Questions tagged [intonation]
Marks questions discussing the precise control over pitch that musicians exhibit as part of their technique; also used to describe the tuning of one's instrument or one's system of tuning.
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Guitar string not in tune with itself
I have a knock-off telecaster made by Stadium. The strings on it refuse to be in tune with themselves (the G and B strings especially). I hooked it up to a tuner and tested the intonation. The G ...
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Electric guitar doesn't keep tuning on the first frets. Anything I can do about it?
I can tune the open strings properly to any note I want and they keep the tuning for days, but as I press my fingers on the first 2 frets the tuner shows the notes slighly flat, as I go up the scale ...
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Intonation problem at 20th fret (top 3 strings only) - Harley Benton SC-550
I have a Harley Benton SC-550 (Les Paul style) with a strange intonation issue which affects the top 3 (unwound) strings at frets 20 & 21 only. The pitch at fret 20 is a whole semitone sharp, and ...
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Adjusting a string saddle back, making the string longer, reduce sharpness or increase it?
When adjusting a string saddle and moving it back, making the string effectively longer, does that decrease the sharpness or increase it??
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Was equal temperament caused by the invention of the piano, or was it inevitable?
Historically, which key a piece of music was written in made a big difference. Toccata and Fugue in D minor for instance had to be played in that key or it wouldn't sound right.
But over the last ...
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What does it mean when a conductor puts their finger on their temple?
What does it mean when a conductor puts their finger on their temple? That the singers need to pay more attention to intonation?
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Why is Stratocaster Low E-String Intonation at Limit?
I recently got an American Standard Stratocaster and I've been working on setting it up.
I have tightened the intonation adjustment screw for the low E string to its limit and now the tension spring ...
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Can the tremolo bridge of e guitar move over time?
I own my PRS SE now for around 6-7 years. It has a floating tremolo.
Over the years I started to remove the springs from the string saddles because there was not enough space for the saddles to ...
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Is my mandolin broken?
I read here that playing a string on the 12th fret will produce a note that is an octave above the note produced by playing the same string open (with no frets held down). For instance, if the bottom ...
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Does changing acoustic guitar strings require a re-setup?
I'm currently using D'Addario EZ920 (0.12-0.54) and I'm planning to change to D'Addario EJ16 (0.12-0.53) which is slightly lighter. I'm wondering if this will affect the intonation and needs ...
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Funk Strumming While Fretting High Up the Neck Produces Odd Tones
I recently started to dabble into Funk Rhythm. I'm making decent progress, but I have noticed that when trying to play chords around the 12th fret using Funk strumming, the chord sounds 'off', like ...
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How to optimally rank performances in a music competition? [closed]
I have often thought about this but I could never reach a concrete answer which satisfied my ever inquisitive brain cells. I understand that it is a tricky question and may vary from situation to ...
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Electric guitar's 6th string buzzing, but through the amplifier, the buzz sound is not coming. Anything to be concerned about?
I just bought a new Cort Les Paul electric guitar.
Except for the 6th string, all other strings are working fine. No buzzing.
But the 6th string (fattest one), on plucking, is buzzing when not ...
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Ibanez S7420 ZR2-bridge not flush with body anymore, I can't fix it
I have a Ibanez S7420 7-string with the ZR2 bridge and I think I just majorly screwed it up.
The guitar was set up for standard 7-string tuning (BEADGBE) and I set it to A# F A# D# G C D# (tuning up ...
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Guitar intonation issue - still sharp but screw as far as it'll go
Recently I got a brand new Ibanez AM93 Lefty. It's an hollow body so I am using jazz guitar strings. I think I did a correct setup:
Action is approx 1.8 mm in high E, and approx 1.9-2.0 at low E
Neck ...
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Difficulties matching pitch after the note was played
I am trying to become decent at singing, and I have noticed some difficulties in matching pitch, if I try to sing AFTER the note was played.
I try to reproduce that with an example here, of a computer-...
