Top Tips for Avoiding Fret buzz and Getting Clean Notes
Something every single guitar player has to get passed is the initial learning curve of how to get the notes to sound clean and not have some crazy fret buzz going on.
Fixing this is relatively easy if you have the right guidance. There are 5 tips that will make a world of difference to getting your notes and chords sounding crisp. Let’s get into them.
Tip 1: Thumb position
The Thumb position on your fretting hand is so important, and the most common thing people get wrong at the start.
When you’re playing a note on the guitar, you should be pinching the string (and the guitar neck) between your finger and your thumb print and NOT the palm of the hand.
To fix this, take your thumb and make a thumbs up.
Then put your thumb print halfway up the guitar neck and keep it pointing upwards, then apply your fingers to the string(s). If you have got this right, then tip 5 should be an automatic occurrence. If it isn’t you may need to re-visit this one.
Keep your thumb directly behind the notes you are playing, or closer to your body. This will give you better stretch as well as strength on your notes. (especially with the ring and little fingers)
So the things to avoid here:
*Don’t hug the neck with your hand, pinch it between your thumb and fingers instead.
*Don’t let the thumb angle down away from you. It should stay pointing upwards (in line with the frets) at all times.
*Let your thumb fall behind your index finger(towards the head). it should be behind it or closer to your body.
Tip 2: Finger tips not prints
You fingers tips are harder than your soft finger prints. so if you play using the finger tips and pointing into the neck, you will get a cleaner note than using the prints and pointing the fingers up in the air.
If your thumb is correct, then you hand should be able to reach around so you can get onto the finger tips.
If you don’t have your guitar with you, you can practice this hand angle by pinching your finger tips to your thumb print. it does feel weird at first but is a great exercise for getting used to the angles.
You can then try this with all four fingers to build up your dexterity (finger flexibility, stretch, strength and co-ordination)
For extra benefit, Curl your hand around like you’re doing a dumbbell curl first, this will then help engage the tendons in the arm that are used when playing guitar as well as the fingers.
Tip 3: Bodyside
Most of the frets on the guitar have room for you to move your finger back and forth a bit and still be in the same fret.
Some people believe the best place to play the note is in the middle of the fret however this isn’t the best place for the cleanest notes.
The cleanest notes, and therefore the best place to avoid fret buzz is to play just behind the fret wire on the body side of the fret.
You want to be as close to the fret wire as you can be without being on top of it. I suggest you put the finger in the middle of the fret and the slide it closer to your body so you can see see the fret wire in front of your finger but none of the fretboard wood.
Tip 4: pinch hard pick soft
Fret buzz occurs when the string is vibrating and that vibration hits the fret wire when it’s not meant to. To avoid this we can also pick the string lighter meaning the vibration is smaller.
This should only be an extra tip after you have the other steps in place.
However, every guitar has either a body to amplify the sound or pickups and an amp. We don’t need to attack the strings.
Pinch the string hard with the fretting hand to ensure a strong connection with the fret you want to play, the pick the string lightly with the other hand to not over vibrate the string.
This goes for strumming as well. We never need to hack the strings.
Tip 5: Wrist angle
A strong thumb position pointing up, and using the finger tips and not the prints (tips 1 and 2) should automatically create a good wrist angle but lets go over some more clarity on a good wrist angle.
- your wrist should be at a 90 degree angle, similar to a swan neck position when taking a shot in basketball.
- your wrist angle and positioning of your thumb and fingers should mean you have a big gap between the palm and the neck. Some people say this gap should be big enough to hold an egg. If your hand gets too close you have crushed the egg. Nobody wants that.
- Don’t rest on arm on your leg. this should be an extra 6th tip actually….
Bonus Tip 6: Relax in the right way
A common issue when people are playing guitar when sitting down is to rest in ways that get in the way of playing.
The most common one is resting the fretting hand’s arm/elbow on your leg/knee. This will limit reach, getting the wrist into a good angle and speed. The elbow should be free and floating.
Laying down or angling the guitar upwards to look at it. If you sit up straight and don’t lean back into your seat you will have a far better posture for playing as well as for your back.
If you can’t see the fretboard lean forward yourself and over the guitar body to look. Don’t lean the guitar back. If you lean the guitar back, it will be even harder to get a good wrist and thumb position, if not impossible.
Video lesson on avoiding fret buzz
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