Palm Muting...that "Ccchk" sound

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by VJP5

…This is my dilemma. When I use my palm, I either press down too early or hard and then get notes when hitting the strings, or my angle is off. Then...when I get lucky and get the 'ccchhk' sound, I am so focused on getting it right, I miss the next strum beat.
…My apologies if I am not accurately describing my problem. Maybe I should ask my wife, she is very good at that :-)

Hi Vince...

You did fine.

I think the use of the word "Palm" is a little misleading. Most players (whether finger style or pick players) mute with the flesh under the thumb when they drive through…some may catch 'flesh' all the way across the wrist, but most just drop the meaty flesh below the thumb onto the strings to mute them.

And "Slap" is the wrong term too - it's more of a drop. I just divert my hand as it rotates a bit downward and relax as it hits.

The tricky part is to keep the rhythm steady…it's just eighth notes playing…

| ⬇︎-Down ⬆︎-Up ⬇︎-Mute ⬆︎-Up | ⬇︎-Down ⬆︎-Up ⬇︎-Mute ⬆︎-Up |

The rhythm is equal/even for each note (including the mute). I hear/see players hesitating when they mute instead of just keeping the drop-mute as an eighth note. You can always practice it by muting all the strings with your left hand (just lightly wrap your fingers around the neck) and practice strumming without notes ringing to confuse the process. That will help solve your missing the next strum beat.

Keep working you'll have it in no time at all!!!

[VJP5]

Originally Posted by leatherguy

...then one day, poof...it just kinda fell in place.
Stay at it. it will come.

I hope so. Night Moves is a great song for this 'effect'.

Originally Posted by JonPR

The trick (obviously) is to coordinate the hand "crash" with the pick strike - the hand (side of the palm) can contact the strings fractionally before the pick does, but it won't work the other way.

IMO, it doesn't matter where you strike the strings - there's no sweet spot; although the further from the bridge you strike, the more dead the resulting chord will be - the more "chk", IOW. If the palm touches close to the bridge, you'll get more of a "thump", a heavily damped chord rather than a fully muted one.

Clearly the trick I have yet to master . The sweet spot thing really kind of threw me. I get what your saying though and have definitely "thumped" in my attempts at this.

Originally Posted by HHP

Kind of angle my hand while bring down the pick.

This is probably why I need an instructor. Most 'tutorials' say to NOT bend your wrist. But the stiffer I keep my wrist, the worse I get. I am sure it's my strike angle, but I can't seem to do it right enough times in a row to get a sense of what that is.

Originally Posted by Bern

Vince, IMO, palm muting is one of those technics that kind of creeps up on you. If you have a basic understanding of the hand and wrist position that is needed, just incorporate it in your playing.

I'm guessing that this is my problem. I really hope you are right and that one day I'm just going to get it.

Originally Posted by ljguitar

Hi Vince...

You did fine.

I think the use of the word "Palm" is a little misleading. Most players (whether finger style or pick players) mute with the flesh under the thumb when they drive through…some may catch 'flesh' all the way across the wrist, but most just drop the meaty flesh below the thumb onto the strings to mute them.

And "Slap" is the wrong term too - it's more of a drop. I just divert my hand as it rotates a bit downward and relax as it hits.

The tricky part is to keep the rhythm steady…it's just eighth notes playing…

| ⬇︎-Down ⬆︎-Up ⬇︎-Mute ⬆︎-Up | ⬇︎-Down ⬆︎-Up ⬇︎-Mute ⬆︎-Up |

The rhythm is equal/even for each note (including the mute). I hear/see players hesitating when they mute instead of just keeping the drop-mute as an eighth note. You can always practice it by muting all the strings with your left hand (just lightly wrap your fingers around the neck) and practice strumming without notes ringing to confuse the process. That will help solve your missing the next strum beat.

Keep working you'll have it in no time at all!!!

Thanks for the definition clarification. Everyone uses different words and it just makes it tougher to explain to people who might be able to help. I think this is what I am not doing correctly. And I am certainly NOT relaxed. I like the idea of muting the strings with my left to get the strumming hand to stay in beat.

I am far from a quitter but this has certainly got me down.

[Norml]

OP, you are not alone. I've been trying to learn this technique for months.

I think my problem was trying to use the wrong part of my hand based on my hand position when I strum. I se a lot of players who strum with more of an open hand with fingers extended (my instructor does this). He uses pinky side of his palm to mute the strings. I play with my fingers curled into my palm. when I try to use his technique, I have to completely change my hand position and grip on the pick to do so.

Reading Larry's post was kind of an eye opener. Using the meaty part of my hand at the base of the thumb works much better for me. It feels more natural.

Now I just need to practice it that way for a while. Thanks Larry!

[bachoholic]

Although some guitar techniques look simple enough, some can be quite thorny for certain players. There are several factors that can alter how your right hand plays. Like dominos falling, if one if is out of whack it can make other things more difficult. So 1. Are you resting your bicep on the guitar? You should rest your forearm on the body not your bicep. Your forearm sits about a finger length down from the elbow joint. 2. once you have the forearm down, put the part of you hand ( the "karate chop" side of your hand just beyond the wrist joint) on the bridge where you dampen the low E. These are great starting reference points. Now the only difference between dampening and not dampening is millimetres. Now try lifting your hand away from the bridge slightly and using the "karate chop" side of your hand. You chop and strum downward at the same time. The chop side of your hand doesn't move downward once it hits the strings but your wrist moves forward toward the sound hole. If you look at your palm, on the pinky side, it should stay close to the strings.
Also for practice, set the the karate chop side of your hand on the strings a little in front on the bridge, hold it there and strum downward through all six strings. This is what the pick does when you chop. Disclaimer...I don't know anything about karate
I would suggest you try to emulate the first video guy more than the second.

[VJP5]

Originally Posted by bachoholic

Although some guitar techniques look simple enough, some can be quite thorny for certain players. There are several factors that can alter how your right hand plays. Like dominos falling, if one if is out of whack it can make other things more difficult. So 1. Are you resting your bicep on the guitar? You should rest your forearm on the body not your bicep. Your forearm sits about a finger length down from the elbow joint. 2. once you have the forearm down, put the part of you hand ( the "karate chop" side of your hand just beyond the wrist joint) on the bridge where you dampen the low E. These are great starting reference points. Now the only difference between dampening and not dampening is millimetres. Now try lifting your hand away from the bridge slightly and using the "karate chop" side of your hand. You chop and strum downward at the same time. The chop side of your hand doesn't move downward once it hits the strings but your wrist moves forward toward the sound hole. If you look at your palm, on the pinky side, it should stay close to the strings.
Also for practice, set the the karate chop side of your hand on the strings a little in front on the bridge, hold it there and strum downward through all six strings. This is what the pick does when you chop. Disclaimer...I don't know anything about karate
I would suggest you try to emulate the first video guy more than the second.

I guess I never really thought about my arm position. I've been so focused on my hand/wrist/palm (karate chop side ) that I haven't noticed anything else. I will certainly give this a try this weekend.

Thanks

[Davis Webb]

Great replies, given how hard this is to explain and even how hard it can be to teach. I use it in all my songs, that is how I get a drummer effect.

Flesh under thumb.

Try just drumming patterns on the muted strings, then when you feel like it, push the pick forward to hit the string first. Its really a type of drum pattern and you might need to learn how to hold 4/4 and other time sigs with your hand. If you cannot hand drum, you cannot do syncopated palm hits. I set aside 5-10 minutes at the end of my guitar lessons to teach the student to hand drum on the guitar body.