Travis Picking and palm muting

[Bunny64]

Originally Posted by Mr Picky

I only attempted palm-muting properly recently after a lifetime of playing solo fingerstyle. I just didn't play that style of music previously, but working my way through Dan C Holloways lessons I wanted to learn his version of Folsom Prison Blues. (Most of his arrangements aren't palm muted and are similar to my normal style.)

My natural right-hand setup is straight forearm through a 'straight' relaxed wrist with the hand nearer the neck side of the soundhole, more of a classical setup. To switch to palm muting I had to obviously move my hand back to the saddle, but the hard bit was rotating my hand upwards and to the left to get access to all the strings, creating an angle at the wrist. This restricts movement a lot (as well as the hand being 'anchored'!) and took about 4 weeks to get used to. It now feels completely natural and has opened up a whole new style of playing....

From this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZozKO1Hrea8

To this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNGYRKhGHYo

Thanks for that. Gives me hope. Love the tunes. I’ll keep practicing!

[Bunny64]

Thanks Howard. Lovely groove going on there

[pvfederico]

Originally Posted by Chipotle

There are also different ways to mute strings. I don't really palm mute much when playing alternating-bass picking, but I'll often dampen the string by letting up with my fretting finger after plucking it. It's a different, in-between kind of sound: you don't get the muted "chunk" on the notes, but you do eliminate the sustain that can get in the way of the melody/other strings.

...after having a difficult time trying to palm mute while Travis Picking.

[MrDB]

Travis style alternating bass can be played with or without the palm mute, which is actually done with the side of the hand by most people.

Jerry had a great take on it. The Boxer, Don't Think Twice, etc are alternate bass with no palm mute. Delta blues, Piedmont blues, etc are almost always palm muted to get that thumpy bass tone.

[thomasn]

+1 on many comments, the style requires a subtle palm mute. You need a difference in texture between rhythm and melody to achieve that overall propulsive sound. Without it, the bass drowns out the treble and it gets drone-y real quick. As a bonus, an (un)intended advantage of doing the palm muting, is that as long as you maintain the feel of the boom-chick, a fudged note in the bass here and there doesn't matter.

Those Thom Bresch and Piedmont videos are great btw.