Using right hand muting when flatpicking fiddle tunes?

[hovishead]

I'm a little bit confused about something when flatpicking fiddletunes. Coming from an electric background I often use my right hand to mute the strings I'm not using.
When I watch videos of pro flatpickers however most of them are gliding with their pinkies and don't appear to be muting anything.

I get a bit of background open string noise when using this approach however.
Anyone got any advice on this.

Thanks,

H.

[HHP]

I can't say I've seen anyone muting unplayed strings in typical fiddle tunes as a rule. I will certainly use the flesh of my hand to mute for effect and will choke off notes with my left.

[Mtn Man]

Watch the left hand. Most flatpickers play as much as possible out of chord shapes. This gives you the option of picking extra strings for a fuller sound, and is great insurance against hitting wrong notes. The number one advice I give all beginning flatpickers: Learn to pick the melody out of chord shapes.

Flatpicking requires a lot more right hand power than other styles, and it's hard to maintain that power while palm muting. It is done sometimes for effect (check out some of Andy Hatfield's videos) but not in a full bluegrass band setting where such intricacies would be lost.

[Mtn Man]

Here’s an example of what I'm talking about: Bryan Sutton playing Texas Gales. Watch how he keeps coming back to the chord shapes. This is not a “Carter Style” song by any means, but he always anchors in those chord shapes as much as possible.

I believe he also does a little palm muting here, which works fine when you’re playing solo. In general, however, Bryan keeps his palm well away from the guitar, which is part of why he has such a powerful right hand attack.

[Mtn Man]

One more example: My son Nick playing a simpler version of Texas Gales. Nick learned this (sort of) from Bryan. He stays a little more in the chord shapes than Bryan does, and employs more strums.

[jcmccorm]

Just learning to flatpick myself but I think I know what you mean. I don't believe there is much right-hand muting going on.

The unwanted open string noise that I get from my own playing is from the fingers on my left hand leaving a fretted string to go to another and not "cleanly" lifting off of the previously fretted string. I seem to end up just slightly brushing the string as I leave it. It's not much of a sound but I notice it and it's distracting.

At least at this point in my learning I'm not too terribly worried about. It gets better, but the speed at which I can play "completely clean" is slower than what I can play at with a little bit of "open string noise".

Cary

[BluesBelly]

As a blues player, both electric and acoustic, I have developed a muting style using both fretting and picking hand/palm that is unique to me. Point is: it's all in personal technique, style, and feeling, generated at the time of play. Attemting to diagnose and duplicate muting is essentially fruitless as most players mute by feel at the time they determine is required to maintain the groove they are in or the sound they desire to convey. A very subjective subject to be sure.
Flat picking, fingstyle, folk, whatever, Go by the seat of your pants and the feelings in your heart and you will be you and all will be good.

Blues