Why don pianists and guitarists bother with temperament?
Wind and bowed string instruments have nearly *exactly* periodic sounds, and thus their partials are almost exactly harmonic. For these instruments, equal tempered thirds in sustained chords don’t sound great. Pianos have strong transients, which mean that they don’t have periodic sounds. Further, they have three strings for most notes, and these are tuned slightly differently (to assist sustain) which gives chorus effects that disguise the problem. There is the further complication that the partials of thick steel strings are sharper than harmonics and thus their sounds are not exactly harmonic. Try it on a guitar using the very high harmonics, particularly with solid steel strings. Pianists get used to equal temperament, and may even prefer it to others, but string quartets sometimes have trouble playing quintets with piano. Some guitarists possibly do use equal temperament. Others can adjust the tuning according to the key that they are to play in, and can do so quickly. They may us
Wind and bowed string instruments have nearly *exactly* periodic sounds, and thus their partials are almost exactly harmonic. For these instruments, equal tempered thirds in sustained chords don’t sound great. Some guitarists possibly do use equal temperament. Others can adjust the tuning according to the key that they are to play in, and can do so quickly. They may use several different temperaments without noticing it. Some good players clearly do adjust the tuning by pushing the finger that stops one string parallel to the string, so as to increase or to decrease its tension. Pianos have strong transients, which mean that they don’t have periodic sounds. Further, they have three strings for most notes, and these are tuned slightly differently (to assist sustain) which gives chorus effects that disguise the problem. There is the further complication that the partials of thick steel strings are sharper than harmonics and thus their sounds are not exactly harmonic. Try it on a guitar u
