ukemunga
Well-known member
Is the common reference that a given note is 00 cents off frequency a way of saying 00% or what? Just wondering...
It's one hundredth of a semitone, if I understand it. A semitone is 1/12th of an octave or one step of a note as we understand notes (versus the half tones of African music, for example.) So as you go up the chromatic scale (all the sharps and flats) you have semitones. A cent is 1/100th of that.
So if one string is sharp by 3 cents, another string is flat by 3 cents but your tuner is showing all strings in tune. But when you play a chord it still doesn't sound quite right.
Cents are a measure of frequency designated to make everybody but piano tuners over-think.
Cents are a measure of frequency designated to make everybody but piano tuners over-think.
Cents are a measure of frequency designated to make everybody but piano tuners over-think.
With the number of posts I've seen about intonation etc. it seems to me that we are obsessing a little. I've read that in reality stringed instruments by their nature are never play perfectly in tune. Just close enough so that our ear and brain don't recognize it. That's the goal. Steve is right about over thinking this.
With the number of posts I've seen about intonation etc. it seems to me that we are obsessing a little. I've read that in reality stringed instruments by their nature are never play perfectly in tune. Just close enough so that our ear and brain don't recognize it. That's the goal. Steve is right about over thinking this.