Playing help

[Columbian73]

I played a fretted bass for about a year, several years ago, and loved it. I got a Cirrus fretless right before health problems forced me to stop playing, til just recently.

As I practice, I'm having trouble with plucking the strings well. From watching lots of Youtubes, I'm pretty sure I've got the right position and pretty much the motion. But, with my 2nd finger, when I try to put even a little more emphasis on the note, I get a real loud, treble-y "twank".

I trimmed the nail on that finger and try to keep the string below the tip of the finger, but it still happens.

Does anyone have an idea how I can control the sound better?

 

[Mushroo]

Can you post a video of your playing, so we can give you meaningful advice?

I'll take a wild guess, that you are plucking the strings too hard. Try turning up your amp and playing with a lighter touch.

Sitting down face-to-face with a good teacher can be really helpful for learning to play bass.

 

[Malcolm35]

Run your scales up and down the neck paying attention to your 2nd finger. Look at what is happening.

Good luck.

 

[Columbian73]

I found what looks like an excellent luthier's shop in nearby Portland. He's going to look at the instrument and my "playing" tomorrow and see what he can see. I use ""s to stress that the noises I cause the bass to make do not yet constitute "playing". I think it's got up to semi-organized noise at this point. I'll see what this gentleman has to say and report back.
Thanks for your replies so far!

 

[Russell L]

Sounds like you're pulling up on the string instead of pushing across it. Play across, letting your finger end up resting on the next bigger string.