My twelve year-old daughter had to have an electric guitar for Christmas. So, my wife went down to the local music store and purchased a beginner's "kit" which included a guitar, a small amp, etc. for relatively little dough. We pretty much figured that before we would invest heavily in our daughter's fancy that we would see if she actually showed some initiative before we invested in more salty equipment. Sort of like the adopted greyhound she rescued that my wife and I take care of. I've never touched a guitar in my life.
Never in my wildest dreams did I figure that I would try to learn how to play it. But here I am, at age 29, learning to tune it and completely addicted and committed to learning to play. Until I can convince my wife to let me buy an acoustic to learn on, I'm stuck with the electric. BUT, I am having a problem with the electric which is a setback to my progess. The first string, the high E, makes a terrible buzzing noise when it's plucked and when it's strummed as part of a chord. It doesn't matter where you fret it. It just makes a tinny (not tiny) buzz. It's awful. When playing a chord, it's like taking a sip of fabulous wine which invigorates your taste buds only to be ruined by a bitter finish and lingering aftertaste. My wife has better pitch than I do, but even with her help the darn string is just difficult to tune. And it sucks to play. Even when tuned properly under a standard tuning using a mechanical tuner, that string buzzes like a bee on crack. It doesn't appear as though the string catches on anything. I'm just at a loss as to what could be causing it. Any thoughts or suggestions (written with a complete novice in mind) would be very much appreciated. It's possible that the guitar itself is just crap. ;D
Many thanks in advance.
Lawdude
Ever notice that the world "listen" contains the same letters as "silent"?
If it is just the high E and it buzzes all the time, I would guess it to be the nut, a bridge saddle, a loose tuner peg or possibly a bad fret which is just high on that one string. The last of which is rather rare but possible. I would first try putting some graphite (rub a pencil lead) into the nut slot and saddle slot of that string and see if it gets better. Also check to be sure the tuning peg for that string is tight, if it's loose it could cause a buzz.
The ball of the string could be poorly seated in the bridge. Simply changing the strings (which needs doing pretty often, anyway) may fix the problem.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
