The 5 TONE Secrets Musicians Don't Want You to Know About Tuning
Nov 11, 2025
Did you know that the 12 notes on your piano or guitar are actually a mathematical compromise? Explore the intense historical and scientific clash behind the Western world’s dominant tuning system: 12-Tone Equal Temperament (12-ET).
12-ET divides the octave into 12 equally spaced parts, each having a frequency ratio equal to the 12th root of 2 (approximately 1.05946). While this allows music to be played equivalently well in all keys (free modulation), it sacrifices acoustic purity.
Learn about:
• Just Intonation (JI): The ancient system, explored by Pythagoras using the monochord, which uses pure, simple whole number frequency ratios (like the 3:2 perfect fifth and 5:4 major third). These ratios result in perfectly consonant, rich chords.
• The Flaw: Why historically pure systems like JI resulted in unplayable "wolf" intervals and were crippled because composers could only use particular keys.
• 12-ET's Compromise: How 12-ET makes all intervals slightly "out of tune", notably making the major third "awful" or highly compromised compared to its pure 5:4 ratio.
• Global Systems: Discover musical cultures that use far more than 12 notes, such as the 22-note scale (Shruti) used in Indian classical music, or the Arab tone system based on 24 quarter-tone divisions.
Tags: #12ToneEqualTemperament #EqualTemperament #JustIntonation #MusicTheory #Pythagoras #TuningHistory #Why12Notes #MicrotonalMusic #MusicAcoustics #BachTuning #Acoustics #ConsonanceDissonance
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