Like an A chord is the strings E A and C#, why do our brains recognize that as a whole note instead of 6 different ones. Or is it just a harmony and we’re so used to hearing them?
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Well so first, your example is three notes…not six.
And secondly, I’m not sure if I’m just differently trained as a musician, but I definitely hear those as three different notes…? It sounds like a harmony, sure, but the notes are distinct and identifiable individually.
So my comment I suppose is to gain clarity in the first case, and argue for subjectivity in the second.
Actually there’s a great mathematical explanation.
Let me just start with E and A.
The low A on a guitar vibrates at exactly 110 Hz, that’s 110 cycles per second.
The E just above that A vibrates at a frequency of 165 Hz, which is exactly a 3/2 ratio.
If you take those two waveforms – one vibrating at 110 Hz, and one vibrating at 165 Hz, and combine them together, they fit nicely. They make a pattern that repeats itself every 55 Hz, in fact.
That’s basically how harmonies work. You take two sounds at frequencies that are simple ratios of one another, and you put them together to create a new sound that’s just a little bit richer and more complex than either of the first two.
If the frequencies aren’t simple ratios of one another, they don’t “line up” and create a new pattern. The result is “dissonance”.
You can hear all of the individual notes when you play a chord. In fact, each note plays a role in determining the sound of the chord. You personally may not be aware that you are hearing each note, but I assure you you are.
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