Thumbs Up, Sideways, or Down?
Fret buzz most often occurs on the bass strings, especially the low E string. When the action is set very low, for ease of play, fret buzzing is a potential problem, depending on one’s style of play.
Thumbs Up
Fret buzzing on the bass strings occurs most often when the player executes a sideways thumb stroke that ends with a slight upward motion. This seems to cause a “twangy” sound and a lot of excess string vibration. The best solution to this problem would be to adjust one’s technique. Try to keep your thumb straight, without bending it at the joint when executing a stroke. This will result in a stronger sound and eliminate the upward motion of the thumb on the follow-through.
Thumbs Down
Playing with a heavy downward rest stroke, where the thumb rests on the next string afterwards, can also cause fret buzzing. Some players use a lot of heavy rest strokes on the bass strings in order to create maximum volume. If you play this way, you would need to adjust the bass string height upwards to allow for more string vibration without buzzing. When measured at the 12th fret, the string height should be 4mm or higher, from the top of the fret to the bottom of the string.
Thumbs Sideways
A great deal of volume can be produced on the bass strings without resorting to a heavy rest stroke. If you can learn to produce extra volume in this way, you will be able to lower the string action for maximum ease of play and eliminate excessive buzzing. Keep the thumb joint perfectly straight when executing a sideways, slightly upward, stroke. It should feel like you are pushing, rather than pulling on the string. Even when using a rest stroke, keeping the thumb joint perfectly straight will greatly reduce the potential for fret buzz.
Upgrade your guitar
It goes without saying, of course, that you can also increase playing volume and dynamic range by upgrading to a guitar that naturally produces more volume.
