Problem with strings still ringing after being played

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by Troyboi

Now that I’ve read this I did notice that In the tutorial by Andy guitar his finger seems to always be on the D string on the 12th fret which is the first note played and the string I seem to be having the most problem with. I tried lifting my finger off slowly to mute it on the way but wasn’t having much success.

I’ll try the approach of keeping my Fingers on the strings and see how that goes. This lead guitar is as hard as I always thought it would be.

I keep my index on strings 4-3 all the time (fret 12) when playing this lick, but I also use my pinky on fret 15, which Slash didn't. I keep my 3rd finger ond fret 14 all the way. My middle plays fret 14 on 3rd string, and also on 4th string for the 2nd part of the riff. I can flatten it to play 3rd string right after the 4th string note.

I might mute string 6 and 5 with my right hand, but otherwise everything is controlled from the fret hand.

This is undoubtedly a tricky riff to get perfect. It's not difficult in terms of speed or fingering, but the precision of articulation takes practice - to make it legato without unwanted notes ringing.

(I noticed in one acoustic version, btw, Slash takes his index off the 4th string to move it to the 3rd, and does no muting at all with his right hand. He still seems to get no open strings ringing. That's control for you... )

[beninma]

I've never learned this and don't really have that much interest but it's definitely going to be the muting + making sure you mute out sympathetic vibrations. IIRC this passage is mostly on the higher (1-4?) strings. Any time you hit an E that 6th string is going to start ringing from sympathetic vibrations and muddy everything up.

You can just keep your palm resting against the 6th string while picking on the other strings and it will help a lot.

Ugh now I'm going to feel like trying it.

[Troyboi]

Originally Posted by JonPR

I keep my index on strings 4-3 all the time (fret 12) when playing this lick, but I also use my pinky on fret 15, which Slash didn't. I keep my 3rd finger ond fret 14 all the way. My middle plays fret 14 on 3rd string, and also on 4th string for the 2nd part of the riff. I can flatten it to play 3rd string right after the 4th string note.

I might mute string 6 and 5 with my right hand, but otherwise everything is controlled from the fret hand.

This is undoubtedly a tricky riff to get perfect. It's not difficult in terms of speed or fingering, but the precision of articulation takes practice - to make it legato without unwanted notes ringing.

(I noticed in one acoustic version, btw, Slash takes his index off the 4th string to move it to the 3rd, and does no muting at all with his right hand. He still seems to get no open strings ringing. That's control for you... )

Actually Jon Ive been doing exactly this the last few days. Using my index finger on fret 12 resting across strings 1-4. I pulse it on and off as I need to play string 4 or 3 at fret 12 but the rest of the time it mutes the other strings.
It stops string 4 from ringing out which was my biggest problem.

Ive been practicing until late last night and on and off all day today.....
(Melbourne cup public holiday here today and Im not into horse racing. Melbourne is the only city in the world that has a public holiday for a horse race and a public holiday for the Australian rules football Grand final parade, but I digress...)
Im playing it with gain right up as Beninma suggested and I must say Im happy with my progress so far.

[Troyboi]

This sucks..Ive tried palm muting, left hand finger muting, Tried leaving my finger there and muting the bottom four strings but no matter what I do or how light I try to mute it just sounds wrong. The strings dont ring out properly. They are to dull. So I lift my palm up a bit or my fingers and then Im back to getting string noise again.
Ive watched numerous videos on this and I dont see anyone who plays it keeping their index finger down on strings 1-4. Ive had a few people tell me its just practice and getting more precise with my picking but how does that stop string 4 from continuing to ring out after I lift my finger off it?

A lot of the string noise Im getting is from lifting my fingers off the strings. Its taken me 3 weeks and I still am no closer to getting this riff right.. So frustrating.

[vindibona1]

It's been awhile so I had to plug in and play that lick again to remember... Most people do it differently than I do, using only index, middle and ring fingers. I stay in position, using my pinky on the 15th fret while most would use their ring finger. I find that to be part of being able to let the strings ring when needed and quiet when not needed. Additionally the palm of my right hand rests on the corner of the bridge and use that to adjust the amount of ring or dampening needed.

It's not an easy lick, but it's fun. Just keep at it.