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Was fiddling with Neil's lesson on "dont fear the reaper" when i noticed the following

The rules for finger placement state that finger needs to be arched and plced as close to
the fret as possible, if u move it away from the fret u get the fret buzz sound

Now the A minor shape is built by fungering d string with 2nd finger on 2nd fret
so far so good easy to stick finger next to fret

But 3 finger goes on g string same fret , now seeing as its physically impossible to place both those fingers agianst the fret the 3 finger lies next to the 2nd finger

ie a distance from the fret

So where is the 3rd finger supposed to be?

tight agiasnt 2nd finger? or away from the 2nd finger and towards the first fret
ie still in 2nd fret space but closer to 1st fret ?

I was playing around trying to a get a clean sound but found that i could not find a
spot that consistently produced a clean sound when the string was played

Sometimes i get a buzz when third finger was agaisnt second finger and sometimes i got it when 3 finger was away from secnd and closer to the 1st fret

I hope this made sense

any ideas what im doing wrong?

MARK

If I understood you right Mark, you want to get the Am without buzz? My second finger is not as near to the fret as the 3rd is. The 3rd is right in there close to the fret bar but th second id set back half a cm or so. That works for me. I think you are doing nothing wrong, just experiment around with those fingers till you've got a clean sound. Can take a bit of practice.

Ok, this is the standard position for an Am for me. Moving on Reaper may be done differently... not sure, you may have to compromise ....

Do you have relatively long nails? Sometimes you get a fret buzz if the string above is vibrating against the nail...

I agree with matt check your nails keep them really short so as to eliminate that as possible cause. Next when fingering i'd place 3rd finger first as close as possible to the fret then place 2nd and 1st fingers into position, making sure you can place the 2nd as high as possible it won't go exactly on the fret. Ensure your hand is in correct position also so you can apply sufficient downwards pressure i.e. you have space between your palm and the bottom of the neck and your thumb is low on the back of the neck to allow the hand to curl round in front.