The Acoustic Guitar Forum

Go Back   The Acoustic Guitar Forum > General Acoustic Guitar and Amplification Discussion > PLAY and Write

Reply
 
Thread Tools
  #1  
Old 09-04-2019, 12:32 PM
TBman's Avatar
TBman TBman is online now
Charter Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 35,829
Default Practicing string muting

Palm muting is the easy part. Muting with an individual picking hand finger or a fretting hand finger is more challenging for me. Rick posted a link to a video that talked about it. Anyone have other good links or tips? This technique is going to take a lot of patience to learn.

I'm thinking maybe I should compose my own etudes that have the "baby steps" of the technique.
__________________
Barry

Sad Moments {Marianne Vedral cover}:


My SoundCloud page

Some steel strings, some nylon.
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 09-04-2019, 01:40 PM
DesertTwang DesertTwang is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Tucson, Arizona
Posts: 5,744
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by TBman View Post
Palm muting is the easy part. Muting with an individual picking hand finger ....
And you would want to do this because...? Just trying to understand your motivation behind this...
__________________
"I've always thought of bluegrass players as the Marines of the music world" – (A rock guitar guy I once jammed with)

Martin America 1
Martin 000-15sm
Recording King Dirty 30s RPS-9 TS
Taylor GS Mini
Baton Rouge 12-string guitar
Martin L1XR Little Martin
1933 Epiphone Olympic
1971 square neck Dobro
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 09-04-2019, 02:43 PM
Gordon Currie Gordon Currie is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: Kirkland, WA USA
Posts: 2,445
Default

I do this level of string muting a lot, but like the centipede, I have a much harder time explaining it than doing it.

I find that for single strings, it is easier to mute with the fretting hand - as far as I can tell, I lift my left hand finger *slightly* in order to mute. Or if I need to mute an unplayed adjacent string, I will often angle a fretting finger so that it lightly touches (and mutes) the unwanted string.

Quite often I am muting the 5th string in chord voicings as I subscribe to the classic arrangement approach of keeping the bass range uncluttered and putting any close voiced clusters into the treble end.

Combining right hand palm muting with left hand finger muting is super powerful and can really clean up your sound.
__________________
-Gordon

1978 Larrivee L-26 cutaway
1988 Larrivee L-28 cutaway
2006 Larrivee L03-R
2009 Larrivee LV03-R
2016 Irvin SJ cutaway
2020 Irvin SJ cutaway (build thread)
K+K, Dazzo, Schatten/ToneDexter


Notable Journey website
Facebook page

Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art. - Leonardo Da Vinci
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 09-04-2019, 05:53 PM
TBman's Avatar
TBman TBman is online now
Charter Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 35,829
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Gordon Currie View Post
I do this level of string muting a lot, but like the centipede, I have a much harder time explaining it than doing it.

I find that for single strings, it is easier to mute with the fretting hand - as far as I can tell, I lift my left hand finger *slightly* in order to mute. Or if I need to mute an unplayed adjacent string, I will often angle a fretting finger so that it lightly touches (and mutes) the unwanted string.

Quite often I am muting the 5th string in chord voicings as I subscribe to the classic arrangement approach of keeping the bass range uncluttered and putting any close voiced clusters into the treble end.

Combining right hand palm muting with left hand finger muting is super powerful and can really clean up your sound.
Thanks Gordon. Its going to be worth the effort.
__________________
Barry

Sad Moments {Marianne Vedral cover}:


My SoundCloud page

Some steel strings, some nylon.
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 09-05-2019, 08:28 PM
jaymarsch jaymarsch is offline
Charter Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: North of the Golden Gate, South of the Redwoods, East of the Pacific and West of the Sierras
Posts: 10,571
Default

Keep practicing, Barry. I agree with Gordon that muting techniques give you more options on how to choose the combination of notes that you want to ring out and can add to a cleaner sound.

I have a guitar playing friend who masters muting much better than me and I can definitely hear the difference.

Best,
Jayne
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 09-06-2019, 06:10 AM
TBman's Avatar
TBman TBman is online now
Charter Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 35,829
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by jaymarsch View Post
Keep practicing, Barry. I agree with Gordon that muting techniques give you more options on how to choose the combination of notes that you want to ring out and can add to a cleaner sound.

I have a guitar playing friend who masters muting much better than me and I can definitely hear the difference.

Best,
Jayne
I have several slow tunes I can work on and this technique at the same time. It should be interesting to see if I can do this.
__________________
Barry

Sad Moments {Marianne Vedral cover}:


My SoundCloud page

Some steel strings, some nylon.
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 09-06-2019, 07:41 AM
MikeBmusic MikeBmusic is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: On the Mass/NH border
Posts: 6,663
Default

I wish more people would learn string muting with their fretting hand (and thumb!) I hear players who are pretty good with open E or A strings getting hit regularly for chords/keys where they just don't fit.
__________________
Mike

My music: https://mikebirchmusic.bandcamp.com

2020 Taylor 324ceBE
2017 Taylor 114ce-N
2012 Taylor 310ce
2011 Fender CD140SCE
Ibanez 12 string a/e
73(?) Epiphone 6830E 6 string

72 Fender Telecaster
Epiphone Dot Studio
Epiphone LP Jr
Chinese Strat clone

Kala baritone ukulele
Seagull 'Merlin'
Washburn Mandolin
Luna 'tatoo' a/e ukulele
antique banjolin
Squire J bass
Reply With Quote
Reply

  The Acoustic Guitar Forum > General Acoustic Guitar and Amplification Discussion > PLAY and Write

Thread Tools





All times are GMT -6. The time now is 06:57 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
Copyright ©2000 - 2022, The Acoustic Guitar Forum
vB Ad Management by =RedTyger=