Consonant and Dissonant Waves

This 6-page resource, made available by the STEM Guitar Project, is an activity on sound waves created by guitar notes and chords. The purpose of this activity is for students to "demonstrate how a guitar fretboard functions and to understand the interaction between waves of different frequencies." The learning objectives for this activity are:

1. Students will identify the harmonic frequencies of the notes on a guitar by using the MIDI Pitch value of the notes and applying the given equation for determining the number of vibrations per second.
2. Students will describe whether a combination of notes (chords) are consonant or dissonant.
3. Students will model waveforms of consonant and dissonant notes.
4. Students will create a tablature chart of chords, and other combinations of consonant and dissonant notes.
5. Students will demonstrate chords, and combinations of consonant and dissonant notes on a guitar. 

This resource includes the following sections: Description of Activity, Learning Objectives, Standards, Materials Required, References, Activity, and Quiz.