rope between the corner and the load than you would by pulling directly. | |
| Jun 24, 2021 at 8:31 | comment | added | Tim | @Aaron - it's the angle behind the fretwire that changes. I went to the geometry lesson! | |
| Jun 24, 2021 at 8:19 | comment | added | Aaron | the angle cannot change without the length changing. That would seem to be basic geometry. | |
| Jun 24, 2021 at 8:14 | comment | added | Tim | @Aaron - due to the different angle the string has over the fretwire. Pressing directly behind the fretwire, the angle is steep. Moving the fingertip back makes it more shallow, allowing a litlle more pressure to be put on it. The string length cannot change. The pitch difference is quite small. Changing the tension has nothing to do with its length. | |
| Jun 24, 2021 at 7:56 | comment | added | Aaron | How does the tension change if the string length (between fret and bridge) stays the same? | |
| Jun 24, 2021 at 7:27 | history | answered | Tim | CC BY-SA 4.0 |