How to avoid buzzing sound when playing guitar.

Familiar with the buzzing sound you get when you try to play a nice melody? I know, it’s one of the most frustrating things. Let’s look at some common causes before we move on to how to learn how to avoid buzzing sound when playing guitar 🙂

Causes of buzzing sound when playing guitar:

1. Your guitar could be faulty.
2. Your guitar tuning pegs could be loose.
3. Your guitar bridge saddle could be worn out.
4. Your strings could be worn out or rusted.
5. The action of your guitar strings could be too low (strings too near to the fretboard.
6. You could be pressing the strings on frets in a faulty way.

These are some of the common problems that create the irritating buzzing sound when you play guitar. Now let’s look at the solutions on how to avoid buzzing sound when playing guitar.

How to avoid the unwanted sounds when playing guitar.

1. Sometimes we become one of the few unlucky ones to buy a faulty guitar. Ask someone who is experienced and know about guitars to see if your guitar is faulty. If it’s a faulty guitar, ask if it can be easily repaired. Sometimes, it’s just a minor tweak. But sometimes, the problem is more serious like adjusting truss rods, etc. If that’s the case, you need some experienced luthier to repair it for you. Or you could take the guitar back to the store and get a new and better one.
2. Sometimes the tuning pegs become loose. If that’s the case, tighten the screws of the tuning pegs with a screw driver. That should solve the problem. If your tuning pegs are completely damaged, take your guitar to an experienced repair man and change it.
3. If your guitar bridge saddle is worn out or cracked, get a new one.
4. Old, rusted and worn out guitar strings cause unwanted buzz. Don’t be stingy or lazy. Just get a new set of guitar strings. It’s not hard to change guitar strings. You’ll be much happier.
5. When the strings of your guitar are too near to the fretboard, it causes buzzing sound when you play the string. This is because it touches the metal strips when ringing. Some guitars have screws at the bridge. You can adjust the height of the bridge saddle by increasing it so that the strings will stay a bit higher from the fret and not touch the metal strips. Some guitars do not have the adjust screw. If so, you can buy a new bridge saddle with more height. There are other things that can be adjusted like the truss rod. This requires experienced hands though. It would be best to take your guitar to a luthier or to the shop and ask for repair. That would put your guitar into safe hands.
6. If everything is fine and you still get the buzz, you could have the common beginner’s problem. A lot of beginners tend to press the strings at the edges of the frets instead of the pressing at the center. Sometimes even on the metal strips of the frets. Pressing at the metal strips or on the edges of the frets will cause buzzing sound. You need to press at the center of the frets.    Another problem is touching unwanted strings. You should only touch the strings that need to be pressed. Never touch the other strings. Don’t worry though. These are common problems with beginners and you are not alone. Everybody goes through it. Try the following:

• Curve your fingers at the knuckles.  This makes fingering smoother and will help you in pressing the strings with fingertips.
• Press the strings with the tips of your fingers. Don’t press the strings with fingers flat on the fretboard. It covers more area and so your fingers touch the other strings. Pressing with the tips of your fingers cover less area and thus will help you not to touch the other strings. Pressing with fingertips will also ensure that your fingers are bent and not straight like a stick 😀

Now you know how to avoid buzzing sound when playing guitar.

Do not worry too much. Worrying too much will make you more tensed mentally and physically and emotionally. This will slow down your improvement. Just be patient and keep practicing while having fun. You’ll nail it down someday 🙂

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Have fun.

You may also want to see our “Takamine E440C acoustic guitar review“.

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