Bad Bass Tone

[BluesHarpGuy]

First of all, please forgive my ignorance: I am not a bass player. I am, er, a Bues Harp Guy.

The bass player in my band gets bad tone. On some songs almost every bass note is buzzy or it clicks or pops. Sometimes it sounds like a hand clap. But mostly there is a noticable loud buzz on nearly every note, as if his frets are bad.

He plays a Fender P bass, MIM. He is a converted guitar player. He plays with with his thumb only or uses a pick, very basic stuff, nothing fancy.

Here is my question: Is this likely caused by gear or technique? If it is technique, what do you think is the best way to get him to improve? How do you suggest we deal with this? We need better bass tone.

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

[dmusic148]

Sounds like too much treble. See if he'll turn it down, on his amp and on his bass. Also, it may be that the action(string height) is too low-this will lead to clicky-clacky noises. But first try turning down the treble. If his speaker cabinet has a tweeter you could turn it down as well.

[Dogbertday]

His bass might need a set-up... as a guitar player he was used to rediculously low action, which doesn't work well on bass, really.

also could be technique.. has he taken any lessons on Bass?... a month's worth would probably fix these problems, or at least get him goin' with them

[SpamBot]

Originally Posted by BluesHarpGuy

plays with with his thumb only

This, combined with the tonal complaints you've offered up, lead me to think this is a guitarist-to-bassist problem. He probably thinks that because he can play guitar, he can play bass. He is wrong.
Ditch him and find a real bassist, if this is the best he can do he is not worth the effort it would take to turn him into a bassist.
Or, show him this site. There's a "Technique" subforum that could be very helpful to him.

[Gearhead43]

The buzzing thing sounds like lack of basic left hand technique - as in he is not fretting the notes cleanly. It does take a bit more pressure on a bass and takes months to build up some hand strength.

Playing like a bass player instead of a guitarist is a whole nother ballpark too.

[JimmyM]

Ya, it's all technique. Sounds like he's killing the strings.

[lomo]

The real problem seems to me that he isn't the one on this forum figuring out why his tone sucks. Could be technique, setup or both.

[Craig_S]

Originally Posted by lomo

Could be technique, setup or both.

+10

[JimmyM]

Ya, I have to revise my answer because these guys are right. It could be the setup puts the strings way too low on the neck along with yanking too hard on the strings and clacking them into the frets.

[PBass101]

Originally Posted by BluesHarpGuy

He is a converted guitar player.

Tell him that the bass and the guitar are two different instruments that require two different mindsets and two different skill sets. He can't "just" pick up the bass and figure that it's only got four strings and one note at a time, thus it's easy. He needs to spend some time learning good technique and he could probably use a good setup.

And then he needs to come to Talkbass.

Originally Posted by Dogbertday

His bass might need a set-up... as a guitar player he was used to rediculously low action, which doesn't work well on bass, really.

Depends on your idea of what ridiculously low action is and whether you're willing to make the necessary techinque adjustments to cope with it. Plenty of bass players play with action lower than most others could handle and still get good sounds.

[JustOpenYourMind]

Hi,

I think that there is a lot of unecesary hostility towards guitar players picking up bass, I think everyone should focus on the problem instead of going in that direction,

Regarding the bas tone problem, it could seriously be anything.

It could be Eq,

Maybe he is not thinking about the supportive role of his new instrument (being accustomed to guitar) and goes for a tone that is too middy or too trebly.

It could be technique,

I'm not sure about this one, since you mention that he sometimes play with his thumb, that technique should give the warmest, fattest tone available on a bass guitar since the thumb has so much flesh.

It could also be his setup like you mentionned,

A bass with a super low action takes a flawless technique to make it sound good, wich is certainly not the case with your player since he is new to the instrument. I would suggest to have him look at his bass and get it adjusted.

These are all possible problems, your best bet is to discuss this issue with him, and see what is wrong, maybe he is aware of the problem.

I would also suggest that he participate in that post, so we can talk to the player himself.

Hope this helps.