How does your fretting hand affect your tone?

My left hand (a.k.a the stranger) is my fretting hand. When I first started playing I figured I had to press somewhere in the middle of the two frets for the note I wanted to play. Sometimes I would get some buzzing so I assumed that I wasn't squeezing the strings against the neck with enough force. After a few minutes my left hand would start cramping up from fatigue. My knuckles would turn white as I tried to maintain stamina over three or four bars. The calluses I was developing were getting thicker than raw hide. This approach wasn't serving me well.

What I didn't understand was that the fretboard space between the frets was not the target space for playing the notes. After getting a bit of advice from another seasoned player, I learned that the place to fret the note was immediately behind the fret itself. This seemed intimidating to me at first. Too precise for my skills.

What I discovered was that it was so much easier to play the bass this way. I found that my knuckles weren't turning white from the vulcan death grip I had on the neck previously. I discovered that I had so much more endurance than before. My tone was hugely improved since the this technique virtually eliminated mis-hits, buzzes and flubbed unsustainable notes. My bass sound became much more clean and clear. I could also play much faster since my left hand very relaxed. (Note: I am not a speed freak but I think it's important to be able to have this skill when required.)

Playing the bass just behind the fret is an important technique for getting good consistent sounds out of your bass. On a final note, using this technique makes the transition from a precision to a fretless bass very seamless. This fretting approach is exactly the same technique applied on fretless. Exactly the same technique!

Check out Marcus Miller below. Notice the left hand finger placement. It's right behind the fret. This is where the note sings.