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How to practice improving intonation (singing) [duplicate]
I am an experienced musician, I'm a music ed major, having studied piano for over 10 years and singing for 4 years. I have sang in a couple musicals, a vocal jazz ensemble, and a choir. I also passed ...
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If the resolution of human hearing is approximately five cents, how can musicians play works with intonation changes of less than five cents?
Sources1 suggest that the frequency resolution of humans—our ability to discriminate differences in pitch—is limited to around five cents.
If this is the case, how can musicians play an excerpt like ...
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Are these indentations on the frets of my Acoustic for intonation? Can I apply this to the frets of my Electric?
The questions are in the title, picture is below, but here are the (TL/DR) details.
About 9 months ago, I bought an electric guitar "kit" and assembled it (fun, highly recommended). This ...
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As a singer to playback music, does the quality of the playback affect intonation?
I am an amateur sound engineer. I often have choirs and singers that practice, and sometimes perform, to playback music. Often I use MP3 files with reasonable compression, as these are sometimes ...
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Bridge intonation patterns on stringed instruments
On stringed instruments, the scale length needs to be slightly adjusted (at the bridge) for each string so that the first octave happens at the 12th fret/position, the 2nd at the 24th, etc. My ...
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realtime bending of strings to bring classical guitar in tune [closed]
While talking with a friend, I mentioned that the width of a classical guitar neck is quite large, to allow a player room to slightly and subtly bend a string (or strings) by moving fingers parallel ...
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Why Is Just Intonation Impractical?
I've read about the debate of "just intonation" vs 12-tone equal temperament. And nowhere it was clearly stated why just intonation is impractical. Here are my assumptions. Please let me know if I am ...
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How does string age affect intonation?
I had a recent issue with my high e string where the saddle was adjusted as short as possible but the twelfth fret was still very flat. I read online that a new set of strings may fix this, and that ...
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My clarinet is playing flat - how can I fix it?
First of all I understand that most people's first (and very reasonable) place to look to improve intonation is at the technique of the player: embouchure quality and technique, air support, maybe ...
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Cello pressed at half length higher than harmonic?
I was playing around with harmonics on my e-cello, and noticed that when pressing at the first one (half-length), the pitch was higher than when merely touching for the harmonics itself. I thought it ...
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What is best practice for tuning a mandolin?
I've been playing mandolin for years, and I tune it with no particular problem (insert mandolin tuning joke here). But, while in theory I believe it is impossible to tune a mandolin or other stringed ...
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Suggestions for practising playing in tune
I play soprano cornet in a UK brass band. Although I think I play in tune, it's often pointed out to me that I don't. Soprano cornet is notorious in this respect - some notes are in tune, others aren'...
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Notes on violin
I am a beginner in violin. I am confused that most of the times in music sheet the notes are normal (neither sharp or flat) but when playing it feels like one is playing the sharp of some notes (like ...
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Can I use a Mustang bridge on a Fender Jaguar? Are there issues?
I've recently purchased a Fender Squier Jaguar from an online dealer, and was aware beforehand, that the stock bridge was unreliable and subject to many complaints. The issue with the Stock Jaguar ...
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What causes a guitar's notes to decay/sound out of tune when played together? they sound fine individually, just not when strummed together [closed]
Recently bought this electric guitar, it's great, but I've noticed that when I play chords / strum them all together, the notes on the b and e strings don't resonate in sync with the rest of the ...
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Gibson les paul standard (2019) 50's neck guitar's unique intonation problem
I recently bought a new non-weight relief Gibson les Paul standard with 50's neck. The guitar comes with an ABR style tune-o-matic bridge. As soon as I played it I noticed that the low "E" and "A" ...
CommunityBot
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Problem with violin finger placement changes with each string?
I have a violin student who recently purchased a violin from a music shop. It's not a professional grade violin, but it is still a nice student model. My student's intonation seemed to get worse after ...
