Why do some notes sound great together and others sound so dissonant and unpleasant?
Some notes don’t correspond to any simple fractional interval, and those notes sound very dissonant. For example, playing C and F# together is extremely dissonant because there are no overlapping harmonics (the F# doesn’t quite even line up with 2/5 interval – for more on this see my answer to Why are there 12 notes?).
Why do dissonant chords sound bad?
Dissonant chords are combinations that sound jarring, like middle C and the C sharp above (a minor second). If the difference in frequency is within a certain range, rapid beats create a rattling sound called roughness.
What are notes that sound good together called?
Notes that sound good together when played at the same time are called consonant. Chords built only of consonances sound pleasant and “stable”; you can listen to one for a long time without feeling that the music needs to change to a different chord.
Why do some chords sound bad?
There are three common reasons why your fretting hand may make chords sound bad when strummed: Pressing down too lightly: not enough pressure on the strings can cause buzzing. Pressing down too hard: too much pressure can bend the strings out-of-tune.
Why do some frequencies sound better than others?
In simple terms, certain notes blend well together because of the way the sonic frequencies merge together and complement one another. Our brains will instinctively have a desire to gravitate towards complementary frequencies that will blend together to form pleasing sounds.
Why do some things sound harmonious and others don t?
Consonance has two main causes: the non-linearity of the sounds and the neuroplasticity of the brain. Every sound made in nature is made up of a main tone and many different overtones that reach the ear and the brain together – no natural tone is pure. Neuroplasticity is the ability of the brain to learn by repetition.
Why are certain combination of sound more pleasing than others?
The most pleasing musical chords have simple mathematical relationships between the different sound frequencies within them, but the source of this perception is mysterious. Two of the neurons are considered “sensory” neurons, each of which is stimulated by a different audio frequency in the inner ear.
Why do octaves exist?
The Greeks realized that sounds which have frequencies in rational proportion are perceived as harmonius. For example, a doubling of frequency gives an octave. A tripling of frequency gives a perfect fifth one octave higher. They didn’t know this in terms of frequencies, but in terms of lengths of vibrating strings.