Do You Prefer Fret Buzz?

An interesting part of bass tone is that some players actually prefer having fret buzz. Sometimes a little, sometimes a lot, but there are certain instances where buzz actually makes the tone sound better.

Here are a few examples:

1960s Overdriven Tone

Certain acid rock and psychedelic rock songs of the 1960s featured bass players that purposely overdrove the sound and buzzed all over the place very much on purpose.

My Generation by The Who is a great example of that fuzzy, buzzy sound.

Late 1970s/Early 1980s hard rock and metal tone

Many bass players of this era took fret buzz to a whole new level where they picked hard, had their strings set low, distorted the tone on purpose and created this amazing hard driving sound.

A classic example is Lemmy of Motörhead fame wailing away on his Rickenbacker bass.

1970s Disco tone

Disco bass tone is interesting in that just a slight amount of fret buzz is preferable here. Why? Because it cuts through the mix better. In the example video below you’ll hear just a tiny bit of buzz, but it totally works.

Slap/Pop tone

For many, the ideal slap/pop tone on a Fender Jazz Bass is where you can really hear the clack when the strings hit the frets. And of course when clacking around, fret buzz is there – but it sounds great.

What can you learn from this?

Having fret buzz on a bass is not a bad thing for certain types of music. Granted, for particular types, fret buzz is a no-no. But if you haven’t explored adding a little buzz to your bass, try it out. You might like it.

Can you have both buzz AND no-buzz on a single bass guitar?

Yes, but not for the reasons you might first guess.

Setup is an important part of getting your bass guitar playing properly, but what ultimately allows you to have both buzz and no-buzz on your instrument is you, the player.

For example, a simple (in theory) way of having a bass buzz or not buzz when you want is to set the strings low, play lighter when you want no buzz, and then play harder when you do want buzz. This will probably involve you having to change the way you play, but if you want buzz and no-buzz “on command”, so to speak, yes, you can have it.

In other words, you’ll have to find that “happy medium” concerning your personal bass setup (i.e. what you prefer for string height, neck relief, gauge of string etc.) so you can choose when you want fret buzz and when you don’t.