An important technical element for both beginning and more experienced playing is the use of the picking hand to keep ringing notes under control…
In fact, what you may not have thought of is the fact that you’ll spend as much time keeping unwanted sounds from ringing out as you’ll spend getting the right sounds to ring out.
In other words, it’s a big deal and something you don’t want to take lightly.
So… here’s a video about it, hope you dig it 🙂
Got any muting tricks you want to share? Put them in the comments below…
44 replies to "Right Hand Muting"
you are the best teacher ever thank you
After watching clips such as this one, I puschase two of your publications which I enjoyed very much. You hand out so much free material and I for one, appreciate your efforts. I feel what I have learned from this clip will most certainly be used in cojunction with what I am learning from your Classic rock Guitar Unleashed publication. My playing has gone in leaps and bounds thanks to your clips and books.
Many thanks.
Michael R
Melbourne, Australia.
Always good to work on…thnks Griff!
my right hand keeps moving up the guitar twards the neck and I am practicing palm muting in my practice…this was another winner…
I found that to be a key thing to learn when I first started out I am a feel player so I have to feel what sounds right to me the Palm mute is one of the most important keys of playing a guitar I think playing around with palm mutes and pick strikes finger strikes with the Palm mute is various of all sounds I love it! It is one of my favorite things to do I encourage everyone to master this. I encourage blues guitar players to watch a variety of guitar players use their pick hands in all kinds of songs that is a very big help in experimenting. 5 🌟 Griff.
Another winner Griff. Thanks.
Thanks for this lesson Griff, it came at just the right time for me.
Thanks Griff. I use no pic so it is a little more difficult but it works. Great lesson!
Did not used to be able to Palm you but with a little practice I’m pretty good at it now thanks to Griff. I love to put my Strat on the bridge pickup and palm mute a little Chicken Pickin it sounds awesome thanks again Griff keep them coming 🙂
Griff, this is a very helpful lesson . I struggle with trying to get the right muting sound . But this lesson from you makes it much easier , and effective . Thanks for sending . Mike Z
I use the palm technique a lot with Johnny cash songs walk the line Folsom prison blues by Luther Perkins late guitar player for johnny
It’s worth pointing out that this technique depends heavily on the bridge. I find this technique much more difficult on my acoustic which has the pegs so close to the bridge, and the tops of the pegs are also slightly higher than the bridge, making it much more difficult to get my palm in that sweet spot (between totally muted and totally ringing).
And that fender used in the video doesn’t have a strait across bridge, which makes the muting slightly different for each string. My two electric guitars have a straight across bridge which makes this technique easier in my opinion.
Thanks for the tips Griff!
Excellent Griff. Your attention to the finer points of playing is what keeps me coming back to your lessons. Keep up the great work.
Gord
Sounds great looks easy but I keep trying and giving up. This video has fired me up to persist. Thanks. Clive.
Please follow up with picking/ muting with the thumb and fingers. In your BGU Blues in E you mute with the 3rd finger but don’t explain it.
Maybe its in Acoustic BGU.
I am finding that slide sounds altogether different with finger picking and good muting. The slide really picks up noise.
Pat
Mot people I know prefer it when I mute the strings…all of them, completely. In fact, when I play my recordings, they put their speakers on MUTE!
Jim: I got a good chuckle out of this. I feel your pain, brother. We’ve gotta just keep on plugging away.
I was learning this at 13 yrs my bro says to me bro inthe guitar sound many sounds. The sound goes on many blues players sound there own then I played. In a band at school. Like hang on slooppily so today learn. More like your sound griff
really can not add to whats here . i think the skill builds over time . just listen to how Billy Gibbons does it with his song just got paid today . i think its a good way to get it. the timing between notes (intervals a space in between two points) or notes in this case. it is deminished or flattened . i have one other thing sometimes no matter how well your guitar is set up a fret buzz is heard . usually on the lower strings it happens . the amount of forse you use will affect it so try picking the strings softer and CRANK IT UP. C-YA
Hey guys,Thanks a lot again for tips. But I have a question : E chord is obsoluviy a F***ing difficult chord ; but is this not as difficult as Eb ?(I’m a beginner in ukulele and my english is not very good neither !)Thanks a lot for your answer !Olivier.
Wow! When I first started to follow Griff, I figured his website would have tips and tricks. I had struggled with palm muting while learning “Down to the Station,” and this lesson was invaluable. Instead of holding my hand in mid-air so to speak, I can use the bridge as a resting point. What a concept! Now I just have to get it right. Sometimes the small things make improvements far beyond their apparent worth.
