This is definitely the clearest explanation of just intonation I’ve ever seen. In just intonation (as opposed to equal temperament), all the notes are in whole number ratios with each other. Standard equal temperament, on the other hand, takes the octave as a 2:1 ratio and then splits it up into 12 even parts. The frequencies of these parts are close to, but not quite, whole number ratios.

See? Describing it makes it practically impossible to understand! Watch the video and hear the exacerbated wiggliness of equal-tempered chords. The video is an ad for some system that automatically fixes up your intervals, but if you like oscilloscopes, you won’t want to miss this! (How’s that for a sales pitch?)

(via immanent discursivity)

This is a detail of the neck of a guitar fretted for just intonation. In just intonation, intervals are related by whole-number ratios. Instead of evenly dividing the octave into twelve parts, for example, each note is determined by a ratio. These whole number ratios allow notes to resonate more with the harmonic series.

For the guitar, it means you end up with awesome necks like this. (What would it sound like if you tried to bend a note on this thing?)

(via ljguitar)