Pitch describes how high or low a note is.

We give different pitches names, but they can be calculated scientifically by the frequency of vibrations their sound waves have.

Higher notes have faster vibrations and lower notes have slower vibrations. The higher the pitch, the higher the frequency. We measure frequency in a unit called Hertz (Hz).

Humans can hear from roughly 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz. We commonly shorten 20,000 Hz to 20 kHz. 20 Hz is very low, and 20 kHz is very high—only babies can hear it; most adults can't hear higher than 17 kHz. Some animals (like bats) can hear as high as 200 kHz. That's why dogs can hear some whistles that we can't.

Bass sound waves are wider and harder to stop than thin high frequencies. It is why you mostly hear the bass when your neighbors play loud music at a party!

Practical Perspectives

Guitars only play notes between 80Hz to 1.31kHz. ** The second thickest string on the guitar is the note A, whose frequency is 110 Hz. Piano goes lower and higher (down to 27.5 Hz and up to 4.18 kHz (4180 Hz) on an 88 key piano) .

** NOTE: There is an error in the video - it is stated and written that the highest pitch on guitar is 7kHz. This is an error.

We are aware of other higher frequencies above notes that we play. These are naturally occurring harmonics; we'll revisit the concept later!

On Piano

Piano is a great tool for learning music theory, even for guitarists! It's much more visual as you're about to see. On piano, the notes go lower if we move to the left; if we move to the right, they get higher! It's super easy!

On Guitar

🚨Right-Handed Instructions! Before we get started, please note I will always describe exercises on guitar for right-handed people. If you're left-handed, you just need to remember to flip my instructions.

The note gets lower on the guitar if we move left (toward the headstock) along a single string. It gets higher if we move right (toward the guitar's body). However, we also have up and down strings to contend with: the closer to the ground, the higher the strings!

Summary Points

Pitch describes if a note is high or low
High notes have fast frequencies, and low notes have slow frequencies.
We measure frequency in Hertz, written Hz. 1000 Hertz is one Kilohertz (kHz).
The frequency range of a guitar is roughly 80 Hz to 1.31 kHz.

👉 Now, let's learn about Octaves!