The Harmonic Series (BASIC)

What is the harmonic series?

 Right, basically the harmonic series is the over tones of a note played. When you play a note it does not only contain the one note but a set of overtones too. These are known as harmonics! Harmonics can be found in all pitched instruments (string, brass, woodwind, keyboard and some percussion). For now I’m going to be focusing on piano.

When you play a note, the first over tone you will hear will be an octave higher than the original note, after that will be the next 5^th followed by the next 4^th then the 3^rd. Notice there is a pattern going on here? All of these overtones are found in the original string and can be found because the string is vibrating differently through the whole string, the diagram below makes a bit more sense!

If I were to press C1 the harmonic series will be C2, G2, C3, E3. This will continue but each overtone will get quieter and quieter till it can’t be heard. 

There is a way of hearing this for yourself. If you press C2 on a piano gently so it makes no noise and hold it and strike C1, you can clearly hear the first over tone. Try this with the notes listed above or in the diagram and you should get a better understanding. Remember, all of these notes are all within the fundamental string. This exercise just amplifies it.

This video here will show you what I mean!