Thank you for your service to those of us bitten with the guitar bug!
Jon
Hey Griff,
Great lesson. When I am playing either open chords or 7th or 9th Chords or Bar chords I tend to mute the chords with my left hand in the chord formation when needed. If I am playing single notes I tend to mute with my right hand close to the bridge and just on the Bridge Pick Up such as playing the Tore Down notes whether clean or OD.
SRV Pride & Joy style has some ringing and muted sounds to experiment with and is a great example how to mix the sounds.
All cool great playing.
Thanks
Michael- Sydney Australia
the tele is an easy guitar to demonstrate this on..a 335 works good too.. but a strat type presents difficulties because of the location of the volume knob, and pick-up switch somewhat..
griff, can you demonstrate on a strat please?
You ROCK. Found an album on Amazon. Listening now. Number 1 with a bullet. This is the sound.
Nice lesson . Thanks. I’ll have to try it out on various guitars.
Back in the 60’s I had a Supro Dualtone that had a chrome bridge cover. It was close to the strings and when I put my hand on the cover and just touching the strings, I could effortlessly mute them. I have more difficulty muting them on the bridges themselves which hurt my hand. I wish Eastwood would make a Dualtone with the bridge cover.
I had one lesson on palm muting that lasted about 10 minutes. That was about 12 years ago. The lesson went like this:
Instructor: (while listening to me play) “Do you hear those open strings ringing out when you play that 3 note chord?
Me: Yes.
Instructor: “here’s how you stop those strings from ringing” — shows me palm muting and also some muting techniques for left hand — such as extending a finger that is on a note to touch the neighboring string above or below it.
Me: God it seems impossible to stop that ringing.
Instructor: Not that I’ve told you about it you are aware of it. Now that you are aware of it — don’t try to practice or teach it. The problem will clear up on it’s own once you’re aware of it. He was right.
End of lesson.
It worked. I never had to struggle to learn it because once I was aware of it the only way to make it stop is to learn how to mute or change to an easier voicing.
What was most important was him telling me not to practice it or make a big deal out of it. Just correct as you hear it when you learn songs. You get the major stuff out of the way easily because it’s obnoxious. Then you think you’re playing much cleaner but now your ears can hear the smaller ringouts because the obnoxious strings are not ringing. Eventually you hear everything and have a correction for it. Easy.
Lesson: Don’t fuss over learning this. Just develop your awareness of it and you’ll make it go away in your playing. Also playing live really helps with palm muting. Playing live forces you to adapt quickly and decisively. It also knocks the perfectionist out of you.
IN MY 40 YEARS OF PLAYING, I BARELY USED PALM MUTING. LIKE THE LOW E. I USED MT LEFT THUMB TO MUTE. I HAVE SEEN STEVEIE RAY JUST HIT THE STRINGS HE WANTED TO RING OUT AND SKIPPED AROUND THE REST OF THE UNUSED STRINGS. THE ONLY TIME I USE MY PALM IS WHEN PLAYING A HEAVY METAL LIKE RYTHUM.GRIFF I AVE BEEN WITH YOU FOR OVER 2 YEARS. YOU HELPED ME A LOT IN MY OLD AGE. LOL! NOW THE HANDS ARE STARTING TO GO I FOUND THAT IF I SOAK MY LEFT HAND IN HOT WAX AND BUILD IT UP. LET IT STAY ON FOR A HALF HOUR AND I’M READY TO GO. FOR A SHORT TIME. I’LL NEVER GIVE UP. THANKS BRO.
Hey Paul,
Just a thought from another old-timer. I use a product called Bert’s Bees Hand Balm. It’s a bees wax base with lavender and essential oils. Comes in a small round can. Rubbing it in thoroughly with a massage action really helps before going to bed. And your hands smell nice too!
I use it especially on the neck hand when I get muscle fatigue between thumb and first finger. Hope this helps bro. Like you, I won’t quit either!
Ian
Great lesson. Thanks for posting your experience. I find it explicitly states the approach I have been using but didn’t know it. As an intermediate player refining my “porch” acoustic blues, I found myself somewhat naturally learning how to mute to get the sound right as I practiced. Same for some other skills a well, once your mind becomes aware, your ear listens better and you start making those little corrections along the way.
I really like the comfort of a Tele to rest my picking hand on. Fender has a new Sonny Landreth model Strat coming out that has the Tele bridge on it.
