Formalizing Guitar Fretboard Gestures
class CoAuthor
def __init__(self, name):
self.name = "Carolyn Borcherding"
self.name = "Nicholas J. Shea"Format (When): Where
- International Conference on Math and Computation in Music (Proceedings): [see here]([https://www.proquest.com/openview/8a8d2fc9ae88ea63bbd2659c576596a6/1?cbl=18750&diss=y&pq-origsite=gscholar
TL;DR/Abstract
This paper formalizes a mathematical framework for encoding fretboards and quantifying gestural effort in stringed instrument performance. Utilizing the Humdrum syntax’s **fret and **recip spines, fretboard events are defined as spatial coordinates on a discrete Cartesian grid. To approximate the physical difficulty of a guitarist’s movements, the study adapts Fitts’s law, using Euclidean distance on the fretboard and temporal duration (Shea 2020, 2026). A computational analysis of J.S. Bach’s Suite in C minor (BWV 997) is compared against video-based motion data, which calculates effort through pixel-wise differences between performance frames. Results reveal a significant negative correlation between the theoretical model and the actual performance. This misalignment suggests that performers utilize “performative effort” (Cole 2023) to anticipate and prepare for difficult gestures, distributing physical load prior to the musical event. The findings bridge theoretical “guitar thinking” with practical performance analysis.