Consistent sound

[Lownote38]

Practice. Repeat until there is consistency.

 

[Esoge]

I read that you're practicing for playing faster. My advice is to practice slowly, like quarter notes at 60BPM and focus only on keeping the notes even. Vary what you play (e.g. scales, arpeggios, crossing strings, or whatever you're working on), but always focus on keeping the notes even. They should sound exactly the same.

Practice for a while with notes full-length notes, barely stopping between plucking. Then do it again with staccato notes (short notes with a rest between), but still even and steady.

And practice with no effects or EQ.

Speed will come; play slowly first.

This

 

[lyla1953]

There are several great exercises for this in Ed Friedland's 3 Bass Method Books. Most good instructors will also have their own versions. For me this is so important I practice them daily for about 15 minutes. And for me when it became part of my daily routine I noticed improvement very quickly. Just start off at a slow tempo (while practicing it is important to say the count out loud) - Depending on the exercise you should use an metronome or drum machine BUT don't be afraid to turn those off and also develop your internal count. The ones that really help me are the alternating triplet alternating quarter note versions.
I also find it important to practice playing the songs that I struggle with as well.
Other things I found while doing these exercises slowly - striking the strings close to the bridge vs the neck - alternating fingers - plucking pressure (turn amp volume up) and soften how hard you strike the string to control volume.

 

[SurferJoe46]

I'm a thumber. There ... I said it.

Typically that makes me very old or stuck in a '50s mode forever. I can and do use fingers at times, but they each seem to have tonal differences that don't come out evenly.

No matter that situation: I don't really appreciate the thinner sound very much. Intense practice could even it out a lot, but I am as fast with my thumb as multiple fingers so that's not a viable enough reason to got full fingered.only.

Thumbs produce a boomier, rounder, evened and much deeper sound I feel which is great for my favorite styling, so if I need a brighter more aggressive sound I'll use my skinnier finger tips, but that's rare.

 

[KingDavid]

I don't know if this is good or bad news, but I found that if I turned up the amp volume a lot, and plucked much lighter, I immediately got an improved tone and my notes were insanely consistent to what I had before....

 

[KingDavid]

As for thumbing, I'll admit I do like the tone of a thumb more than a typical finger pluck, I myself thumb for fun from time to time

 

[Esoge]

I myself thumb for fun from time to time

Sorry I had to

 

[KingDavid]

LOL. All is good