Chord
The archive gathers together the posts about tuning chords.
Chord
Do you want to know how to tune chords better?
Chord Defined
The term does not come from the word cord (i.e., string). Rather, it comes from the Middle English word cord, which means accord. In other words, the notes in a harmony are in accord, meaning they work well together.
Likewise, the term harmony, a synonym of chord, also carries the idea of notes that work well together. Therefore, harmony remains a branch of music theory that deals with how notes combine to create consonant and dissonant groupings.
The notes in a harmony can be played one after the other. However, most often harmony deals with notes that happen at the same time.
When a chord gets played as a block, it remains sensitive to mistuning. Therein lies the problem with harmony, it can be tricky to tune.
Tuning Chords
Equal temperament remains the standard tuning for instruments like the piano, organ, guitar, and xylophone. It makes compromises in the harmonies in order to keep the total number of notes to a workable amount.
Equal temperament could be thought of as a well temperament that spreads the tuning errors evenly across the whole tuning system. It has the advantage that none of the chords sound really bad. Also, all of the scales remain usable.
However, the equal tempered major thirds are just spitting distance from being out of tune.
How to Better Tune Chords
A new tuning system, called Supplemented Equal Temperament, creates an enhanced version of equal temperament that has better sounding chords.
Many of the following posts talk about how to tune harmonies using Supplemented Equal Temperament, while other posts deal with singing harmonies in tune.
© 2021 Geoffrey Keith
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Want to have better vocal tone? Want to sing in tune? Singing is all about the vowels. Vowels have a central role in singing, because the vowels impact your tone. Also, they impact how you tune when you harmonize. This happens when sound passes through the formants – the resonant folds in the vocal tract. The formants filter your voice’s harmonic overtones, which influences your harmonic intonation. Read more to learn about singing in tune with vowels. Estimated reading time 6 minutes.
Can Supplemented Equal Temperament help you coordinate your guitar and synth tunings so they sound good? A wide range of Supplemented Equal Temperament (SET) charts and preexisting EDOs (equal-division-of-the-octave tunings) can fit under the umbrella of SET. This gives you a lot of control over how you tune your guitars, ukuleles, banjos, and synths. This in turn will allow your whole ensemble to sound better in tune. Read more to learn about the flexibility in Supplemented Equal Temperament’s theory. Estimated reading time 5 minutes.
How do rock and pop vocalists sing differently from your average joe singers? There must be something different they do, otherwise fans wouldn’t pay millions of dollars to buy their merchandise. Read more to learn how to sing in tune like a rock star. Estimated reading time 4 minutes.
I’m excited to share that I’ve posted my 100th blog article. My goal is to deliver fun, relevant, and insightful content that’s chock-full of soundtracks, vibrant images, and videos. I hope you like what you’ve seen so far. If you have, please visit again. Estimated reading time 5 minutes.
Do you have a hard time getting the authentic sound of bluegrass banjo? How you tune impacts how you sound. Read more to learn how to tune like an authentic bluegrass banjo player. Estimated reading time 4 minutes.
Do you have a hard time singing 7th chords in tune? Most vocalists do. Don’t worry, the sing-along song tracks can help! Read more to learn how.
Estimated reading time 3 minutes.
Want the authentic sound that comes with Hawaiian tuning? How you tune impacts the guitar’s sound. Read more to learn how to tune your guitar like a Hawaiian.
Estimated reading time 6 minutes.
Want to sing in tune? Knowledge is power. The following post talks about how singers group pitches as they perform. Read more to find out how the fact that a note contains many pitches can impact singing in tune.
Estimated reading time 7 minutes.
Want to get the authentic sound of country blues guitar? Frustrated that your guitar sounds different from your favorite blues artist? The guitar’s tuning impacts the sound. Read more to learn how to tune country blues guitar to achieve an authentic blues sound.
Estimated reading time 7 minutes.
Do you find key changes tricky to sing in tune? The sing-along song tracks will help! Read more to learn about how to sing key changes in tune.
Estimated reading time 4 minutes.
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