I love the guitar, but if somebody was to ask me what one thing don’t you like about guitar, I would say that it is too damn easy for other noise to come into play when you are playing notes, and damn hard to comfortably prevent those notes or noises coming into play. I am fully aware of a sound not being clean, and I am a perfectionist to the nth degree, and there is nothing that frustrates me more than this on a guitar. What irritates me is that I have to put so much concentration into those noises not happening that it takes away from my freedom in playing, but I do work on it. I have tried using the pick and three fingers for my lead solos and it seems to be much better and less of a problem, but I am experimenting with finding something comfortable where I do not have to think about this so much. More lessons about this would be helpful, if for nothing else it’s a constant reminder.
As ever, a great, practical, important lesson shared by Griff. I mostly play acoustic, but enjoy messing aronud with electric. I’ve been putting some time into using the 1st finger of my fret-hand to double- and triple-job by fretting the required note on a given string, but also just tipping off the string above; also, curling the shape of that finger (top 2 digits) to mute the strings underneath the one I’m attacking; it’s a slow and tedious skill-curve, but becoming more effective as I work on it – nothing new there then!; might be helpful to Dproc for his Floyd-Rose snag.
Hi Griff
Are you avail for a block of one on one lessons ?
I’m willing to fly in and give it a go ..
Just thought I would ask .
The videos are excellent !
Thanks
Brian
I have a trick that I learned when I started playing bass with a local band. If you’ve ever played bass you know that muting and note duration are very important to establishing a groove and that a palm mute on a bass is not effective, they just keep ringing. The trick is to learn to release pressure on the note with your left hand but leave you finger in contact with the string. This also has the added benefit of teaching your fingers to stay close to the fingerboard, in firing position, so to speak.
I’ve recently been experimenting with this idea. This was very helpful, thank you Griff!
Yes, that unwanted resonance sure becomes a problem quickly….especially when playing w/ any amount of gain. I’ve been spending alot of time focusing on my palm muting, which just isn’t coming along as naturally as most of the other techniques I’ve gradually acquired. Some things come more easily to some people than others & vise-versa. For example, I picked up alternate picking like it was second nature & my speed & accuracy even amazes me sometimes. Yet my palm muting is very poor & inaccurate or over-compensated.. I’ve seen the “hair tie” used by some players (of other genres), and I’ve been using something similar as a dampener on my open strings to keep them from ringing out. I use it as a crutch, BUT, I do however hyper-focus on learning the technique instead of relying on it entirely. Everyone has their own sticking points when it comes to learning certain techniques, and what comes easy to some may be difficult to others. Palm muting is my latest sticking point. But what a sense of satisfaction it is to overcome & develope !
AMEN
Griff,
Thanks for the lesson. Do you have any suggestions for muting when using a Floyd Rose? It’s tough not to change the pitch.
Griff,
You are truly blessed with you god given talents. You are an excellent teacher also. Your calm breaking down of all the intricate parts of each lesson is another one of those god given talents that are extremely helpful for teaching. & I thank you for your professionalism in each lesson.
But on a lighter note, the right palm muting technique is also used for harmonic screiches. I was wondering if you could go over that technique.
Well..Im glad I saw this ..thismorning…you’re. absolutely right about those unwanted notes that so sloppely find themselves destroying whatever it is I’m trying to put down…I often get so excited..that I just keep on playing…man..I’m all over the road..got to focus on puttn somethin out there..clean..Thanks alot
How could you apply this to an acoustic guitar? Thank you.
The mechanics of this on the acoustic guitar are the same as the electric. If you have a guitar with good sustain, the price you pay is that strings you’re not playing will begin to ring out just from the vibration coming from the other strings. I have to often mute my 5th string when playing individual notes. I’ll be playing along and start to realize that there is a dull roar gradually getting louder. Then I have to find a way to mute the unwanted string vibration without killing the strings I’m playing. I find it very challenging depending what I’m doing. I have the hardest time playing on strings 6 & 5 and skipping to strings 3, 2 & 1. I still haven’t mastered muting 5 & 6 after skipping over to 1,2 & 3. Also, after strumming 3,2 & 1 and skipping to 5 & 6 I have to stop the first 3 immediately or I end up with a very unpleasant sounding mess. I have in mind the SRV Texas Blues style of picking and strumming bass notes and little chords alternately. I just keep working at it and have gotten a little better but still not mastered it yet.
I t’s a great skill for the old and the new