single string picking

I tried playing softer, but in order for me to play fast, I have to press down hard

Wrong. In order to play fast, you have to practise more.

How long have you been playing and exactly what is it you're hearing?

If I plug in, turn up the volume, and push down a string I will hear something. Likewise when I lift off - especially if I lift off non-vertically.

There will always be a bit of extraneous sound on an electric guitar if you're taking time finding the note and fretting it before you play it. The longer you play, and the more you practise your playing, the less of a problem you'll find it becomes.

A :-)

Hi,

When I'm playing single strings, you can hear when I lift off and press down. I tried playing softer, but in order for me to play fast, I have to press down hard. So for example, when I'm playing Sweet Child Of Mine, I can hear when I lift off of the string and press on the next. This is especially apparent when it's plugged in to the amp. My question is: am I doing something wrong or does my guitar need to be checked out? Thanks for any help.

Have your guitar's action checked out first.

Learning to cleanly play single lines involves playing slower, and learning when to mute adjacent strings, timing changes so that as you lift from one note, another is playing at that same instant, which overrides the noise etc.

Sean

I've been playing for about a year now, but haven't been practicing as much as I should be. It's hard to explain what I'm hearing, but when I lift off it's like a buzz as if I played the open string. Not loud though, but it can be heard underneath. It's probably me as stated above. Thanks for the help.