Question
#14
What's that buzzing sound I get when I strum the strings sometimes?
How can I stop it?
Answer
There are a couple of different reasons that you could be getting
a buzzing sound when you are strumming chords. One is that you
could just be strumming to hard, I find a lot of my students are
just to aggressive when it comes to playing. Remember to keep
your fingers as close to the fret bar as possible (to the left)
and press down on the string with enough pressure to get the note
to sound, but don't press to hard. Sometimes it feels like you
are pressing down really hard, but you are still getting a buzzing
sound. You could be pressing to hard on one finger, and not hard
enough on another. Your guitar could also need some adjustment.
The neck could be too straight, and therefore you strings are buzzing,
There could just be a high fret bar that is causing some buzzing.
Inexpensive guitars will always have small inconsistencies in
the fret height that will sometimes give a buzz on different frets.
Your action could be to low. Low action will make it easier to
press down the strings, but sometimes you sacrifice will a little
buzzing because of it. Take your guitar to a music store that
does repairs, and see if they could look at it and give you an
estimate on any repairs or adjustments that might need done.
Last but not least, when you are first starting out, you are
going to get small buzzing sounds. I find that sometimes I have
students that are perfectionists, and obsess over the small details
in sound a little to much. Don't get me wrong, you want to get
the best sound possible, but don't let that stop you from working
on switching your chords more quickly. Don't wait until your chords
sound perfect before you start playing tunes. Those detail come
with time. You are training very small muscle groups, and you
will fine tune your playing as you go along. Small buzzing sounds
are natural, even for professional guitar players. You will have
to decide whether you think that your guitar needs adjustment,
there is some kind of problem with the way that you are playing,
or whether the buzzing that you are hearing is just the nature
of playing a stringed instrument.
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