blueicedj

Just thought this was weird. When I was practicing my trumpet I was going through my scales to warm up. I noticed this sound in the background and couldn't figure out what it was. When I was playing some songs I heard the same sound again. I soon realized this sound would only come when I played a B. It didn't matter what octave I played the B, it made a strange noise. I soon realized the noise was comming from my guitar. The sound waves making the strings vibrate. The weird part to me is that it only really made a noticeable sound when I played that B. Any ideas as to why?

Patric_Bernard

I'm guessing its your b string on your guitar? Guitars have six strings. EADGBE. If you are playing in tune with what your guitar is tuned at, it is possible that you could get that guitar string ringing. I'm just curious as to why your guitar is in the back yard?

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tedh1951

Some Drum Kits sing this way too - we have a Pearl Top Hat ?? that "rattles in tune" for particular notes.

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Ted

deebee

blueicedj – was that on a Bb trumpet? If so, your "B" would be sounding a concert "A" and getting sympathetic vibrations from the guitar's A string. The D string might be helping out as well. Try playing your (written) F#'s – do you get a similar effect?

You might also try playing into a piano with its sustain pedal down – certain notes will resonate. You could even get a pianist to hold certain keys down, as used by Berio in his trumpet Sequenza.

Richard Oliver

Our MD will pause and listen to the ring about the band room when we've played in tune causing pots, pans, drums, and mice to answer back with their own frequencies. Makes him smile.

blueicedj

???I never said I was playing in the backyard...

Yea, it's a Bb trumpet.
You were right, my F# does the same thing too... a little bit lighter, but definitely noticeable.

stchasking

I have a pendulum wall clock with chimes in my living room. It chimes in when I play.

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veery715

My girlfriend's grandfather clock chimes to my trumpet too. It's called sympathetic vibration. If you have a piano and hold the sustain pedal down while you play the trumpet it iwll trigger many notes to sing along. Even the stronger harmonics will join in.

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rowuk

It means that your B is nore resonant than your F# (low E on the guitar), E (D string), A (G string), C# (B string) or high F# (top string). When you get your breathing REALLY down, all of the strings will sympathetically vibrate!
That is something to look forward to and work on!

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Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.

bigtiny

I'm not an expert on acoustic theory, but there is a notion of 'sympathetic vibration' or 'sympathetic frequencies' where producing a sound at a certain frequencies can excite other objects within a certain proximity whose physical characteristics are such that they vibrate at that frequency. I've had this happen with all kinds of stuff around the house when playing. I think it happens quite often when playing a trumpet because the horn produces a rather loud, focused stream of soundwaves. If you put your guitar on a stand and sit a few feet away from it, facing the strings and try playing different notes on your horn, you can probably get most of the guitar strings to sound via sympathetic vibration, just by playing around....see an acoustics book for a better explanation of what's actually going on here.

bigtiny