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the_sauce_baws19 karma

Hey abadnit - that actually has to do with the way equal-tempered tuning system "compromises" on certain intervals in order to make every key sound the same! A bit of an obsession of mine :)

Basically the equal-tempered system prioritizes perfect octaves (e.g., all Cs sound exactly in tune with each other) and equality of keys (G Major sounds just as good as C# Major). One of the biggest casualties of this is the size of the major third interval - every equal tempered major third is actually ~14 cents, or ~1/7th of a semitone higher than the perfect major third you'd hear in the overtone series.

So, on a guitar, the B string always sounds out of tune compared to the G string because the two make an equal tempered major third, and is therefore 14 cents wider than perfect! Hope this helps.

the_sauce_baws8 karma

Exactly! The "perfect" Major 3rd is the fourth overtone. So over a G you have G -> D -> G again -> B. The B that comes out there is what you're probably instinctively trying to tune the B string to, and also what creates dissonance with the equal tempered B string.