Hi Everyone
I’m super new here and do not have any qualifications to really know what I’m talking about but I thought I’d share my recent experience.
I was completing Module 4 and was super frustrated as I couldn’t understand what I was doing wrongly. Often when I played a note the sound would ‘twang’ no matter how soft or hard I plucked. I changed out my strings and went back over Josh’s tutorials checking my technique. I was walking across the strings not hooking on them but most notes made that strange sound.
I started thinking I was just a crap bass player and of giving it up.
Around the same time I had been watching YouTube clips on bass reviews and I really liked the sound and look of the Fender Player Mustang Bass PJ.
Out of curiosity I searched the Facebook Marketplace for bass guitars and there popped up a $700 Mustang in my local area. I couldn’t believe it. They sell for double that down here in Australia.
I went and had a look and it was in good nick, only a few months old, still had plastic protection.
When I played it I fell in love with it. Every note I played sounded great, not a single twang. Woo hoo! It wasn’t me after all.
I splurged and bought a Rumble amp and the two together sound amazing
Now I’m addicted to playing bass. Every spare minute I’m on it and with Josh’s tutorials I’m getting better and better.
Long story short, if you’re thinking of giving up try playing a different bass. It may just be the ticket to your new addiction
Congrats on sticking through and not giving up even if things didn’t seem to look up for you while you didn’t even know why. Have fun spending time with your bass!
You already had the ticket to your addiction before you switched your bass which is the very thing that promoted you to switch it instead of canning the entire process altogether!
Terrific @belinda.derby. And welcome, glad you are here.
There are some great learnings in your post…
First, you did know what you were talking about, you knew something was wrong.
Secondly, you ended up buying another bass…you are well on your way to the GAS club, welcome! This is an important part of being a bass player
Thirdly, you learned another valuable lesson…if you troll Facebook Marketplace (and any other used gear sites), it will cost you!
And lastly, when you find an instrument you love, or any gear for that matter, that makes you want to play more, well, then you have found GREAT GEAR!
Your original bass may just need some adjusting or setting up. This time of year (fall and spring) bass necks like to move terribly from humidity changes. Since you are in the fall down there, your neck may be flattening (my necks are arcing more here in NY, daily!) and that may in fact be contributing to the twangy-ness (if you had not had that happen before).
Welcome to the club @belinda.derby.
But yes proper gear can improve your fun practice times. I had issue alike with amp. After switching it up I enjoyed practices much more.
GAS is part of bassists life, Im sure everybody here can confirm it.
I would do what @John_E said and check the neck relief sounds like the truss rod needs to be tweaked a little. Where I live in Canada going from dry winters to a wet spring I have to tweak my neck relief at least once a month or if I wait longer I will also get the ‘twang’. No big deal and easy to fix.
NEVER NEVER THINK THAT!!!
Which Rumble amp did you get?
Or better still fix the problem.
I do not mean this in a sarcastic manner.
The good news is that you now have 2 Basses, as do most people on the forum, and you can check out fixing the neck on your standby yourself.
Try tuning the Bass to pitch then loosen the truss rod in a counter clockwise direction a 1/4 turn at a time (no more). Let it settle in for about 10 minutes. Retune to pitch and see if that has cured the problem. If not rinse and repeat.
If this is not familiar to you just search YouTube with ‘setting a guitar neck relief’ or better still ‘bass guitar setup’ there are tons of videos out there to help you. You could also search the BassBuzz forums which also has a lot of information on checking neck relief.
Worse case scenario is to take the Bass to a music store and they should be able to correct this issue very quickly but they will charge you for this simple fix.
Great story.
I tried many basses to find the ones I like best, but It was more out of curiosity, I was not having the same sort of trouble you were describing, but I love that I did it none the less, cuz I have found my favorite basses, and sold ones that I really liked at first, but after finding the right basses, they just were not for me in the end.
I would love to see you jump back on that old bass once you have completed the course, or even 3/4 of the way thru and see if you still have the same problems you did in the beginning.
If you do, it could need a serious set up, but you may find that once you are a little better, you can handle any bass a little better.
That’s great! I also have a Mustang and Rumble amp and I love them both as well. I did have some buzz on the higher frets but it just needed a setup (I bought it used). What color is your bass? And which pickup(s) do you prefer? I tend to stick to the neck pickup open all the way.
Cool, I have the Sienna Sunburst one. I alternate between neck and both pickups although I do prefer the neck sound.
I am still trying to figure out all the settings on the amp
@belinda.derby Did you ever get that fret buzz sorted out on the Bass that started this thread?
If you are looking for different tones watch where you a plucking the strings ie. close to the bridge, in the middle between the bridge and the neck, or on the neck itself.
Just a thought for you to consider as I do not see it mentioned a lot.
