2 ms·

Oh hey, it does. But why? (Seems like the same thing is true on actual physical strings.)

PaulHoule 2y ago
See https://phys.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Waves_and_Acoustics/Book%3A_Sound_-_An_Interactive_eBook_(Forinash_and_Christian)/10%3A_Strings/10.01%3A_Driven_String_and_Resonance/10.1.01%3A_String_Resonance https://phys.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Waves_and_Acoustics/... Touching the string at different points will excite different vibrational modes. Notably if you pluck in the exact center you activate none of the even-numbered nodes, if you pluck around the 1/3 point that's optimal for activating the second harmonic, etc. You can never not activate the fundamental mode touching it in one spot but you activate it less if you get close to the edge.
seanhunter 2y ago
The way strings resonate means the tone you hear contains the fundamental tone and a number of higher harmonics of that tone. Depending on where (and how) you play the string you can emphasise the harmonics more or the fundamental tone more. Here for example is a piece made up largely of the harmonics (Portrait of Tracy Jaco Pastorius) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsZ_1mPOuyk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsZ_1mPOuyk That's an electric bass and the bell-like sounds are harmonics. Basically he's just lightly touching the string in specific places to suppress the fundamental tone so you just hear the harmonics. Whereas here (Stir it up - Bob Marley and the Wailers) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hwL3S3Gtzs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hwL3S3Gtzs when the bass comes in, the player is holding his hand near the bridge (back of the strings) with the side of the palm resting on the strings to suppress all the harmonics so you only get the fundamental tone and it has this sort of muffled quality (because a lot of the brightness comes from harmonics).
- dmix 2y ago
  I recently learned to grasp harmonics from learning how saturation works, this provides a good visualization using a sine wave: https://youtu.be/NO2OZ3UTy2k?si=2gS4vETZKiYli4DY&t=183 https://youtu.be/NO2OZ3UTy2k?si=2gS4vETZKiYli4DY&t=183
  - itishappy 2y ago
    Dan Worrall's channel is incredible for these types of sound engineering topics. https://www.youtube.com/@DanWorrall https://www.youtube.com/@DanWorrall
- tetha 2y ago
  > the player is holding his hand near the bridge (back of the strings) with the side of the palm resting on the strings to suppress all the harmonics so you only get the fundamental tone and it has this sort of muffled quality (because a lot of the brightness comes from harmonics). Palm muting is one big technique to the more aggressive and chunkier metal sounds[1]. Even if you take out the music theory - or blatant disregard for - except kinda not, it's complicated, the different way you can create sounds with an electric guitar[2] in weird ways is quite amazing. 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yg4tKoiGoyM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yg4tKoiGoyM 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4ax35i6aIY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4ax35i6aIY
  - sampo 2y ago
    This channel has lots of Youtube shorts about basic ideas in Black Metal guitar: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/c16tL6rdh7g https://www.youtube.com/shorts/c16tL6rdh7g
nicklecompte 2y ago
It's not just where you pluck the string: most electric guitars have a "neck" pickup and a "bridge" pickup (sometimes a third in the middle). The neck pickup is closer to the middle of the string, and the bridge pickup is close to the end of the string. Regardless of where you pluck, the bridge pickup has a significantly more prominent high-end, to the point of being a bit shrill when played in isolation. Typically rock guitarists play rhythm with the neck pickup so they don't overpower the vocalist, then lead with the bridge pickup so they cut through the mix without needing to amp the volume too loudly. Why is this the case? It is funny that my guitarist's intuition seems very clear about it - "the string is tougher and clickier at the bridge compared to the neck, of course the tone is more shrill" - but in terms of actual analytical evidence I just have to say "something something Fourier coefficients" :) Refining the physical intuition a bit: I believe the boundary at the end of the string dampens lower-frequency (i.e. lower-energy) vibrations faster than higher-frequency vibrations, so the lower harmonics die off more quickly than the higher "nasal" harmonics.
- mrob 2y ago
  Isn't it just the geometry of the guitar constraining the ends of the string to have zero amplitude? The fundamental has peak amplitude only at the center of the vibrating part of the string. Higher harmonics have peaks in amplitude at multiple places along the string, and the higher the harmonic the closer one of those maxima is to the bridge.
  - thrtythreeforty 2y ago
    Bingo! It's all about harmonics' nodes. For a visualization, Cycfi Research has a great series on how pickup position affects tones. He also sells a "modeling pickup" based on this theory. https://www.cycfi.com/2014/07/virtual-pickup-placement-part-1/ https://www.cycfi.com/2014/07/virtual-pickup-placement-part-...
  - nicklecompte 2y ago
    The fundamental result of Fourier analysis is that we are saying the same thing :) Though I should have clarified that the kinetic energy is zero at the "boundary" (ie bridge). IMO which answer you prefer depends on perspective: - if you assume a wave can be broken down into sinusoidal overtones then your geometric approach is much more immediate and intuitive: sinusoidal overtones => higher overtones clearly have more kinetic energy near the boundary, just draw a picture. - if you assume that higher-pitched overtones have more kinetic energy then the physics approach explains why they are sinusoidal. Not the specific shape unless you do the math, but the "gist" of the slope. If the overtones were more like square waves, with no real difference in shape between frequencies beyond the length of the rectangle, then the pickup position wouldn't matter. But they can't be, the overtones have to be more "trapezoidal." And in particular, the lower overtones must have a more gradual slope than the higher overtones. The geometric approach makes a big (but correct) physical assumption for an easy analytical argument; the physical approach goes the other way, only depending on Newton's laws + a lot of elbow grease.

