I noticed on my acoustic guitar, and keep in mind I am just a beginner here that when I press down on the 5th fret of the high e string it makes my d string sound off. Is this normal or is my guitar needing a set-up, new strings, etc?
Hard to say without hearing or seeing for myself but it probably isn’t normal. Pressing on any string will technically pull all other strings slightly out of tune but it shouldn’t be noticeable unless you’re really listening hard for it – it will be very slight.
Can you describe what you mean by sounding ‘off’. It could be a number of things, as a beginner you might be pressing too hard. It may be a tuning problem causing oscillation between the two strings. It’s quite possible that it needs a setup but if you can give a more detailed description it might help. Are you playing a chord? Just the single note on the fifth fret E string and the open D at the same time? Etc.
In that case I agree with the guy in the shop – it’s normal. When you play any string it causes the body of the guitar to vibrate / resonate which in turn makes the other strings sound. This is the one of the reasons we learn to mute strings to prevent unwanted noise.
If you were playing electric guitar with a distortion pedal you’d notice it even more – it can get so bad that muting becomes a necessity.
As a beginner I’d say just be aware of it but at the moment don’t put too much effort into trying to fix it with muting unless it’s very noticeable, at least not unless you can already finger the chords reasonably well. Muting is a technique that itself will take practice, but at least now you’ll know it’s something to think about as you progress.
That makes sense to me. When I first heard it I thought I had a problem but now my mind is at ease. Thank you for your time brother. 🙂
Hey Lee, thanks for answering me. I put my finger on the 5th fret of the high E string and strum the string, when I lift my finger off the string it continues to sound the E string but I noticed that the sound wasn’t just the high E string. As the sound continued I pressed down on the D string and the sound stopped. I could feel the string buzzing as I pressed it down to stop the sound. I am only playing 1 string, the E string and the D is making noise like I strummed it also. This just seems kinda weird to me. I took it in and the guy at the music store said it was normal but I wasn’t sure I believed him. Thanks for your time. Keith.