daveinspain Posted January 17, 2016 Posted January 17, 2016 OK, I'm learning a very basic simple song thats all arpeggios, Falling in Love by Elvis. Very nice, slow melodic tune… Only problem is I'm getting all kinds of horrible buzzes and wired tangent overtones specially on the F# minor and B minor, both first position… At first I thought ok I need to practice this until I get it clean and I have improved a lot but I'm starting to think that maybe it's got something to do with the frets or the set up/action… I tend to set my guitars up with very low action but I'm usually playing rhythm with a bit of soloing and I never get these weird overtones and buzzes. A couple of my guitars have some pretty bad divers on the first few frets so I know that doesn't help matters… Do you think if I raise the action it might help matters? Do I need to refret my guitars with deep divots? Can I just refret the first 4 or 5 frets and leave the others alone? Thoughts????
merciful-evans Posted January 17, 2016 Posted January 17, 2016 OK, I'm learning a very basic simple song thats all arpeggios, Falling in Love by Elvis. Very nice, slow melodic tune… Only problem is I'm getting all kinds of horrible buzzes and wired tangent overtones specially on the F# minor and B minor, both first position… At first I thought ok I need to practice this until I get it clean and I have improved a lot but I'm starting to think that maybe it's got something to do with the frets or the set up/action… I tend to set my guitars up with very low action but I'm usually playing rhythm with a bit of soloing and I never get these weird overtones and buzzes. A couple of my guitars have some pretty bad divers on the first few frets so I know that doesn't help matters… Do you think if I raise the action it might help matters? Do I need to refret my guitars with deep divots? Can I just refret the first 4 or 5 frets and leave the others alone? Thoughts???? Hi Dave, It should be a simple enough matter to identify fret buzz. Slow down the pick, identify the string / fret combination and then try them in isolation. You should have discovered these by now without using arpeggios. I am going to take a punt here and guess you are simply not using a clean enough tone. Keep it clean. You haven't a hope of hearing this properly unless you stay clean. You also ideally need to stay clean when looking for fret buzz.
daveinspain Posted January 17, 2016 Author Posted January 17, 2016 No that's not it, of course I am playing the arpeggio with no effects and clean amp setting…
jdgm Posted January 17, 2016 Posted January 17, 2016 Some repairmen will refret the first few frets. It may just need a small tweak of the truss rod (loosening) or that may be ok and you might have the action a smidge too low, or could be a combination of things like that - is this on all your guitars or one or two? I would play the problem arps without an amp too (maybe you did this already) as you can sometimes identify problems easier that way...
daveinspain Posted January 17, 2016 Author Posted January 17, 2016 Maybe it's where I'm fretting… I tend to fret in the middle of the fretboard between to frets. Maybe I should be fretting closer to, or on the fret of the note I want to play…?
jdgm Posted January 17, 2016 Posted January 17, 2016 Maybe it's where I'm fretting… I tend to fret in the middle of the fretboard between to frets. Maybe I should be fretting closer to, or on the fret of the note I want to play…? Hmm..I doubt if that's it. You may find that your right hand is doing something that confuses your left or is not in sync. Or, are your fretting fingers coming down (mostly) vertical to the board? Take it back to one note. What EXACTLY do you do to play a single note completely cleanly? Practicing scales/arpeggios slowly and as clean as possible....you may have to unlearn a bad habit. (Edited - please excuse me, I don't want to seem patronising - I have done that before inadvertently!)
merciful-evans Posted January 17, 2016 Posted January 17, 2016 No that's not it, of course I am playing the arpeggio with no effects and clean amp setting… Ok. Sorry if that came across as patronising. Not my intention at all. I just re-read your OP. You have several guitars. Surely this doesnt happen on all of them right?
AlanH Posted January 18, 2016 Posted January 18, 2016 What type of guitar was the song played on on the record and which guitar type(s) have you been learning it on? On thinking about my recollection of how the song sounds and many other Elvis songs I'd say a big archtop, semi-acoustic or acoustic with a higher action might be the weapon of choice if you don't want to keep lowering and raising action on a solid body electric. Also, how hard are you picking compared to your usual playing style when not doing arpeggios?
JayinLA Posted January 18, 2016 Posted January 18, 2016 I would play it on another guitar and see if the fret buzz goes away. If so, than frets are wearing. My experience with action and string height is usually in the 10th fret and up. If the buzz doesn't leave on another instrument, it most likely is technique. Please don't take my comment as condescending. I consider myself an accomlished player, and have run into many pieces that I couldn't nail for a few days or a week, espcially arpeggios with fingerpicking and quick changes.
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