Newbie help... Horrible noise!

[Carlcoops]

Hi guys/girls I'm new to playing bass, I introduced myself a couple of weeks ago. I'm trying to teach myself bass by playing songs following tabs. But noticed I'm getting a horrible noise when moving from say the 6th fret down to 4th quickly. Not got much gain, a fair bit of treble and mids low and high trying to emulate the style of music I listen to without a p-bass. I'm using an epiphone toby deluxe iv and fender rumble 40 v3. I know its my fretting hand but what am I doing wrong. Please advise if you can and any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance, Carl

[Cato]

Sounds like it could be 'finger noise'.

That happens when you move your fretting hand up or down the neck whilst maintaining contact with a string with your fretting hand/fingers , if that makes any sense.

To be honest I don't think it's something that someone who's just starting out really needs to worry about too much.

As your technique improves you'll almost certainly find it happening less and less. It's also not something that an audience is ever really going to hear when you play with other musicians.

If it really bothers you you could try buying a set of flatwound strings as they're much smoother  and produce far less noise than the roundwounds  your bass almost certainly came fitted with, but it will change the overall tone of your bass in a noticeable way.

Not necessarily in a bad way though. A lot of people prefer the sound of flats.

Edited April 3, 2019 by Cato

[Cato]

Just to add, if you listen to the isolated basslines from a lot of famous recordings by some very talented bass players you can hear finger noise.

If you listen to the whole mix there's no sign of it.

Edited April 3, 2019 by Cato

[Ricky 4000]

As above ^^^^.

Turning the top and mids down a bit will probably reduce the effect you're hearing through the speaker.

If your amp is set quite low, you're also probably hearing a lot of finger noise directly, that won't come through the amp... try that out by using headphones if you can.

But again, as above, it'll be alright with practice. 👍

Edited April 3, 2019 by Ricky 4000

[Carlcoops]

Thanks Cato,

It is finger noise just very high pitched, do I need to release my finger a bit more, slowing down a bit or just forget about it? Don't want to pick up bad habits. 

[Ricky 4000]

I bet it gets 37% better if you back off the treble. 👍

Edited April 3, 2019 by Ricky 4000

[Cato]

This is going to sound like a bit of a paradox, but as the finger strength improves on the fretting hand you'll probably  develop a lighter, cleaner touch which will cut out a lot of it.

You'll also probably start playing lines across all the strings instead of moving your hand up and down the neck on one or two strings.

You might want to look into the 'one finger per fret system' but have a look at this as well.

 

Edited April 3, 2019 by Cato

[PatrickJ]

Finger noise drove me nuts. 

A certain amount is inevitable with round wound strings, especially steels.  As previously mentioned it largely gets lost in the mix of a full band setting but I hated it when playing on my own.

I switched to flat wounds, Ernie Ball Cobalts to be precise which still retain a certain amount of the round wound sound with reduced noise. D'Addario Chromes are another option for flats that still retain a brightness.

Coated round wounds may be another option.  I think Elixr do them, Nano web coating I think it's called?? Worth investigating too.

Other than that, practice practice practice.

 

 

[Ricky 4000]

Or butter on the fingers. 😃

[TheGreek]

Finding solutions to all the problems which go with being a new player can be a real pain. I think I was lucky when I started as one of my friends was quite an accomplished player ( @bassface2k10 where are you??) and could be counted on for advice.

You don't say where you are but popping round to a fellow BCers could help no end. Also, developing good habits from the start will help you down the line. My advice would be to find somebody locally (not necessarily a tutor) who can point you in the right direction thus (hopefully) avoiding developing bad habits. 

Let us know where you are -  pretty sure somebody here will step up and help.

[TheGreek]

23 minutes ago, PJ-Bassist said:

Other than that, practice practice practice.

Isn't that the way to Carnegie Hall??? 😉😉

[Staggering on]

If you bought your bass new it will have new strings which make more finger noise than older worn in strings.New rounds are very bright at first.

[Carlcoops]

11 hours ago, Ricky 4000 said:

 

 

[Carlcoops]

^^^Stupid phone, grrr!  

The strings on are rotosound 45's, I bought the guitar used and the previous owner had just put them on. 

I'm playing through my headphones at the monent, got some superlux hd668 (I like them). 

A lad from a local band has offered to come around to mine it's just finding a time that's convenient for us both. 

Thanks for all your input I'm sure I'll get there eventually. 😊

[joeystrange]

Headphones may exacerbate the noise too as you don’t have the acoustics of an open room and everything is going straight into your ears.

If you play through an amp you may find that the noise is a lot less noticable than you think.