Changing/Switching Chords Help - Calling all Pros & Intermediates?

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LoVeBirD-

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Hi all. For the life of me, I can't understand why whenever I try to switch chords I get a buzzing sound that doesn't make it sound clean. I'm wondering if it has something to do with keeping a finger on at least 1 string before switching.

Knowing my chords is great, but whenever I try to switch, the buzz kills it once I take my fingers off the strings to try to switch to the next one.

Any tips? I feel like this is a big step and one of the biggest if not the biggest thing gatekeeping me from becoming an intermediate level player. Thanks in advanced!

- LB
 
LoVeBirD- said:
Hi all. For the life of me, I can't understand why whenever I try to switch chords I get a buzzing sound that doesn't make it sound clean. I'm wondering if it has something to do with keeping a finger on at least 1 string before switching.

Knowing my chords is great, but whenever I try to switch, the buzz kills it once I take my fingers off the strings to try to switch to the next one.

Any tips? I feel like this is a big step and one of the biggest if not the biggest thing gatekeeping me from becoming an intermediate level player. Thanks in advanced!

- LB
Click to expand...

I'm not 100% clear on what you are describing. Can you take a video so we can see?
 
You'll need to break the problem down to ascertain EXACTLY where the buzzing is coming from.
Check each string at every stage of the chord change to find out what is causing the problem.
It could be that the finger(s) that are being left in position are touching an adjacent string. Fingernails need to be short and the fingertips placed perpendicular to the fretboard.
It could be that the fingers that are moving are not being lifted clear enough.
It could be something totally unrelated that you only notice when you're changing chords.

Good luck :music:
 
Yes, a video would help pinpoint it right away.
 
Okay thank you all for replying. I will update this thread with a video later today!
 
Are you lifting all of your fingers at the same time? Sometimes one can be a fraction later than the others and the tension lightens, but the finger isn't clear of the string yet.
Ditto making the chord. Like an E-minor. It's hard to have all your fingers make the chord at the same time.
Are all of your fingers making a clean chord? At the correct place in the fret?
Are they moving slightly as you begin to release the chord? Are your fingers getting high enough as they move; to not touch a string?

I've experienced all of these things at one time or another. All caused buzzing. All were solved by watching my hand carefully as I changed chords. Both slow and at regular speed.

Good luck.
 
Start slow and see why you are doing it. If you can do it without buzzing, repeat it slowly until you consistently do it properly. Speed comes when you can do the basic technique.

If you try to practice something you can't do fast, what you are doing is practicing how to do something wrong.
 
Just one possible thing, if a finger gets a little off and too close to the next string it will buzz on the finger nail. That happens to me sometimes still if I'm learning a new and complex chord. It usually goes away eventually when my fingers get better at finding the strings.
 
My advice to progress through this stage is to try palm muting between changes. This will not fix your form, or stop the buzzing in other situations, but will give you an opportunity to hear yourself play more cleanly. You may be able to use this to figure out when you are touching strings you do not intend to, which is a source of buzzing.
1. Take the fat pad on the side of your hand and place it on the strings in the natural place it would touch if you rotate your hand outward a little.
2. Watch this video for ideas.
3. Look up Left Hand Muting for more ideas.

 
Kenn2018 said:
Are you lifting all of your fingers at the same time? Sometimes one can be a fraction later than the others and the tension lightens, but the finger isn't clear of the string yet.
Ditto making the chord. Like an E-minor. It's hard to have all your fingers make the chord at the same time.
Are all of your fingers making a clean chord? At the correct place in the fret?
Are they moving slightly as you begin to release the chord? Are your fingers getting high enough as they move; to not touch a string?

I've experienced all of these things at one time or another. All caused buzzing. All were solved by watching my hand carefully as I changed chords. Both slow and at regular speed.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

I'll give you an example (I haven't recorded any video yet, promise I will guys!): going from Gm7 to Cm7. Both easy to play chords but when I try to take my fingers off Gm7 to Cm7 it doesn't sound good at all...I appreciate this post I am going to go through all of these and try to troubleshoot and see what's wrong. In fact I think I will try to do a recording of Gm7 to Cm7 and show everyone.
 
Neil_O said:
My advice to progress through this stage is to try palm muting between changes. This will not fix your form, or stop the buzzing in other situations, but will give you an opportunity to hear yourself play more cleanly. You may be able to use this to figure out when you are touching strings you do not intend to, which is a source of buzzing.
1. Take the fat pad on the side of your hand and place it on the strings in the natural place it would touch if you rotate your hand outward a little.
2. Watch this video for ideas.
3. Look up Left Hand Muting for more ideas.

Click to expand...


Thank you so much for sharing this! I'm going to practice how to do this. Weeks ago I was wondering how people were strumming but no sounds were coming from their uke until I saw this.
 
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