I put this in beginner's rather than the regular Guitar forum because it's a very basic question I haven't gotten my head around yet.
I read everywhere that the guitar is "tuned an octave lower" than "other" instruments. I'm not sure what this means in practical terms. Does that mean that if I play middle C on a piano, and then on the guitar, the note played on the guitar will sound an octave higher than the piano? Or is it the reverse?
More importantly, in terms of notation, if a note on the staff represents middle C, am I supposed to play 5th string 3rd fret, or 2nd string 1st fret? I've seen it tabbed both ways, actually, so I don't know that there's 100% agreement on this. I've been playing it 2nd string 1st fret just to keep the notes mostly on the treble clef, which I'm more familiar with, but I suspect I'm an octave off.
Finally, WHY? Why not set the staff notation to reflect the actual notes rather than something an octave higher or lower than you'd expect? :?
This is a question that gets asked a lot and I'm sure that there are a number of posts that already address it. Never hurts to go over it again, though.
Middle C on the piano is the same as the C note played at the first fret of the B string. Middle C in guitar music notation is played at the third fret of the A string. So the guitar (and guitar music) sounds one octave lower than standard concert tuning.
Why? Mostly for ease of reading. Guitar music is written the way it is so that every note can be on the same staff (treble clef) instead of having to use two clefs (like a piano). While there are notes lower than the staff, you don't go lower (usually) than E or D, so there's a limit to the number of ledger lines below the staff you'll encounter when reading guitar music. This is why we don't argue for using the bass clef, because we'd end up using tons of ledger lines (even with 8va notation) and it would get ugly fast.
The guitar is not the only instrument that does this, by the way. There are even clefs other than the treble and bass clefs that are used for instruments like the cello in order to accomodate their particular tonal range.
This is the relatively easy answer. Tom or Dave or others might grace us with a more historically accurate one at some point.
Hope it helps.
Peace
On the music staff (the thing with five lines and four spaces) the C on the second space down from the top is played with first fret on the second string (B string) . . . (others will jump in and tell you also 5th fret, 3rd string, etc)
If you want to compare where it is on another instrument, its frequency is 264 Hz
An octave lower would be the first line below the staff and played by 3rd fret of the 5th string.
Maybe the staff notation has been offset to reflect the octave or higher or lower . . . than some other instrument . . .
I wouldn't know what significance that has . . . and honestly, I'm not sure I want to know.
KR2 (sometimes ignorance is a blissul state of existence)
It's the rock that gives the stream its music . . . and the stream that gives the rock its roll.
what a great question and answer. everybody should know this. it is an important skill.
even better, it is easily learned and is a cool way to demystify the fret board.
the applications are great.
thanks.
Thanks for the responses. I'm playing a lot these days between the 5th and 8th frets, which I now think ranges from A below middle C (E string, 5th fret) to the C above the treble clef staff (e string, 8th fret, 2 octaves above middle C). The guitar software I'm using seemed to want to fret those notes way out in the 9-12 fret range, which is what prompted the question. Could be I just don't understand the software very well. :oops:
I actually did a search beforehand (I think I used "guitar tuned octave" or something similar), but only got 11 hits across 2 threads, neither of which touched on this issue. Maybe my search skills are what need tuning. :wink:
Or it may be that I'm remembering things wrong. That's certainly happend before :wink: More than once, too, if I remember correctly...
Peace
Thanks for the responses. I'm playing a lot these days between the 5th and 8th frets, which I now think ranges from A below middle C (E string, 5th fret) to the C above the treble clef staff (e string, 8th fret, 2 octaves above middle C). The guitar software I'm using seemed to want to fret those notes way out in the 9-12 fret range, which is what prompted the question. Could be I just don't understand the software very well. :oops:
Wow, your software it putting you way up on the fret board.
I hope you figure out how to lower it so you can play near the 0 to 3 fret range.
That must be confusing to be playing in that fret range as a beginner.
It's the rock that gives the stream its music . . . and the stream that gives the rock its roll.
Let's see if I got this right...
So when I play Imagine using the guitar chords as written (C Cmaj7 F), I'm actually in tune with the piano version? :note1: It sounds like it to me. :D
It is difficult to answer when one does not understand the question.
Wow, your software it putting you way up on the fret board.
I hope you figure out how to lower it so you can play near the 0 to 3 fret range.
That must be confusing to be playing in that fret range as a beginner.
Actually, I'm playing in the 5-8 range deliberately. It forces me to fret all melodies and barre all chords, rather than falling back on open strings and chords. In my 40+ years of experience, I've found that it's just better to learn the general (barre chords, fretted strings) and then apply the theory/technique to the special case (open chords and strings), rather than vice versa. That way you only have to learn it once (e.g., I finger all my "open" chords using only the middle thru pinky fingers, so that the shape is the same as for barre chords).
I'm not sure why so many things, guitar playing and otherwise, are frequently taught with the special cases first, which requires you to then "relearn" to apply to the more general situation. I guess in the case of guitar, it's just physically easier to deal with open strings and use all 4 fingers to handle open chords, but frankly I think it actually steepens the learning curve.
