Music, Guitars, and Mathematics

By Elias Morales

Math 1030

One day, when I was about twelve years old, I overheard my father talking to my oldest
brother. He asked my brother if he would like to learn the guitar. My brother responded that he
did not want to. At that moment I sprung into conversation and told my dad that I would like to
learn the guitar and he responded ok, lets get you a guitar.
The guitar has become a big part of our society, an icon of rock music, and a way for
people to express themselves. The guitar is a string instrument that usually consist of 4 to 18
strings, most commonly known by only having six. The guitar can be acoustic, with a hollow
body and no amplification or electric, with a solid body and amplification through an amplifier.
But, when the subject of guitars is brought up no one ever talks about or explains the math
behind it all. This is what I would like to explore and explain. What math is used to build a
guitar? What math is used to engineer sounds? Did the ancient guitar luthiers know about the
math? These are some of the questions Id like to explore.
The guitar has a rich heritage which isnt known by many. The guitar is a type of
chordophone, usually made out of wood with strings originally made from gut, but more
commonly today nylon, and steel. Its predecessors are the gittern, vihuela, the Renaissance
guitar, and the baroque guitar.
The chordophone is an instrument with a wood body with a long neck and strings.
Chordophones can be lutes, guitars, bass guitars and so one. They date back to before 1,000 BC
as archeologists discovered a clay tablet with a chordophone like instrument.
Math and music have always been connected. Music is measured by frequency which
relates it to math. Every instrument creates a sound, and the way the sound is measured always
has to do with math.

The body of a guitar acts very similar to what is called a Helmholtz resonator, which is a
cavity with a tube feeding into it. A classic example of a Helmholtz resonator is a glass bottle;
when you blow on the top of the bottle, a noise with a certain frequency comes out. Different
bottles emit sounds of different frequencies due to the sound, the area of the opening, the volume
of the cavity and the length of the tube. In fact, there is an equation for it:
f=

c
S

2 VL

is the frequency, c is the speed of sound, S is the surface area of the opening, V is the

volume of the cavity, L is the length of the tube and the x a variable. To apply this to a guitar, the
body of the guitar is designed to vibrate and thus are not actually rigid, meaning the calculations
will have a small percentage error.

All of western music theory has been tied to mathematics for thousands of years.
Frequency, diatonic and chromatic scales and tunings have used math. Because frequency is
pertains to math, as it can be calculated using an equation, its easy to see how math is applied to
music and vice versa. We hear the frequency of sound from a string thats strummed. We see the
strings vibrate or oscillate, while sometimes those sounds are harsh and just seem like noise. On
the other hand, sometimes the waves that we hear are sweet, and pleasing.
Sounds waves are periodic, and the opposite or inverse of the period is the frequency. If

the frequency is measured in seconds, the frequency is thus measured as

1
s

which is the unit

of the hertz, with s for seconds. So, the more cycles the wave makes per second the higher the
frequency, meaning the high the pitch.
Pleasant sounding notes are caused by consonant sound, or paired frequencies that are
different. If we take the ratio of the frequencies, we get the interval. Unison intervals are when
the ratios are 1:1 known as the note called C. The next is called an octave which is also C, with a
2:1 frequency.
The mathematician Pythagoras also created a tuning system based on ratios. He
theorized that every consonant note between C and its octave could be arrived at by multiplying
and dividing 2 and 3. So the ratio 3:2 gives us whats called a perfect fifth or the note G, the ratio

4:3 or

27
16

4
3 , or

and B

2
3
2

or the note F. So, he continued with D as

9
8 , E as

81
64 , A with

242
128 . However, this system of tuning is not ideal for the guitar due to its

chromaticism and it not keeping close to the perfect fifth interval. However, a method called
equal temperament does keep it close to the 3:2. The interval length of (

just need to see if seven semitones of the length of

12

( 2)

12

12

2 )12 = 2, then we

2 is close to the perfect fifth:

1.4983

This, because its so close to the perfect fifths 1.5, is why its called equal temperament. This
allows us to evenly space the frets by ratio on a guitar to produce even notes that are consonant.
All of this not only contributes to music but the foundations of the guitar. Without the proper
knowledge of notes and frequencies, the guitar cant be tuned to the proper pitches electronically,
nor can the frets on the neck of the guitar be placed in the proper place to give allow the guitar to
have good intonation. Math is also taken into consideration when designing the body of a guitar.
As wood bars or strips are placed, the vibration the guitar has changes. So, measurement is
crucial for spacing and designing to produce a specific sound on the guitar. All of which is
designed at first by trial and error, but now is meticulously measured for the perfect sound.

The guitar today has come from math. From design to measuring frequency, it has
become an icon of our society. It has come to me that its origins are more complex than I
thought and that there really is an art, a mathematical art to the construction of the guitar. After
all the times Ive strummed my guitar, played iconic guitar lines like Hotel California and
Sweet Child of Mine I never thought much of what the guitar has been through, or what it
takes mathematically to make the guitar, let alone the math involved in music. Geometry, linear
equations, and even physics have made the guitar what it is today. So, the next time I pick up my
guitar, I will be reminded of the long, complicated history the instrument has in its heritage.

Bibliography
Passy. (2012) Guitar Mathematics. Passys World of Mathematics. Retrieved April
1st, 2016.
http://passyworldofmathematics.com/guitar-mathematics/
Hornbeck, David. (2013) Mathematics, Music and the Guitar. Retrieved March 31st,
2016. http://jwilson.coe.uga.edu/EMAT6450/Class%20Projects/Hornbeck/Math,
%20Music,%20&%20Guitar.pdf
Standaert, Dries. (2010) Assignment Music and Mathematics. Retrieved April 1st,
2016 from: http://wwwma4.upc.edu/~xgracia/musmat/treballs/Standaert.guitaracoustics.pdf
Arthur, Daniel. (2013) The Math and Geometry of Music Linking Sight and Sound.
Retrieved April 1st, 2016 from:
http://milbert.com/Files/articles/MathGeometryMusic.pdf