Question for musicians

[IronFist]

Hey, alright so I've played guitar on and off for 12 years. Last night I was trying to explain some basic music stuff to my friend. He couldn't really hear the difference between major and minor chords, and he couldn't hear octaves. I know some people are more naturally inclined than others, but how do you explain (or demonstrate) that stuff to someone who doesn't get it?

Like I explained the concept of octaves, and then I played examples, and then I played examples of things that aren't octaves that were really obvious, like a C and a C# and octave higher. Obviously those aren't octaves and I played it both clean and with sufficient distortion to bring out that pulsing sound you get when two notes are almost octaves but not quite.

So how can you explain it to someone who has no music experience?

Or do some people just get it and others don't?

[Meat Shake]

Any 2 note chord is called an interval, and they are numbered through 7 based on what note you play with the middle c.

Do you know the notes on a piano? A pianos keys are more easily understood than on a guitar, you can show what an octave is a lot easier.

[old jong]

Show him how both the "E" strings play the same note but at different frequencies.;)

[IronFist]

^ I tried those. (not the piano thing).

But shouldn't you be able to HEAR an octave without having to see that it's the same keys on a piano?

[Chang Style Novice]

There are some people who will never understand these concepts. They are called tone deaf.

If you're showing him on guitar, try this

A string gains its vibrating frequency (ie pitch) from a variety of factors - thickness, length, density, and tension.

When it vibrates twice as fast, that's an octave!

You can double the speed of vibration by cutting length in half (12th fret.)

So, you can play a c scale all on one string, or across different strings.

That might help.

[IronFist]

At the other end of the tone deaf spectrum are the people who have perfect pitch. I'm jealous of them. Do any of you have, or know anyone who has, perfect pitch?

I actually heard that some people with perfect pitch kind of go crazy because where you or I hear sounds, they hear the frequencies of everything. So you and I hear a train whistle, they hear a bunch of 7ths (or whatever interval they're at). You and I hear water rushing through a pipe, they hear specific frequencies of water (and one website said they can tell the temperature of the water in the pipe from hearing it. wtf?) etc. I can see how that might get annoying.

But still, imagine hearing a song and knowing instantly how to play it because you instantly know what every note is. :eek:

They say people with perfect pitch generally don't bother learning relative pitch because they don't need to. Why bother learning to recognize a 4th, for example, when you could hear it and just know that it was a C and an F?

[Fu-Pow]

Hears something you could try to see if your friend is truly tone deaf. Tune two strings on your guitar until they are almost tuned but not quite (you know how you usually tune up.) Play the same note on both strings and you will hear a kind of "warbling" sound because the pitches don't match up. See if your friend can hear this warbling effect. If he can't then that just confirms that he is tone deaf.