Music Calculator

We’ve all been there: snap! Every guitar player has heard that sound. What’s worse is that it always seems to happen when we least expect … Read more

Here you are standing at work bench with brand new pickguard and new strings. Why does it stay in tune on one setup, yet go … Read more

The tuner displays the note and you press the 12th fret and it’s sharp. Ok you back off on the saddle screw and move the … Read more

The truth is far more mechanical then magical. Think of the neck of your guitar as a continuous spring held tightly in tension by the … Read more

Few guitar players realy consider how much force is acting against the wood they’re plucking. Whether you are looking for the green light of a … Read more

There is magic hiding in space between two metal wires, and precise math underneath the pitch jump. Pluck a string against one of its frets … Read more

Examine the twelfth fret carefuly. On a bass or guitar, this is exactly halfway along the scale. At this point, pitch increase by an octave … Read more

Listen to the shimmer of a note floating over a strummed chord. That’s a natural harmonic. A sound like instrument itself is singing. But it … Read more

There’s nothing like having your ruler disagree with your tuner as you’re constructing a guitar neck. You’ve painstakingly measured out the scale length to the … Read more

Many pieces of music are drop tuned, including moddern rock and metal. To achieve this you tune your lowest string down two semitones, leaving all … Read more

Measuring frets will make sense of how far apart they feel from each other. As you ascend the neck, the notes do indeed become different … Read more

Fear: “I slipped with my tape measure by a millimeter.” (That’s a common fear among luthiers). No longer do you have a guitar you’re building; … Read more

When you put a capo onto say the second fret of your guitar, you’ll probably have noticed it is stiffer to play and sounds brighter … Read more

When we talk about tuning a keyboard instrument it means controlling these interference patterns created by frequencies. When you listen to a third, you’re not … Read more

Then there’s the bending. You chase a feel somewhere between a whole step and a quarter step, learning how to bend by ear. This changes … Read more