some bass questions . .. need help

[FeElDaGrOoVe]

erm when i play bass right, when i holding the fret and change to hold the other fret, there is a sound produced leh, like a metal tick sound. am i press the fret in a wrong manner? am i pressing to hard or am i releasing the fret too slow when i change fret?

 

[FeElDaGrOoVe]

and 1 more question, when u guys are practising yr bass, do u stand or sit down? i nvr tried practising in a standing manner and now i feel kinda weird and hard to play in standing manner, i guess i need to practising playing while standing

 

[afterdeath]

i sit down when i'm doing sum fingering excerises n learning new songs....... once i've mastered the songs, den i practising in a standing manner....... cos my bass is not the same level when i sit as when i stand lor........ :wink:


:twisted:

 

[CrispyEgg]

haha your description of the 1st problem is vague man... cuz sometimes i get that sound too, but its natural and intentional, depending on teh way im playing...

practice sitting, cuz i get more fret access when im standing... do u carry your bass low? if u do, practice standing... i carry it practically the same height sitting as when standing, so there's not a problem there...
carrying your bass high is not gay. look at the bass wonders of the world man! wud u play one note per bar, or fifty :weedman:

 

[rhythm_]

Is it that u pressing on to the metal part of the frets? I do get weird sounds if my fingers not placed properly.

 

[Dirt]

hey ho let`s go!!!!!!!

1-...u`re changing frets too slow.....that`s y it resulted with that sound...n ur tone is too high...bring it down a bit....let it have that heavy deep bass sound like a double bass.....
2-....i agree...practice standing if u`re placing ur bass low....n it`s not gay if u place it high...u`ll have more access actually...esp wen u`re slapping or tapping the bass....
:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[rhythm_]

Do you guys find that if u practice standing up you tend to lean backward a bit to get more fret access after a while, or am i just wearing my guitar too low>

 

[CrispyEgg]

dont stand there like a stone, move around! some notes are easy when u bend forward, some backward, and so on! if u want a gd level to carry your bass, look at John Myung, Stu Hamm, or if u want extra high, Victor Wooten, John Pattitucci

 

[rhythm_]

Haha I just figured out, probably was carrying my bass a little low.

COming back to the point of the metal tick thing, i also noticed you get a funny "un-full" sound when i play sometimes, not a metal tick though. Is it the result of not pressing the strings hard enough or plucking in an incorrect manner?

 

[CrispyEgg]

probably not pressing hard enough... don't press TOO hard tho, too much of anything isn't necessarily good...

try to press the string down until it JUST touches the fret. then play that string, u'll notice u can feel the string vibrating alot on the fret and your finger. now keep plucking that string and pressing down with more force until that feeling disipates and u get a full sound.

OR maybe your string action is simply outrageously tooooo high. :smt031

 

[Dirt]

hey ho let`s go!!!!!!!

hey dude...u know wat???
i think ur neck has already warped!!!!!!......
it happened to me b4......better check the neck-level....

 

[thatfrog]

Unfull sound! Adjust your amp EQ and bass tone controls. Go from a ridiculously low bass tone to a high bass tone, low mid tone to high mid tone, low treble tone to a high treble tone, then you'll start to learn how to get that near perfect sound.

 

[rhythm_]

Probably its the pressing, im kinda trying to press harder now (coz i switched from normal to bass guitar recently, and still havent got the hang of pressing the strings hard)

@Dirt How do you know if the neck is warped? Is there anyway to correct it? :?

Thanks for the info guys. My eq is normally set to around the middle area... Haha it sounds okay too. Because sometimes only i get the "unfull" sound...

 

[Dirt]

hey ho let`s go!!!!!!!

lift up ur bass......look upwards from the pick-ups towards the tuners...that means...ur face is at the butt of the bass..look upwards...see whether there`s a `bend` on the neck structure.....but of coz make sure u`re holding it level.....

 

[thatfrog]

Honestly ah, I'm so cock eyed I couldn't even see the curve of the neck when I was adjusting my truss rod :lol:

I used the press 1st fret, press 12th fret, then used my finger to tap tap to see the gap at the 5th, 6th fret.

Try as I might, I just COULDN'T see the curve. The guy at Davis could see it leh :?

AM I GOING BLIND?!?! 8O

 

[rhythm_]

xD

Thankfully my neck isnt warped!

 

[CrispyEgg]

dude, the guy at davis is TEH ONE when it comes to guitar/bass setup la so no, you're not going blind...
what i usually do when i change the type of strings im using is to get the davis dude to do the whole setup and intonation thing for me, and usually its 99.9% there. if im feeling abit tweaky then i'll adjust it just a lil bit more. otherwise, its as good as it gets. =)