Fretting Noise

[mneveux]

Hello all,

I am a new bass player with a few years of guitar experience. When fretting notes mainly on the E and A stings, there is a lot of noise generated from the action of fretting, mainly clicking and some buzzing. It is not fret buzz from not being close enough to the fret but occurs when first fretting the notes. Don't know how to better explain this. When fretting notes on guitar, there is no noticeable noise.

Is this a technique issue or just inherent due to the larger diameter of the strings?

Thanks!

Marc

 

[Keithy]

Marc,
This may be as simple as a small adjustment to the truss rod. If you dont know how to do this you will find a clip on you tube showing how to or let tb users know the make and model of your bass as I have found that tb users are a very useful fobt of knowledge.

 

[mneveux]

Marc,
This may be as simple as a small adjustment to the truss rod. If you dont know how to do this you will find a clip on you tube showing how to or let tb users know the make and model of your bass as I have found that tb users are a very useful fobt of knowledge.

Thanks Keithy,

I guess I should have mentioned that I have 2 basses and have the same issue on both. One is a Gibson SG and the other is a Squier Vintage Modified PJ. The action seems good on both.

Marc

 

[Toolmybass]

Have you adjusted the pup heights on your own?

Try lowering them and see if there is a change.

 

[DieterVDW]

Sounds like a technique or setup issue to me...

I had it too (because I ain't no pro) and improved it by increasing (or lowering? -> bringing the strings closer to the frets).
Because of that I got some extra fret buzz when playing hard (which I kind of like right now, rock 'n' roll!) but the strings have to travel less distance in order to fret them and there is much less of the hammer-on *clang* sound going on during fast passages...

 

[thewildest]

A few additional notes for your consideration:

All of below is assuming your bass is straight, the action is low and there are no truss rod

Technique: make sure the fingers of your fretting hand activate the note as close to the fret(bridge side) as possible, a few mm from actually being above the fret. That should considerably reduce fretting noise. On your plucking hand, make sure your pluck the strings to make them vibrate "in parallel" with the instrument instead of perpendicularly... which increases the fret/string sound noise a lot.

Setuperhaps you have gone beyond the lowest action point. Have you tried working the height of your strings from the bridge a little bit?
Also, are you sure the noise is between note and bridge? Sometimes the string makes sounds between the note and the nut. If that's the case, your nut may be too low, you may need to adjust (raise) it to avoid this noise.

 

[DiabolusInMusic]

Your coming from guitar... do you have the tone knob and the highs cranked? How hard are you fretting?

 

[FunkHead]

More than likely, You won't hear any of the noise in a live situation. Get jamming with some Mates and forget about these little noise issues. You'll be glad you did. There's a video of Flea practicing acoustically and you can hear all kinds of noise but it's normal and it's not going to make it through the Amp. Fughettaboutit!

 

[mneveux]

More than likely, You won't hear any of the noise in a live situation. Get jamming with some Mates and forget about these little noise issues. You'll be glad you did. There's a video of Flea practicing acoustically and you can hear all kinds of noise but it's normal and it's not going to make it through the Amp. Fughettaboutit!

I think you are absolutely right. The notes are clean, it is just the mechanical action of the strings contacting the frets initially. I do not hear it through the amp, just during low volume when practicing.

 

[FunkHead]

I think you are absolutely right. The notes are clean, it is just the mechanical action of the strings contacting the frets initially. I do not hear it through the amp, just during low volume when practicing.

Right on. You will get stronger with practice and the noise will get lower but there's always a little "Acoustic" noise that disappears 99% in the amp.