[Harp-L] Ghost Notes and Equal Temperament

["John F. Potts" <hvyj@xxxxxxx>]

A few days ago, Jazmaan and i had the folowing exchange:


Jazmaan wrote:
Just wanted to add my two cents to the discussion of ghost notes that  
was going on a couple days ago:   In a nutshell - use a Just  
Intonation harp if you want to exploit ghost notes in your playing.    
Otherwise they just sound like grit.   I think a lot of people who  
have never played a Just Intonation harp have come to accept the  
grittiness - maybe even to like it - thinking that it's a byproduct  
of their amp's distortion.   They have no idea that same gritty  
distortion can quickly become harmonious and powerful - even a little  
mysterious and awesome - just by changing to a Just Intonation harp.


I replied:
In my experience, ghosts notes sound just fine on ET harps.  JI
sounds out of tune if you are playing in anything but first or second
position.  I recognize that some very accomplished players are
adamant that ghosts notes sound dissonant on ET, but as far as i am
concerned  that claim is just intonated nonsense.


Actually, as i think about it, i should qualify my reply by saying  
that the difference tones/ghost notes produced by playing SPLIT  
INTERVALS on an ET harp sound good..  Jazmaan may well be correct  
about ghost notes produced by intervals other than split intervals.   
i don't know about those.  My focus has been solely on ghost notes  
generated by split intervals .  Those do not sound gritty or  
dissonant. Actually, they sound sweeter than the chords do on an ET  
harp.

JP