Clarification of used terms

I many of my texts I use all kinds of physical or musical terms. To help people not familiar with both fields here a summary of most used terms. If a term in another description below is colored grey, this means you can find it in this list.

12-TET – 12-TET is an abbreviation of 12 Tone Equal Temperament, which is the common Western logaritmic scale and tuning as can be viewed on the fretboard of a guitar. Each fret becomes slightly smaller and the octave is divided in 12 tones.

For further explanation read What’s the 12-TET Western tuning?

3rd Bridge – 3rd Bridge is a term I use to describe a playing technique where an additional bridge is positioned between the strings and the fretboard dividing the string in two divisions. For further explanation read What is 3rd Bridge?.

Crescendo – A crecendo is a part of a musical composition which increases in volume. A Day in a Life of the Beatles is a known example where this effect is being used.

Circle of Fourths – More common known is the Circle of Fifths, which is the same only read the opposite way. A fourth means the fourth tone in a major or minor scale. If you take the fourth of the fourth of the fourth, etc., you end up in the first note after 12 steps. This circle is called the circle of fourths and for musical theory a handy trick. If you do this with the fifth tone you get the same serie only counterclockwise. Many of my instruments have 12 tones, tuned in the circle, because this is more convenient than a chromatic order while playing.

Consonant – Consonant means ‘sounds harmonic’ or sounds nice and easy for the less musical trained people. The opposite is dissonant.

Dissonant – Dissonant means sounds a bit uneasy or wringing. People not used to atonal music tend to find it annoying or bad sounding. I take the justification of what’s dissonant broader than commonly done in musical theory. I find 2 tones never dissonant, only 3 tones can be dissonant to my opinion when the difference tones of those 3 tones are interfering with the at least one of the actual tones. That’s why I dislike driven 3 tone chords. To my opinion there is no strict border for what is still consonant. I regard it a scale of decreasing values leading to absolute dissonance when the difference tone is closer than 20 Hz (the border of our hearing) from one of the actual tones. A broader clarification about this will follow as soon as I’ve time for it.

Extended technique – An unusual ‘new’ playing techique, different from what usual is done on an instrument. The fretboard hammering of Eddie Van Halen for instance. Hendrix had a wide variety of extended techniques available, because he was left handed (the guitar allowed him to play different on it, because it was upside down). For that particular reason I regard him the best guitar player above any other guitar player, not for his flexible speed, where he’s most often credited for.

False – If I ever use the word false this means ‘sounds bad’. In Dutch we speak of ‘vals’ when it sounds bad. In English the term ‘out of tune’ is used, which is a bit uneasy for me, because many of my texts are about the out of tune aspect of the 12-TET Western musical scale. Improper is also a used term in English, but false in Dutch is stronger and more negative.

Formants – Formant overtones are all non-harmonic overtones which are related to the material of instruments or its construction. Translated to a voice, when you scream the sounds can clip to a higher note. This higher note is the first harmonic of the preceeding note. The formant notes cause you can hear who’s voice is speaking. A woman has different formants than a man and all people as well as all living animals also have different formants individually. Inharmonic sound is caused by formants. See also timbre.

Glissando – A glissando is a falling or raising tone. Like the flute sound in animation movies when someone falls from a building.

Harmonic – Harmonic means ‘sounds consonant’ or sounds nice and easy for the less musical trained people. The opposite is inharmonic. Inharmonic doesn’t necessarilly imply it sounds bad. Most short sounds like drums have inharmonic structures, which is the reason they don’t lest long (very little resonance). When I speak of ‘a harmonic’ this means an overtone with simple fraction related to the open string. Playing a harmonic is the same as playing a flageolet.

Harmonic series – The Harmonic series consists of 1:1/2:1/3:1/4:1/5:etc. when it comes to string lengths. If you speak of frequencies it is 1:2:3:4:5:etc..

Helix of Consonance – When I speak of a Helix of Consonance I mean a universal tendency of chaotic sound tending back automatically to organised sound, which is harmonic sound. Sound we human beings and all other living animals prefer, because we are part of nature. The Helix of Consonance is one example of a physical phenomenon called self-organisation. (see pic above or for more clarification read my 3rd Bridge Helix article on furious.com).

Inharmonic – Inharmonic means some of the clear audiable overtones don’t match very well with the fundamental tone. They are not consonant and not harmonic related. Inharmonic sound, often mentioned in texts about piano tuning, is caused by formants.

Just Intonation – Just Intonation, a tuning based of equal frequency ratio’s (3/2, 4/3, 5/4, etc.) derived from the harmonic series, instead of logaritmic relations, like the 12TET.

Microtonal – see What’s Microtonal Music?

Offset guitar – is a guitar with a body shape like the Fender Jazzmaster. The typical triangle shape of my instrument is based on this distortion, combined with the Vox Teardrop shape.

Overtone – Overtones can be divided in harmonics and formants. Harmonic overtones as described above are consonant overtones related to the fundamental tone, the lowest tone of a string. Formant overtones are all other overtones, which are related to the material of instruments or its construction. Translated to a voice, when you scream the sounds can clip to a higher note. This higher note is the first harmonic of the preceeding note. The formant notes cause you can hear whose voice is speaking. A woman has different formants than a man and all people as well as all living animals also have different formants individually.

Prepared guitar – A prepared guitar is a guitar employed with extra objects on, under or inbetween the strings to alter the sound of the instrument. A tremolo could be regarded a preparation, but I tend to use the term exclusive when the player has added something to the instrument himself. A slide is not really a preparation, but an extended technique.

Resonance – Resonance is difficult to explain in short, but is something like reflection, only in sound instead of lght reflection. An echo is a type of resonance. The wall reflects the sound he receives. Resonance is always harmonic related to the source.

Timbre – Timbre is the combination of the fundamental tone plus all present harmonics and formant overtones.

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