Why can't you tune your guitar? (2019) • Hacker News Board

Re: Why can't you tune your guitar? (2019)

#31

Post by a4isms » Sun, Mar 08, 2026, 3:45 PM UTC

sillysaurusx wrote: post #26

a4isms wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Generous of you to assume that someone who walks in, sees something somebody else has written and immediately calls it shit... Has something of value to say. If they did, why did they hold it back just to speak so contemptuously of a subject that is actually interesting and reasonably well explained?

Technically they called it testicles, not shit, but your point stands. Generosity is worth having by default, though. Filter people out when they burn it explicitly.

There is a quantum of earned generosity. Someone saying, "This doesn't seem right" has jumped to a conclusion, but they aren't getting personal about the author or the work.

Whether it's testes or testy language, getting personal and insulting does not meet my personal standard for assuming good intent and being worthy of an open-minded attempt to create constructive dialogue.

But I applaud you for wanting to lift the standard of discourse!

Re: Why can't you tune your guitar? (2019)

#32

Post by steppi » Sun, Mar 08, 2026, 3:46 PM UTC

amelius wrote: post #9

> If thirds and fifths are so out of tune in 12-TET, why do we use it? The advantage is that all the thirds and fifths in all the keys are out of tune by the same amount. None of them sound perfect, but none of them sound terrible, either. Can't we have a system that is optimized for the notes that are actually played in a song rather than the hypothetical set? And what if the optimization is done per small group of…

Yes, people try this. Check out dynamic tonality. It doesn't necessarily need a system. Experienced guitar players often find themselves unconsciously making little microtonal adjustments through bends and other techniques when playing leads. I found myself doing this just because it sounded better to me. I didn't even notice there was a consistent pattern until I eventually learned the math. For example I'd always want to bend minor thirds slightly sharp and bend the neck to slightly detune major thirds.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_tonality

Re: Why can't you tune your guitar? (2019)

#33

Post by marshmellman » Sun, Mar 08, 2026, 3:46 PM UTC

amelius wrote: post #9

> If thirds and fifths are so out of tune in 12-TET, why do we use it? The advantage is that all the thirds and fifths in all the keys are out of tune by the same amount. None of them sound perfect, but none of them sound terrible, either. Can't we have a system that is optimized for the notes that are actually played in a song rather than the hypothetical set? And what if the optimization is done per small group of…

Logic Pro has Hermode tuning, which does this per chord: https://support.apple.com/guide/logicpro/hermode-tuning-lgcp...

Re: Why can't you tune your guitar? (2019)

#34

Post by lillesvin » Sun, Mar 08, 2026, 3:49 PM UTC

cpursley wrote: post #15

Fixed it: “Why can’t you tune your poorly made guitar?” The most guitars today are still made in the style of the 1950s Gibsons and Fenders, including the neck and tuner layout. Most guitar buyers focus on the aesthetic and not the quality. I switched to a headless guitar where the tuners are at the bridge and it has a fanned fretboard giving the strings more natural tensions, the thing stays in tune and is intonated…

Even your fancy guitar is not exempt from harmonics math. TFA has nothing to do with the quality of a guitar and everything to do with 12-Tone Equal Temperament.

Re: Why can't you tune your guitar? (2019)

#35

Post by KuSpa » Sun, Mar 08, 2026, 3:52 PM UTC

This is why string instrument players sometimes prefer to play a note not on the empty string (let's say play a A on the A-string on a cello), but instead on a lower string (e.g. first finger, fourth position on the lower D string) to accord for these imperfections. As a string instrumemt player, you pretty much only have to worry about these notes on empty strings, every other note you can "wiggle into place".

Re: Why can't you tune your guitar? (2019)

#36

Post by GRiMe2D » Sun, Mar 08, 2026, 3:54 PM UTC

amelius wrote: post #9

> If thirds and fifths are so out of tune in 12-TET, why do we use it? The advantage is that all the thirds and fifths in all the keys are out of tune by the same amount. None of them sound perfect, but none of them sound terrible, either. Can't we have a system that is optimized for the notes that are actually played in a song rather than the hypothetical set? And what if the optimization is done per small group of…

Actually Bach's Well Tempered Clavier IS a book written in a single set of tuning system that actually lost/forgotten. We still have discussions about how it's constructed. For more information google "Well Tempered Clavier interpretation"

You can listen to variations here: https://youtu.be/kRui9apjWAY?t=622

Re: Why can't you tune your guitar? (2019)

#37

Post by analog31 » Sun, Mar 08, 2026, 3:56 PM UTC

KuSpa wrote: post #35

This is why string instrument players sometimes prefer to play a note not on the empty string (let's say play a A on the A-string on a cello), but instead on a lower string (e.g. first finger, fourth position on the lower D string) to accord for these imperfections. As a string instrumemt player, you pretty much only have to worry about these notes on empty strings, every other note you can "wiggle into place".

Indeed, and another factor is that a fingered note has a different tone quality.

Disclosure: String player.

Re: Why can't you tune your guitar? (2019)

#38

Post by amelius » Sun, Mar 08, 2026, 3:56 PM UTC

chpatrick wrote: post #17

amelius wrote: post #9

> If thirds and fifths are so out of tune in 12-TET, why do we use it? The advantage is that all the thirds and fifths in all the keys are out of tune by the same amount. None of them sound perfect, but none of them sound terrible, either. Can't we have a system that is optimized for the notes that are actually played in a song rather than the hypothetical set? And what if the optimization is done per small group of…

That's how it works when you sing! But if you have an instrument you need to tune it would be annoying if you had to retune it between every song.

Ok, does this explain why singers drift to a different key when there is no accompaniment?

Re: Why can't you tune your guitar? (2019)

#39

Post by JohnMakin » Sun, Mar 08, 2026, 4:00 PM UTC

I was born with something not quite like perfect pitch, but when something is even slightly off tune it caused physical discomfort for me.

My cs department had a cool project class where you built what was basically a raspberry pi with a microcontroller by hand, and you had to use the dumb speaker and controller to make your own music firmware to produce notes. the challenge involved, was basically, the processor’s clock wasnt fine grained enough to produce perfect notes. I wanted to make a simon says toy but the notes were off. I approached my professor with my problem and he said I could cheat the processor clock in a clever way to get what i wanted and it was such a “oh wow computers are magic” to me, i got the notes i wanted. disappointingly the TA grader wasnt that impressed but that proff ended up offering me a job before I graduated.

Re: Why can't you tune your guitar? (2019)

#40

Post by kgwxd » Sun, Mar 08, 2026, 4:02 PM UTC

sgarrity wrote: post #3

My first guitar teacher told me that someday I'd start to notice that you can't get all strings perfectly in tune. At that point, he said, you'll know you're getting somewhere on the guitar.

Get obsessed over the perfect tuning. Blame the imperfections on the quality of the guitar. Don't play until you get a better guitar. Repeat until you give up. Then actually start playing the damn thing.