me too !
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Yeah itās almost assuredly not the bass.
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Update!
I unplugged the laptop from the AUX jack and the buzzing went away. So thatās an easy fix. Still kinda sucks that I canāt listen to everything through headphones, but I might try another AUX cable if it becomes a problem. If not, I will just practice with the volume low.
However, now I have a slightly different question: when the buzzing went away, I was able to determine that any time I pluck a single string, I am getting ringing from the two adjacent strings even if I didnāt touch them at all.
So when I play an E, for example, the A string will ring and I get some open A from my pickups. However, if I play an A, then the E and the D both vibrate even if i purposefully do not touch either one. Typically the lower strings are not an issue because I touch the lower string as a part of the plucking (so plucking A moves the plucking finger to E, etc) but depending on what notes I am trying to fret, it is tough for my newbie fingers to properly mute all the higher strings all the time.
Last night I was playing the riff for Sweet Home Alabama, and when I would mute the A string after the two eight notes, I was getting notes from a ringing open D which made it sound off. I began messing around with my EQ on the AMP, and by turning the Treb all the way down, it lessened it considerably, but there was still some. So I moved to the bass (on board pre-amp EQ) and did the same thing. So having the treb off on both the bass and the AMP eliminates it, but it also sounds a little āoffā.
Is there a set up step I can take to help keep the strings from ringing as much or is it normal to get a little unless I actively mute each string not being plucked (even if that string isnāt touched)? Or do I just need to get more in the habit of muting ALL strings except for the one(s) being played?
And thanks for everyoneās help determining where my buzzing was coming from! Glad it was a fairly simple fix.
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Have you tried using the laptop with it running just on battery and the laptop power supply unplugged from both the laptop and the wall?
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I did not. I can give that a shot tonight though.
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Your problem sounds like a ground loop. I am willing to bet that unplugging the laptop from the wall will fix it.
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I believe itās called sympathetic vibration. The only thing you can do is work on your muting technique.
There are things like thisā¦
ā¦or you can use a hair tie.
The problem with these is it wonāt work for every song. So, you still need to have your mute game on point.
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This is kinda what I thought. I imagine I will get better at it as I progress. I would rather not use something āextraā at least until I finish the course a few times and can say that I actually know how to play bass.
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Ha, so that is what these things areā¦ I thought they were like a fashion statement or a fad like friendship wristbands 
Thanks, @eric.kiser
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Yeah, muting strings from sympathetic vibrations, is something Iāve been working on lately too, and there are ways of doing it effectively with both the fretting and plucking hand. Josh goes over some of these throughout the course. In my case, I was too busy with getting other technique issues down first, to deal with muting too much in the beginning. Itās one of those things that improves over time though, as you continue to practice.
Great choice on the Ibanez SR series, btw! 
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Iām with you. Iāve been purposely avoiding the fret wrap till Iām happy with what I can do with out it.
Another daily update:
I tried the laptop running on battery only and didnāt have much change if any. So I was leaning towards it being the AUX cable again. However, when I bent down to unplug the AUX cable from the amp, the buzzing lessened dramatically.
So then I stood up and started moving around a little and I noticed that if I stand with my bass at a 90 degree angle to the laptop/amp, there is a VERY small amount of buzz; almost imperceptible even with headphones on. However, if I am directly facing the laptop/amp then the buzz is back in full force and if I turn so I am facing directly away (so the laptop and amp are at my back) then there is still some buzz, but not as much.
I think that my pickups are either picking up noise from the amp itself, or there is some sort of magnetic interference being created by the laptop that is causing the buzz. The only reason I would say that is because at a 90 degree angle, there is almost no buzz at all, but with the amp to my back, there is still a buzz. If it was noise from the amp, I would expect it to be the worst when facing and then gradually fade as I turned around being the least when facing the opposite direction, but that is not what is happening.
Unfortunately, my AUX cable is only 3ft long, so I have to have the laptop sitting on a small table basically directly above the amp for now. And my lead is only 10ft, which I thought would be plenty, but isnāt. I have ordered a 20ft lead which will be delivered today so hopefully I can plug that in and just back up far enough away from the set up that whatever the pickups areā¦well, picking up, goes away.
WRT the sympathetic vibrations: I tried to pay a little more attention to muting unused strings last night and it helped tremendously; at the cost of missing significantly more notes or accidentally muting strings I didnāt want muted. More practice awaits!
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Well, we had hoped it wouldnāt have to come to this, but I am afraid your bass is picking up one or several of the listening devices that either a) a record company, b) a talent scout, c) your wife, d) the Mossad, or e) the Chechens have installed in your house/flat. I suggest you start ripping off the wallpaper and search for the devices before continuing with the courseā¦
No, seriously, this just seems to get weirder by the day. I am starting to potentially consider the possibility that it might not be entirely due to a grounding issueā¦ Maybe you need to consider shielding/covering your pickups instead?
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Can you elaborate on this a bit?
Also, I have considered the fact that my house had been bugged. I decided that the comedic value provided to whoever it was that planted the bug was worth the invasion in privacy and might ultimately result in my own Netflix special.
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Well, I am really just trying to throw other possible reasons and solutions out there, without being able to claim much deeper knowledge about the subject. But, here in the forum, we seem to like going down various rabbit holes, so if you feel inclined to go down this particular one (kind of trailblazing for the rest of us), this might be a starting point:
And:
Thatās the spirit 
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Got home today and I was able to determine that the issue is related to having the laptop connected to the amp. As soon as I connect the laptop to the amp via the Aux cable, I get a buzz. Headphones alone work with no issue and I was able to stand in various places near the amp as well as further away (that is to my cool new yellow lead!). So something is up with the laptop to amp connection.
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try another cable between the computer and the amp, youāll see ! there is a chance that a plug has a bad solder to the cable or a bad mechanical connexion with the corresponding plug
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Yep. Man, bad cables are irritating. Youād be surprised how many āgoodā cables have had issues like this for me over the years. Trying a different cable is a great idea now that you ruled out a ground loop.
And if you find it was a bad cable, I recommend ritually destroying the old one. Itās more fun than just throwing them away.
Unless you want to try to fix it. Iāve done that too but tbh these days I prefer just buying cheap cables and destroying the bad ones. Because no matter how good, all cables eventually and infuriatingly go bad, in my experience.
Making your own cables by affixing connectors is kind of fun though. I still have an ethernet crimper from way back. Luckily cables usually fail at the connector.
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Yeah I will eventually pick up another one, but itās not a huge deal right now since I can actually still hear Josh over my laptop speakers with the amp playing through headphones. So my wife and kids just hear how cool I should sound and canāt hear how far off I am. Might be the best solution for us all in the end.
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