CommunityBot
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Intonation problem: My 12th fret harmonic is on my 13th fret
So I've been trying to fix my guitar intonation recently because my B string is awful. However, when guides say that the 12th fret should be the same as the harmonic on that fret, it gets a bit more ...
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Intonation when playing with a click track on one ear
Recently I participated in a project where we played film music live with the film playing. We got an earbud that played the click track for one ear so we stayed in time.
Now this was an amateur ...
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B -> C and E -> F, No Sharp?
The keyboard has these notes:
A, A#, B, C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#
Why do B and C and E and F not have a sharp note between them? If they did, the keyboard would look like this:
A A# B B# C ...
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Tried Eb alternate tuning but guitar intonation is off and I'm unsure how to fix it
I have a fender mexican strat, with 10s. I have never changed string gauge, I only tuned all the strings down half a step to Eb from E.
The issue I am running into is that the low Eb, Ab, Db, and Gb ...
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Do people with perfect pitch distinguish between equal temperament and just temperament?
Do people with perfect pitch distinguish between equal temperament and just temperament?
Suppose someone with perfect pitch is singing a duet and wants to harmonise in thirds above the main melody. ...
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Out of tune and Buzzing
I recently replaced the nut and saddle and put new strings on my acoustic. My guitar does not play in tune, even after I know I've turned it correctly. Some chords sound in tune while others don't.
...
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Why was Le Concert Spirituel playing out of tune at Proms 2012?
I know it sounds like an odd question, but I was listening to a recording of Handel's music for the Royal Fireworks (available here on Youtube), and there are sections where the horn players are ...
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What is the savart unit in Persian music theory?
I was heard about Savart unit in Persian music that divides a chromatic interval into smaller units.
Persian musicians using an interval smaller than the chromatic intervals, called: Kron. they ...
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Is a cappella xenharmonic by default?
I recently watched Adam Neely's video about comma pump. He quotes from "Fundamentals of Musical Composition" by Arnold Schoenberg. (Chapter XI, page 99):
...the natural semi-tones differ in ...
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High End Guitars - Open string in tune - Fretted string not
I have 3 high end guitars.
2 Gibson's, SG and 335
1 Taylor 528-e
Each of these guitars cost thousands.
The SG and the Taylor - I have had for a few years - and have been professionally set up ...
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Why choirs consistently go flat or sharp in certain keys
As a long-time chorister, I've always wondered what drives choirs to flat or sharp out of certain keys. For instance, the choir I sing with consistently fails to remain in the key of F, whereas ...
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Electric guitar intonation flat above 12th fret, no luck with usual methods
My Floyd Rose equipped electric guitar has mostly spot-on intonation across the fretboard minus the high e string above the 12th fret, where it is pretty consistently flat (1-2 red LEDs from the ...
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Guitar Intonation Problem, Always Sharp
I've been playing guitar for 7 years already. Throughout the years my ear developed and I started to notice intonation issues. I've been trying to fix it, but I never could.
I adjusted the truss rod,...
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Problems with playing high notes (17-20th fret on e-string)
I have a problem that when I play a note on the e string (the tiniest one) on the 17th to 20th fret, I noticed that the same notes were repeated and starting in the 21st fret, the notes were fine ...
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How can I measure, or otherwise quantify, the accuracy of intonation of my classical guitar, in order to compare it with other classical guitars?
Is there an standard / common way of measuring and comparing intonation in classical guitars?
Say, if I were a luthier, which objective method would I use to decide if any given classical guitar needs ...
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Type of Trapeze for acoustic guitar
I'm wondering if anyone has ever developed a trapeze for acoustic guitar that included features that would allow intonation adjustments similar to what is available on electrics? I have an old Yamaha ...
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(Solved) Intonation Problem (Only with High E and B Strings) in Acoustic Guitar
My Acoustic Guitar's Intonation is right in place for the bottom 4 strings, But the Top two are off. Octave is 50 Cents flat in B-string and 1 semi-tone flat in E-string.
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I thought it was the ...