Muting

Got a question from a student this week about muting. This applies to bass students as well as uke and mandolin students.  

Muting isn't too difficult an idea to pick up but can be tricky to get the hang of.    There are a few techniques we'll focus on.   

I will do a video treatment for this soon but you can find a lot of info online already.  As it is a very important technique.   

Each hand can mute and the mix of techniques is frequently situational.   Experiment, as that process often reveals important things about our physical interaction with the guitar.    

Left hand is to lay gently on the guitar without fretting any notes while strumming.  This gets that "chuck" sound and is used for percussive effects as well.  I demonstrate and encourage this for beginners and it can allow for strumming practice without having to worry about playing the chords correctly.    This makes it useful for beginners in jamming or other playing situations as well.   You don't have to have the chord progression  down to be able to sit in and strum along which helps beginners (or any other player who doesn't yet know the song) to get into the game.  

On the right hand the heel (pinkie side) is used to mute most often.  It should be as near the as strings as strumming and picking will allow when it is not being implemented.  It is often used during rests and to achieve staccato (short and choppy) strumming and single note passages, and when up and running is almost impossible to detect from the front side.   Most people (including beginning players) have no idea its being done as the motion is so small. 

Left hand mute can be used to silence the strings without the chuck of course, and right hand Palm Mute ("PM" in tabs) can be used to create a "thunky" sound when the string or strings are not completely silenced.  Blues and rock players (especially heavy metal players) use this a lot.   

There are different ways to add these techniques to your technique toolbox but you can start just by practicing silence.   

Right hand: Strum and then apply palm to completely silence strings.   Get used to the feel of those strings.   Strum-mute-strum-mute, at a slow comfortable pace.   Change chords.   You are also getting used to strumming and picking the strings while keeping your mute pad (aka palm) near them so you can eventually do this with less extra motion.  This should significantly influence where you keep your right hand.

As I mentioned before the Left hand can be used for the chuck-and-strum mute technique but it's mute can also be practiced in the same way as the right hand's mute.   

The main thing here with attaining easy playability with these concepts is the breakdown.  Get physically familiar with each idea separately as if they are dance steps.  You'll notice the note lengths and when to mute as you continue to listen and practice these mutes simply and slowly.  

Timing hint: listen to the drums! 

Have fun!  Let me know how these steps go for you.  It may seem (or even be) very simple, but achieving effortlessly accurate timing is tricky and putting all the different techniques together can be trickier, especially if you are not are not familiar enough with the components.