String muting

[Szymon Dec]

Hi. Do you have any advices how to mute low strings? When I’m playing I’m using this fleshy part below thumb to mute strings but a lot of people say that anchoring is bad thing because it adds tension etc. Should I change to play with hand floating above strings?

 

[Ireneusz Skorupa]

I’m pretty sure “anchoring” is putting your pinky on the body somewhere below the strings and that definitely is troublesome when you want to play hybrid picking, the thing you’re talking about is a typicall muting technique which i don’t consider a bad habit, but I might be wrong. Generally speaking, if you’re comfortable with your technique and it doesn’t hurt you or stand on your way to playing the way you want to be heard and to hear yourself, it’s probably ok.
What’s interesting, though, is which part of your right hand you use for muting. I mute high strings with the outer flesh of my palm, the below your pinky, and for the low strings I use my free left hand fingers. I would never have come up with the idea of muting my low strings with any part of my right hand, and especially with the one just below the thumb.

 

[Filip Tomiša]

@Ireneusz So basically you combined palm muting and fret hand muting

 

[Ireneusz Skorupa]

Yeah, now as I’m thinking of it I could have put it in less words.

 

[Szymon Dec]

Hmmm.. I think I wasn’t clear. Just when I’m playing E B G I’m using this big fleshy part of palm below thumb And when I’m playing D A E I’m seting one of left hand fingers flat to mute E B G. I think it’s similiar to your way. Thank you for makeing it clear.

 

[Tory Capman]

I think it may also partially depend on your hand/finger size. I see Syn mute top strings with his thumb quite often, but I’m pretty sure he has an abnormally long thumb lol. I would pay attention to what your favorite players do, and try out different approaches until you find what works best for you.

 

[Filip Tomiša]

I don’t think that he has a long thumb but the fact that his guitar has a ultra thin c neck shape. I recently switched from a cheap guitar with a huge neck to a guitar with a thin c neck shape and it’s so much easier to play with a thinner neck. It’s also smaller so it’s easier to move around the neck.

 

[John Setzler]

I don’t know if it’s my amp, action, technique, etc., but the issue I’m having is when I’m playing licks and riffs I can hear the strings that I’m not playing (even muted, I can still at least hear a buzz or harmonic). Something along the lines of unwanted string noise. Thoughts?

 

[Filip Tomiša]

Maybe you have too much gain or maybe your cable is not good. If you have more than one cable try switching them and the buzzing might stop.