My first bass guitar, intonation question

[baldaslove]

Well, I've been playing lead guitar for about 6 years now. I plan on recording all of my tracks in my home studio so I went out and got a bass guitar. I've played bass here and there but I've never owned and taken care of one.

My question is, a lot of times when I'm playing stuff I'll notice sporadically that some of the notes I fret are not in-tune (happens with open string notes and fretted notes.) I checked the overall tuning of the guitar and it's tuned just fine...is it a technical issue? is it my playing? any advice would be appreciated

Oh and I forgot -- I checked the overall intonation of course and it's fine, sometimes it's like something's bending the string flat or sharp -- and it isn't me
(first post, so, hi )

[JustDavid]

Are notes out of tune as you slowly go up a string semitone by semitone?

Lots of good links/stickies about setup herein. It's worth checking the setup.

[baldaslove]

Originally Posted by JustDavid

Are notes out of tune as you slowly go up a string semitone by semitone?

Lots of good links/stickies about setup herein. It's worth checking the setup.

That's the thing -- they don't stay out of tune, it's like they're shifting pitch back and forth occasionally. I'm not used to recognizing the low bass notes so it might be an ear thing...I also have perfect pitch so you know how annoying that gets...I'll give it some time, note; first thing I did when I got the guitar was lower the strings, I don't know how to do intonation on this guitar but so far there hasn't been a need for intonation setup...It's a Shecter stiletto extreme...thanks for the reply btw

[gigabyte3]

If your bass is in tune when you hit the string open, then to check to see if your intonation is good here's what you do. On the 12th fret on each string, play that note. the sound you hear should be the same octave as when you play it open. If it is not then you have an intonation problem. If you are too sharp, move the saddle back to lengthen the string, if you are too flat, the move the saddle forward to shorten the string. Do either one of these until the 12 fret played is in the same octave as when you play that string open. Boom, there ya have it.

[bassmanrocke]

Sounds more like a technique problem. I would guess that having played guitar you are not overly sensitive to the ringing of nonfretted strings. But the wavelengths of bass notes interact more noticeably when strings are left ringing while others are played than they do on a guitar. This produces a fluctuation in overall tone which can sound like the bass is going out of tune. I think if you play with care to mute unsympathetic notes you will find your setup really is fine.

[4bpauly]

also..if you are pressing too hard on the frets and/or plucking the string too hard you may have intonation problems... which in this case is actually just a tuning problem.

turn up the amp and take it a little easier....see if that helps

[Liko]

Originally Posted by baldaslove

That's the thing -- they don't stay out of tune, it's like they're shifting pitch back and forth occasionally. I'm not used to recognizing the low bass notes so it might be an ear thing...I also have perfect pitch so you know how annoying that gets...I'll give it some time, note; first thing I did when I got the guitar was lower the strings, I don't know how to do intonation on this guitar but so far there hasn't been a need for intonation setup...It's a Shecter stiletto extreme...thanks for the reply btw

First off, a bass note's frequency, compared to those of the adjacent two semitones, are very close compared to that of a guitar. That means that changes in tension of the string for a given speaking length will affect the frequency more audibly.

Sounds like technique to me. You're not used to the extra pressure needed to fret a bass string versus a guitar string, so you're overcompensating. That increases the tension of the fretted note beyond its open tension, which drives the string sharp.

You may also be plucking too hard, which does pretty much the same thing; the main difference is as the vibration decays, the tension is reduced since the string isn't slinging itself against itself as hard, so the note starts sharp and ends up in tune. Turn up your amp and take it easy on the funky four, and you'll get not only a more even sound but it will be more in tune.

[baldaslove]

Hey thanks for all the words of wisdom
I thought it was more likely my technique too, so I called a friend of mine who played bass with me for over 2 years and he sounded great...(as usual) I guess it'll take some time to grasp the mojo, and 10x more time to play my favorite Flea licks.

[Rick Auricchio]

Whenever you hand your bass to another player, the instrument sounds better than it does in your hands. A sad fact...

[baldaslove]

Originally Posted by Rick Auricchio

Whenever you hand your bass to another player, the instrument sounds better than it does in your hands. A sad fact...

Doesn't happen to me with my guitar

[Oren Hudson]

Originally Posted by baldaslove

Doesn't happen to me with my guitar

Yea, mine looks better, but doen't sound better.