I'm a new bassist, so as can be assumed I'm quite curious.

I noticed recently in my practices that whenever I play a fretted E, say practicing a groove on the 5th fret I always kind of hear a "rattling" or the string hitting the metal on the neck, whether while playing the note or lifting off of the note. Is this a matter of just finding the right technique to use, or a problem with the guitar or tuning?

Any ideas and help are appreciated, I will drop more info as needed.

As in clacking? That could be both technique and/or setup. Do you know how to measure relief?

No, I have never really done any tuning to a guitar besides the keys at the head.

Chances are that you're bouncing the string off a fret now and then. Work on plucking parallel to the board rather than vertically. If you can't get rid of it AND it's loud enough to be distracting (most of the time it's not), then you can increase the string relief.

Yeah it sounds like it's just hitting a fret, I'll practice how I'm plucking. Also while we're on the subject of my E string, should I have more trust in an electronic tuner rather than doing it by ear?

I tuned my strings when I first unpackaged my guitar as the electronic tuner suggested. Only D and G sounded correct, so I tuned it by ear to what sounded correctly for E and A.

I'm still fairly foreign to the feel of a bass guitar, but when I strummed E and A, they felt wwwaaayyy lose when tuned to the electronic as well, so should I go with what feels better and sounds better to me, or stick with what the electronic says is correct?

When you are fretting, where do you place your finger? In between the frets or right behind the next fret?

I tuned my strings when I first unpackaged my guitar as the electronic tuner suggested. Only D and G sounded correct, so I tuned it by ear to what sounded correctly for E and A.


How much experience do you have tuning an instrument? For E and A the frequencies are a lot lower than G and D. Unless you're really pitch sensitive I would trust the tuner first, then the ears. Even though I can tune against another instrument ok, I'm most likely to be off a tiny bit.

This might be why your E is floppy.

Chances are that you're bouncing the string off a fret now and then. Work on plucking parallel to the board rather than vertically. If you can't get rid of it AND it's loud enough to be distracting (most of the time it's not), then you can increase the string relief.

+1

This is exactly the problem I've noticed with my playing sometimes recently, especially on my Jazz (which has a lower setup than my precision).

Also I find myself sometimes 'slapping' with my fingers through the string rather than 'plucking' it. In the former situation my finger moves through a small arc with the string in the middle of that arc (roughly); in the latter situation (more correct, or at least it sounds more like a 'pluck') the string is set moving at the beginning of the finger-moving arc.

That explanation may be a little confusing, but that's what I've worked out by watching my right-hand.

it also might be that you're not putting enough downward pressure on the string