Having trouble playing clean

[Matt Wildman]

I’m currently on sweep picking 1, and I keep struggling with being able to make it sound clean like it is in syns video. I’m playing with distortion and I can’t stop other strings from ringing even when I don’t hit them. For example I can play the high E string and the B string will ring just from the distortion/feedback/vibration? Whatever you wanna call it of the other string. I know it’s harder to play with distortion but I just need tips on how to be able to get a cleaner sound, compared to the sound of other strings vibrating when I don’t want them to. I’m trying to mute the other strings as much as possible

 

[Dom Gibson]

Best thing to do when i started practising is to actually play in a clean setting/tone
And are you playing with a metronome? Start out slow and at a comfortable speed and when you start playing clean at a certain speed let’s say 70BPM up it to 75BPM and keep progressing
But when you master a the lower BPM likes 75 or so, whack on the distortion and see how it sounds!
Hope this helps! Shoot us a message if you need some more!

 

[Filip Tomiša]

Maybe you have too much gain, try to lower it and see how it sounds.

 

[idssdi]

Just try going really slow at the beginning because meting during sweeping can be a bit tricky. Another thing is how high do you have your Gain? If you are not hitting strings at all and thEyes still sound it seems like your Gain is very high. Also, like Dom said before, try to practice it clean first.

 

[Brian Oravetz]

I think that this is a great, subtle, yet important topic.
I know that I certainly struggle with the issue.
To those with more experience, what do you think about adding a noise gate to the signal chain if for no other reason than to cancel out the irritating strings that we didn’t mean to disturb? I understand that this is no substitute to perfecting technique and learning to be as precise as possible; but it seems like it could dampen the frustration that comes with being relatively inexperienced. Would it be too much of a crutch, and better saved until a higher skill level is achieved?

 

[idssdi]

If you really want to cancel out unwanted noise I would recommend one of those gruvgear damp things instead of a noise gate. I bought one when I was learning the intro of the stage to make it clean than after I whilen I simply didnt need it anymore So it kinda helps you develop your technique and dont hapert the irritation when you are practicing it.

 

[Matt Wildman]

I always try to have my gain as low as possible. I haven’t been playing to a metronome lately, so I’ll definitely try that. I’ve been trying to play slow but probably not slow enough so I’ll bring down the speed too. I have a tube amp and I use the metal distortion in the tube and then I use the cali clean setting on top of that. I’ll try playing in a clean setting first and then maybe that will help once I kick on the distortion. Thanks for all the help guys! It’s Much appreciated

 

[Jake Young]

Guitar is definitely frustrating when learning new techniques..but if you feel real frustrated put it down for a little bit and come back to it later on or focus on something different, like jam to a song or something. Just make sure to come back to it. I don’t think using a gate to mask unwanted string noise is a good idea especially when they can be muted with your hands..I’m really not even sure you could get a gate to function that way. If so, the threshold would have to be cranked to the max and even then, the strings you did want to hear would be so choked it would be frustrating lol. Just be patient.. A HUGE part of playing guitar is learning how to keep all the extra noises and notes from ringing all over the place! But you’ll get there! Maybe take a chunk of your practice time and focus on keeping the thing quite while going through different techniques you’re already good at

 

[Jake Young]

Matt, something that might help, that I’m not sure if your doing. I’ll use that particular “etude” as an example..when fretting the high e, make sure you’re letting the tip of your index finger (of your fretting hand) slightly rest against the b string! You don’t want to fret the b, but let it touch just enough to where it mutes the string. The same thing applys for the fretting hand in general. It’s good practice to always let the tip of the index slightly touch the string above it!

 

[Filip Tomiša]

Yeah, exactly what Jake said. That should definitely help you.

 

[Matt Wildman]

I never even thought about doing that Jake, thanks for the tip!

 

[Jake Young]

Yea man! Hope it helps! Not only is it good technique but it’s necessary! You have to think about it and make sure you’re doing it at first but eventually it just becomes second nature