Please help! Gradient Problems

I am having trouble with the graidents in my projects. When ever I construct outlined rectangles with the shape tool and then dragging them into a group, the gradient color changes everytime I move it. When ever I move the group down, closer to the bottom. the gradient gets darker, like the whole canvas has a gradient on it. In my many years of using photoshop, I never had this problem. It's like if I turned it into a smart object and was able to move the gradient in the shape, but I didnt have to convert it into a smart object, it just normally stuck to the shape, and yes, I did align the group gradient. Im not sure what the problem is, and whenever I look it up, nothing helps. Im using Photoshop CS6 by the way.