Chord changing buzz

1

As a beginner my biggest issue at this moment is this, when I change between chords I seem to get a string buzz about 50% of the time. I have tried changing my hand position, pushing harder on the strings, pushing less on the string and different release times of my fingers from the strings. I still can’t seem to get rid of that annoying buzz. Does anyone have any tips for me? Is it possible that this is just a timing thing that will improve with more practice? Many thanks!

Mike

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2

Could be all sorts of things, and hard to know without a video.

How long have you been playing?

3

I have been playing for just about 1 month.

4

Its pretty common after a year a times let alone a month.

Keep practicing, perfect chord changes and fast chord changes and at some point they meet in the middle!

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Thank you Rob!

6

Hi Mike @mikemonica12, fellow beginner here. As @jkahn said, photos help with the diagnosis. That said, I’ve been at it for about a year, and this still happens to me. Most often it’s because my fingers are not close enough to the fret. Easy to finger properly when I practice the chords alone, and when doing one minute changes I’m pretty good. But play a song and the buzz is back. It’s worse when my hands are tired. I also know that it’s getting better over time, which means - keep practicing!

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Thank you for the insight Judi!

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I wouldn’t worry about it as you’ve only been playing a month. Just keep practicing and playing.

It could be your technique, your guitar, fingernails, calluses snagging… all sorts of stuff.

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Thank you for your advice. I intend to keep practicing. I have a video I made today but I have never uploaded anything to Youtube before. I am attempting to do that now and I will send a link if and when I get that accomplished. :smiley:

10

Will definitely improve with simply playing!
Keep on making great music, and have fun playing!!!

11

Thank you!

12

- YouTube I uploaded this video to Youtube. Not sure if I did it correctly. I was able to view it when I signed in to my account.

13

Sounds to me like it’s just the way you’re lifting your fingers off the strings. Sounds like they’re vibrating against your fingers while you’re changing. And sometimes it’s fretting accuracy.

I wouldn’t worry about it at all btw. It won’t be noticeable during songs as you’ll be on the same chord for longer, and as you play more your fingers will just get faster and more accurate.

14

I’m hearing two things:

  1. your amp is breaking up a little. see if cleaning that up a bit helps during the chord ringing out (unless you intend that). This would mean adjusting the ‘gain’ on the amp. you could reduce the guitar volume too if it is on 10. Practicing clean is better for hearing mistakes.
  2. the buzz when you change sounds like what you will get if your fingers are not close to the frets. try to tighten up your finger position just behind the fret and see if that fixes your problem. I see they are kind of far back from the fret.

Also, your fingers are likely still soft. this will fix itself with regular play. my fingertips hardened in about 2 months and then increased a bit more over the next 2-3 months. They changed again once I started string bending.

15

Looks like it’s happening most of all with the a (minor)-chord. That is because there is quite a distance from the index finger to the fret (which is normal, when you have to place all your fingers next to each other).

That’s normal, some chords tent to buzz more than others. I really would just ignore it, you will see how it goes away after some months.

16

Thank you for the feedback.

17

Thank you very much for your insights.

18

Thank you again for the feedback.

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