The physics of playing guitar - Oscar Fernando Perez

Guitar masters like Jimi Hendrix are capable of bending the physics of waves to their wills, plucking melody from inspiration and vibration. But how do wood, metal, and plastic translate into rhythm, melody, and music? Oscar Fernando Perez details the physics of playing the guitar, from first pluck to that final shredding chord.

Lesson by Oscar Fernando Perez , animation by Chris Boyle.

[TheMoleski]

Damn that's some high quality animating

[jeanicehoffing]

Need to take a moment to appreciate how concise, and educating this video is

[povilaspeseckas]

The explanation was clean and self explanatory but the animation WAS AMAZING!!!

[tiocoolj]

As soon as you mention Kurt Cobain all of the classic rock nerds come out of their caves with pitchforks.

[bibekgautam]

I didn't  expect the mention of string theory a bit.
But damn, that was one epic episode. Good job TED-Ed.

[ShawnRavenfire]

Interesting side-note:  Pythagoras thought that the entire universe was made of vibrations interacting like music, 2500 years before string theory came along.

[oscarfernandoofpublicnature]

I was 16 when I picked up a guitar for the first time. Some time later I was exited I figured out how to play the "unison bend" which this howling sound created when playing two strings in a certain way and that I loved so much from many many songs... anyway, one day at a waves physics class the professor started explaining how two close-in-frequency waves can sum up and create "beats" and as he draw the equations I understood how that amazing guitar playing technic works in nature and there how I was not supose to fall in love with physics when it can describe everything you love. That was the inspiration for this lesson. Thank you Alex and thank you TedEd

[kytv]

I need to add that besides the amazing animations, the background music actually goes with the content as well, which also sounds really good too!! This video quality is really far beyond my anticipation.

[SafadosAteus]

This video is a work of art. Truly! Stunning animation matched perfectly with the great soundtrack and the explanation at the same time.

It might be the best YouTube video ever!

[rafabulsing]

Man, the animation in this one is absolutely beautiful!

[gholamrezadar]

Wonderful Animation! I want a whole tv show with this style

[gregasmic]

What's with all these Cobain-hating comments? the narrator didn't even say that he was one of the greatest of all-time, he was just mentioning him for example. My guess is, the reason would be because he's one of the most-known to our generation--the main target audience of this TED-Ed episode, and if you're discussing about whether he was one of the greatest or not, you're way off topic. This is about the physics of playing guitar, not about the all-time greatest guitarists. Everybody has their own preferences, don't you think?

[alexphillips]

I wouldn't say that cobain could shred

[phoebewiseman]

that was the best TED ed I've seen so far :D

[ASquared]

As a hobbyist musician, I thoroughly enjoyed this video.

[blaze]

the best part is that there is a guitar constantly playing sick beats in the background

[TheLemonbrown]

Cobain and shred should not be in the same sentence

[DrewGoSomewhereUnknown]

You explain it so deep that I didn't understand 💀

[elefantieleganti]

Wow, Chris Boyle did an awesome job with this animation.

[emons]

Simply the most awesome animation for Ted-Ed! :D