Buzzing noise when playing my Ukulele.

pheenen

pheenen

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ALOHA! The ukulele has been my first instrument EVER played (unless you count drumming on the table), but anyways I'm new to the ukulele and right when I picked it up I couldn't put it down, I love it...but sadly...when I do somewhat complicated chords my ukulele strings will make a horrid buzzing noise, I'm thinking it's because of my finger placement or something like that, I play on a Lanikai LU-21 Standard Ukulele, which is the smallest ukulele. I was wondering if I upgraded to the one size bigger (concert) if it would help my big fingers get better placement. What I mean by that is that I'm assuming the concert size ukulele has a wider fret board so my fingers wont touch the other strings so easily. Please help me :D and thanks!
 
Are you sure it's not a string buzzing against a fret? Sometimes you just have to lightly file down the offending object so the strings passes over it smoothly.

Saying that, my concert Ohana buzzed a lot when I first got it, but since the strings have settled it's stopped doing it. Weird.
 
Buying another ukulele, is never a bad idea;) But it may or may not fix your buzzing problem, and I lean toward not. You will really need to take some time. Place your fingers one by one and teach them where to go until the chord sounds right and clean on its own. Then slowly work on switching into your troublesome chord from other chords, and slowly increase speed. If you find yourself getting frustrated, stop and play something else. Something fun. You will get the new chord.
 
Thanks a lot guys, I think I figured it out, it's my hand placement, say I'm holding the G string, and the finger holding that string is touching the C string just slightly, that's where the noise is coming from, which brings me back to my question if I buy a Concert Ukulele will it be easier being that the fret board is wider?
 
It may or may not make it easier, but realistically, the easiest way to make your chords sound cleaner and not have your hand hitting other strings is just practice. The more you practice with your chords, the more able you will be to play them cleanly. So my recommendation is not to rush out and buy another low end uke, I'd play the soprano for a little while, then once your UAS kicks in hardcore, then maybe go and upgrade to a bigger, high quality uke.
 
The fretboard isn't really that wider, if at all. Only a little bit longer. If you want a wider fretboard look for one made by Oscar Scmidt. Ukulele Mike (Musicteacher2010 on YouTube) plays one on his videos.

OU6W wide neck Tenor

 
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Think of all the mandolin players out there and what they have to go through. A lot of times it's just a matter of practice and experimenting with hand position to get the cleanest sound. I found that unlike guitar playing where the hand approaches the strings at right angles to the neck, ukuleles require a different angle, more from the "top down" if that makes any sense. Also, barre chords (especially 2-3 string barres) can help as you use only two fingers to play a three finger chord.
 
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Am I totally wrong to assume that a concert Uke has the same distance between frets as a soprano?
It seems from this discussion that I may be- I play tenor so I have lots of room, but sometimes slide over to the soprano to clean up my technique
 
So is the idea that the buzzing might stop (or least diminish) the more you play?
My first ukulele was a little red Makala soprano that cost around $35, and the buzzing was pretty apparent at first. Now I don't notice it, so I'm assuming it dissipated (not just that I've gotten used to it).
I bought a new $100 Mitchell Concert soprano just this afternoon, and regardless of the fact that I'm definitely better at playing than when I started, there is still a buzz. Is it safe to say that the buzzing might diminish on the new one with practice/usage?

Thanks!
 
it could be that the strings are buzzing against the frets
 
Sometimes I hear a buzz too but it'll usually stop if I press down on the strings harder..

I think it's kind of funny how I hear a lot of guys saying they need more room on the fretboard but for me it's hard to reach some of the chords and I kind of wish mine was smaller! I guess I have really small hands though.. haha
 
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