15. Avoiding the 7th Harmonic
If you like this Tutorial on Acoustics, please subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/c/WalkThatBass For more information check out my website: https://www.thejazzpianosite.com/how-music-works/ The 7th harmonic is a min7th that’s a little bit too flat. The total sound of a string is the sum all of the harmonics present. If the 7th overtone is present, and it’s played with other notes from the scale (especially the min7th) it’ll sound really dissonant and out-of-tune. And for this reason we tend to try to avoid the 7th harmonic. Plucking the string near one of its ends will create lots of high overtones, which is why the string sound twangy. Plucking the string near the middle will create lots of low overtones, which is why the string sound bassy. Plucking the string 1/7th of the way down the string will create a nice balance of both high and low overtones. And, as you may have guessed, this has the added benefit of eliminating the 7th harmonic because this is exactly where one of its nodes would be. So plucking the string 1/7th from the end means the 7th harmonic will not be present in the note and you will remove that dissonant overtone. That’s why you’ll find that the hammers in a piano are generally located near a node of the 7th overtone.
If you like this Tutorial on Acoustics, please subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/c/WalkThatBass For more information check out my website: https://www.thejazzpianosite.com/how-music-works/ The 7th harmonic is a min7th that’s a little bit too flat. The total sound of a string is the sum all of the harmonics present. If the 7th overtone is present, and it’s played with other notes from the scale (especially the min7th) it’ll sound really dissonant and out-of-tune. And for this reason we tend to try to avoid the 7th harmonic. Plucking the string near one of its ends will create lots of high overtones, which is why the string sound twangy. Plucking the string near the middle will create lots of low overtones, which is why the string sound bassy. Plucking the string 1/7th of the way down the string will create a nice balance of both high and low overtones. And, as you may have guessed, this has the added benefit of eliminating the 7th harmonic because this is exactly where one of its nodes would be. So plucking the string 1/7th from the end means the 7th harmonic will not be present in the note and you will remove that dissonant overtone. That’s why you’ll find that the hammers in a piano are generally located near a node of the 7th overtone.