Before we can dive into the realm of strings and frets and righteous guitar solos, we must first understand the core concept of how the sound waves work. Sound waves exist as variations of pressure in a medium, such as air. They are created by the vibration of an object, which causes the air surrounding it to vibrate. The vibrating air then causes the human eardrum to vibrate, which the brain then interprets as sound.

Traveling waves come in two fundamental ways. Transverse waves, like waves on the surface of the ocean, and longitudinal waves. Sound is produced from longitudinal waves that create zones of varying pressure by compressing the air in front of them.

 

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All sound waves are the same; They travel through a medium by making atoms or molecules move back and forth. But all sound waves are different too. There are loud sounds and quiet sounds, high pitched squeaks and low pitched rumbles. Even two musical instrument playing the exact same note will produce sound waves that are quite different. So the question must be asked, what’s really going on here?

The answer lies in the properties of the waves. Each waves can be big or small. Big waves have what’s called a high amplitude, or intensity, and we hear these as louder sounds. Apart from amplitude, another aspect worth noting about sound waves is their pitch, also called their frequency. Soprano singers make sound waves with a high pitch, while base singers make waves with a much lower pitch. The frequency is simply the number of waves something produces in a second. That being said, a soprano singer produces more energy waves in one second than that of a bass singer, and a violin produces more than a double bass.

As a wave travels along, it moves with a certain velocity, v. As we know from basic kinematics, velocity = (distance)*(time). In the case with periodic waves, the distance is represented by the wavelength, denoted by the Greek letter lambda, λ. Another fundamental relationship that must be stated is frequency = 1/(time), where this time interval is the number of seconds it takes for the wave to travel one wavelength. By comparing the two formulas, we can see that velocity  = (wavelength)*(frequency), or v= λf.