palm mute

[abi]

help!

i am learning to play guitar and have been having trouble with palm muting. can somebody please explain it to me and give me some advice??!!

[abi]

please help me...im desperate! i do not have a clue what it is??

[Leckie Gilman]

well it's when you mute the strings with your right hand and play the strings. but i use my pinky finger because it's more comfy and my arm doesn't reach that far but meh.

like eh...........................listen to offspring or NOFX. there's alot of palm muting on that.

i'm pretty fuckin fast at that sorta shit and eric melvin wishes he could play like me.

i'm done now.

[Guest Salty]

Yeh so how do you mute the strings? I cant do it, they just sound dead when i try. Not good.

[abi]

no im sorry, still dont really understand. could you possibly put it into simpler terms, im not all that great at my music techniques

[abi]

thanks anyhoo leckie gilman

[Jimmygoodein]

hmm. its kinda hard to describe. put the guitar on your knee for a start. now rest the side of your right hand (or left if your left handed or right if your left handed but play with your right or if your r...) as in the bottom side of your hand on the strings just infront of the bridge. you dont need to press down too hard just lightly and play the strings while the side of your hand rests on the strings. hmm. dunno if that helped

[Guest Salty]

oooo i do what jimmygoodein says yet it doesnt sound right. where am i going wrong?

[abi]

that kinda helped but im still absolutly hopeless...your right hand here left hand there....i have a headache now!

but thanks all the same

[Monk Rocker]

I know you're having trouble with it but it's a pretty easy technique to master with a bit of practise and sounds good when you get it.

Make sure you are holding your pick right. Curve your index finger round like a c-shape and grip the pick firmly between your index finger and thumb. The surface of the pick should be at 90 degrees to your palm.

Start out just trying to mute one string at a time. Rest the fleshy bit of the palm of your hand(the bit under your pinky) on the low E-string and just try picking that string in a rhythmic way. Make sure you have plenty of gain on your amp otherwise you wont notice how effective it is.

Try varying how hard you are pressing your hand against the strings.....

Hope that helps a bitty....

[Jimmygoodein]

these pics are stolen from google, i would have taken my own pics but too much effort. any way

do this:

then do this and play:

except for thats a bass and youll be using a plectrum i suppose

[Monk Rocker]

They are pretty much what I was trying to explain!! It's exactly the same!! Nice one!!

[bryn]

chugga chugga chugga, thats the sound u want

[Leckie Gilman]

aye someone said teir strings sounded dead?

well your finger/hand/body part wasn't close enough to the string saddles. (the bit the string goes over at the bridge).

but if it's too close to the saddles then you won't notice anything too much.

[abi]

that has actually really helped. especially the pictures. doesnt seem too hard once its explained buti will have to give a go. if anybody has anymore advice i would be glad to here it.

thanks!!!

[Guest Salty]

yeh just like abi thats a bit more helpful than listening to NOFX and trying understand why they are so good at palm muting.

[abi]

thanks y'all

[Hog]

and if you want to play fast stuff .i.e Metallica, stroke up and down with your right hand, but only on maybe the first few strings. Using just downward strokes, slows things down.

[Leckie Gilman]

you also get different effects off it from using either only downstrokes or up and down strokes together.

if you listen to "leave it alone" by NOFX you can hear El Hefe switching between the two (it sounds a bit.......not very good) but it gives you the difference right beside each other.

[Hog]

As I always say, if your at a Spike or Element 106 gig, ask me and I can show you how to do a bit of palm muting. Im the bald fucker sitting in the corner usually!