See https://phys.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Waves_and_Acoustics/Book%3A_Sound_-_An_Interactive_eBook_(Forinash_and_Christian)/10%3A_Strings/10.01%3A_Driven_String_and_Resonance/10.1.01%3A_String_Resonance https://phys.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Waves_and_Acoustics/... Touching the string at different points will excite different vibrational modes. Notably if you pluck in the exact center you activate none of the even-numbered nodes, if you pluck around the 1/3 point that's optimal for activating the second harmonic, etc. You can never not activate the fundamental mode touching it in one spot but you activate it less if you get close to the edge.

seanhunter 2y ago

The way strings resonate means the tone you hear contains the fundamental tone and a number of higher harmonics of that tone. Depending on where (and how) you play the string you can emphasise the harmonics more or the fundamental tone more. Here for example is a piece made up largely of the harmonics (Portrait of Tracy Jaco Pastorius) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsZ_1mPOuyk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsZ_1mPOuyk That's an electric bass and the bell-like sounds are harmonics. Basically he's just lightly touching the string in specific places to suppress the fundamental tone so you just hear the harmonics. Whereas here (Stir it up - Bob Marley and the Wailers) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hwL3S3Gtzs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hwL3S3Gtzs when the bass comes in, the player is holding his hand near the bridge (back of the strings) with the side of the palm resting on the strings to suppress all the harmonics so you only get the fundamental tone and it has this sort of muffled quality (because a lot of the brightness comes from harmonics).

dmix 2y ago
I recently learned to grasp harmonics from learning how saturation works, this provides a good visualization using a sine wave: https://youtu.be/NO2OZ3UTy2k?si=2gS4vETZKiYli4DY&t=183 https://youtu.be/NO2OZ3UTy2k?si=2gS4vETZKiYli4DY&t=183
- itishappy 2y ago
  Dan Worrall's channel is incredible for these types of sound engineering topics. https://www.youtube.com/@DanWorrall https://www.youtube.com/@DanWorrall
tetha 2y ago
> the player is holding his hand near the bridge (back of the strings) with the side of the palm resting on the strings to suppress all the harmonics so you only get the fundamental tone and it has this sort of muffled quality (because a lot of the brightness comes from harmonics). Palm muting is one big technique to the more aggressive and chunkier metal sounds[1]. Even if you take out the music theory - or blatant disregard for - except kinda not, it's complicated, the different way you can create sounds with an electric guitar[2] in weird ways is quite amazing. 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yg4tKoiGoyM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yg4tKoiGoyM 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4ax35i6aIY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4ax35i6aIY
- sampo 2y ago
  This channel has lots of Youtube shorts about basic ideas in Black Metal guitar: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/c16tL6rdh7g https://www.youtube.com/shorts/c16tL6rdh7g

nicklecompte 2y ago

It's not just where you pluck the string: most electric guitars have a "neck" pickup and a "bridge" pickup (sometimes a third in the middle). The neck pickup is closer to the middle of the string, and the bridge pickup is close to the end of the string. Regardless of where you pluck, the bridge pickup has a significantly more prominent high-end, to the point of being a bit shrill when played in isolation. Typically rock guitarists play rhythm with the neck pickup so they don't overpower the vocalist, then lead with the bridge pickup so they cut through the mix without needing to amp the volume too loudly. Why is this the case? It is funny that my guitarist's intuition seems very clear about it - "the string is tougher and clickier at the bridge compared to the neck, of course the tone is more shrill" - but in terms of actual analytical evidence I just have to say "something something Fourier coefficients" :) Refining the physical intuition a bit: I believe the boundary at the end of the string dampens lower-frequency (i.e. lower-energy) vibrations faster than higher-frequency vibrations, so the lower harmonics die off more quickly than the higher "nasal" harmonics.

mrob 2y ago
Isn't it just the geometry of the guitar constraining the ends of the string to have zero amplitude? The fundamental has peak amplitude only at the center of the vibrating part of the string. Higher harmonics have peaks in amplitude at multiple places along the string, and the higher the harmonic the closer one of those maxima is to the bridge.
- thrtythreeforty 2y ago
  Bingo! It's all about harmonics' nodes. For a visualization, Cycfi Research has a great series on how pickup position affects tones. He also sells a "modeling pickup" based on this theory. https://www.cycfi.com/2014/07/virtual-pickup-placement-part-1/ https://www.cycfi.com/2014/07/virtual-pickup-placement-part-...
- nicklecompte 2y ago
  The fundamental result of Fourier analysis is that we are saying the same thing :) Though I should have clarified that the kinetic energy is zero at the "boundary" (ie bridge). IMO which answer you prefer depends on perspective: - if you assume a wave can be broken down into sinusoidal overtones then your geometric approach is much more immediate and intuitive: sinusoidal overtones => higher overtones clearly have more kinetic energy near the boundary, just draw a picture. - if you assume that higher-pitched overtones have more kinetic energy then the physics approach explains why they are sinusoidal. Not the specific shape unless you do the math, but the "gist" of the slope. If the overtones were more like square waves, with no real difference in shape between frequencies beyond the length of the rectangle, then the pickup position wouldn't matter. But they can't be, the overtones have to be more "trapezoidal." And in particular, the lower overtones must have a more gradual slope than the higher overtones. The geometric approach makes a big (but correct) physical assumption for an easy analytical argument; the physical approach goes the other way, only depending on Newton's laws + a lot of elbow grease.