How does guitars make sound

The guitar string forces the sound box to begin vibrating at the same frequency as the string. The sound box in turn forces surrounding air molecules into vibrational motion. Because of the large surface area of the sound box, more air molecules are set into vibrational motion. This produces a more audible sound. For more information on physical descriptions of waves, visit The Physics Classroom Tutorial. Detailed information is available there on the following topics:. Physics Tutorial.

My Cart Subscription Selection. Return to List of Animations. String vibration resonates throughout the body Guitars consist of two sections: the neck and the body. Learn the parts of the acoustic guitar Acoustic guitar parts.

The top is extremely important! Picks used for steel strings. Structure How a guitar makes sound Six strings, each with a higher pitch The rule of strings and pitch Key points in determining reverberation [Experiment1]Sound hole size [Experiment2]Changing the material of the top; [Experiment3]Changing the material of the saddle and nut. How to Play Let's listen to the notes Time to master tuning Playing hints. How the Instrument is Made Various types of wood are used to create instruments Guitar top decorations and bracing Assembling the body Coating and polishing gives the instrument a beautiful finish The final stretch!

The wavelength of a sound wave traveling through the air is the physical length of the wave. If you could freeze a sound wave in time and space and if you could see the wave , measuring the distance from one peak of the wave to the next peak would give you the wavelength. An open chord, as played on a guitar, is the chord that you get by strumming a properly-tuned guitar without touching the strings. A harmonic is a frequency at which a string can vibrate; the lowest frequency at which a string can vibrate is one where the wavelength of the wave on the string is twice the length of the string itself.

This lowest frequency is called the "fundamental". An overtone is much like a harmonic; the n th harmonic is the n -1 th overtone. One of the properties of waves, when applied to this situation, states that only integer values of n can exist on a string effectively.

A standing wave is a sound wave that oscillates back and forth, often either along a string or between the ends of a pipe.