temperament

Charles Neuman cneuman@phy.duke.edu
Tue, 2 Jan 2001 10:39:23 -0500 (EST)


What is the temperament of a guitar? As I understand it, the strings are
tuned to each other in perfect intervals, so it can't be equal
temperament. The frets determine the intervals on each string. Do they
make an equal tempered scale on each string?

Also, I assume violin players and other string players tune their strings
to perfect intervals. Are string players concerned with temperament?
Perhaps that's too subtle a distinction to make while playing an
instrument where the scale is determined by the player's fingers, and not
by the physical characteristics of the instrument.

Charles Neuman





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