Members Silent Heart Posted June 21, 2008 Members Posted June 21, 2008 I've played for a while, but I've never quite figured this out. When making a simple chord transition like -------------------------------------4-------0-----4-------0-----2-------0---------- how do you prevent the low E from ringing? Is it just a matter of placing the left thumb and right palm in the right place at the right time? I'm having such a hard time muting the low E without a noticeable sonic gap in between the chords.
Members freetime Posted June 21, 2008 Members Posted June 21, 2008 there's a few different ways you could mute it. right palm mute left thumb top of left index finger when you make the 2nd chord, this is probably what i would do
Members Silent Heart Posted June 21, 2008 Author Members Posted June 21, 2008 OK, thanks. I guess that's pretty much what I do already, it's just a matter of doing it a million times until it's silk smooth. BTW, Garth rules! To the Mirthmobile!
Members Kuroyume Posted June 21, 2008 Members Posted June 21, 2008 I'm going to augment Garth, er freetime, and agree with his assessment. You can use whatever is most easily 'accessible' to stop ringing as you move around muted chords - sometimes the left hand fingers work, sometimes the flesh of the palm on the pinky side of the pick hand works to stop ringing. When you find that nothing seems to work, it is usually because the position of your left or right hand is over a 'harmonic zone' (do-de-do-do do-de-do-do) (sorry). Just like when you play natural harmonics by lightly touching the string over the fifth fret and picking, for instance, muting on either hand can happen to induce harmonic ringing. At this point, you have to find a place - usually not too far removed - that deadens the harmonic ring. This is god awful on the low-E string as there seems to be large range of harmonics that keep ringing and ringing unless actively snuffed. The key here is practice and observation. Find out where you get it most and see how you can adjust your hands to remove it. Then keep doing it!
Members fmw Posted June 21, 2008 Members Posted June 21, 2008 I can tell you how I do it. I almost never play open strings. I don't play them in chords and I don't play them individually (except for low E, I suppose.) Since I play jazz, chord muting is really common and necessary. The solution is to have every string that you want to play fretted and every string you don't want to play muted when you strike the chord. That way everything stops vibrating when you lift your fingers from the fingerboard. If I'm forced to use an open string then I simply touch it with a finger to stop the vibration.
Members geeoff Posted June 22, 2008 Members Posted June 22, 2008 I would say there are two "efficient" ways to mute the E string whilst playing an A string root chord. If you're only playing a power chord you can easily lay the tip of your middle finger over the low E string. If you're playing a full barre, or a half barre, using all 4 fingers, you can fret the A string so that the TIP of your index finger touches the E to keep it from ringing. Its really about experimenting to find out what works for you.
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