Tips for preventing background noise during sweeping and/or tapping?

[Robert Freeborn]

Hey all!
My new year’s resolution is to learn “The Stage” and play it cleanly, which is going alright so far. However, I’ve got a rather annoying issue that I’m not quite sure how to fix. I’m having difficulty in a couple spots, mainly the tapping in the beginning when switching from the G string to the high e string, and for a sweeping part near the end (the 16th note sextuplets that I don’t know how Syn plays because they’re so ungodly fast). My problem is that when I’m doing these parts, my G string rings when I take my fingers off it, so basically I’m doing pull-offs when I really want to just take my finger off. At slow speeds, I have no issues, but when I up the tempo I seem to lose the finesse to gently release the string. Besides more practice, are there any tips for dealing with this that you may have?
Thanks!
-Rob

 

[idssdi]

I always try to mute the strings I’m not playing with my Palm or my fretting hand thumb. Maybe that helps!
The intro seriously is a bitch. It is reayour f#@##ing hard to play (at least for me). But keep at it and you’Lloyd get it!

 

[Robert Freeborn]

When I first discovered how he was playing the stuff on the high e string I about died. Are you able to mute strings while sweeping without making a nasty scrape sound?

 

[idssdi]

Sweeping usually uses fret hand muting! Are you using sweeping in the intro? I usually tap the whole intro
I usually Tao the part onumber the g string with my index finger and the part on the High E stringame finger with my middle finger btw

 

[Robert Freeborn]

Nope, I tap the intro too (although sweeping it would probably be easier lol!). But I have issues with the sweeping after the solos right before the last chorus. I’ll have to work on my first-hand muting!

 

[Calvin Phillips]

those sweeps are fucked up.. I saw syn play them right in my face last time I saw them and I was amazed at how many different sweeps he does there at the speeds. On the recording you cant tell at first if its really all sweeps. But yeah, it all pretty much is. It’s insane. I can show you the video if you want to see how syn does it.

 

[Robert Freeborn]

That’d be awesome, Calvin!

 

[Jak Angelescu]

Unfortunately I don’t know how to play the intro to the stage so I can’t help you with that. But if you watch Syn play live really closely, when he sweeps he keeps his right hand really freaking close to the strings. I’m working on the Hail to the King solo and every time I do so I learn something new to make it sound better. There’s a lot of economy picking and sweeping in that solo, and I was kind of having the same problems you are. I realized to try to get the sweeps faster I was letting my right hand off of the strings too much causing an ugly sound. I think the only piece of advice I could give you is try to find a video of him playing that intro live close up. You might be able to go onto Instagram and use the hashtag of Synyster Gates and the stage. More often than not I’m very lucky to see a wonderful fan right up close in the pit recording his hands perfectly and that has helped me a lot. Try experimenting with keeping your right hand really close to the strings and moving it in certain ways to allow certain notes to ring out. Hopefully that helps good luck with that! That’s a big undertaking and I’m proud of you for going for it! Posted up when you’ve gotten it or even let us see your progress with it!

 

[Robert Freeborn]

Thanks for that Jak! I think seeing him do it would help a lot. I wouldn’t have even thought to look on instagram, great idea!
The Hail to the King solo is so fun to play! I learned it a while back, it’s definitely a good one for economy picking and 3-string sweeps.

 

[Jak Angelescu]

I’m glad I could help in some way you should post up your video of you doing Hail to the King solo! I’ve been working on it for years and just now got it pretty decently

 

[Robert Freeborn]

Sounds like a good project for tomorrow, I’ll let you know when it’s up!

 

[Robert Freeborn]

Just got it up, Jak!

 

[Ben Grosskreuz]

Hey man,
I had this same problem and I actually had my action too low which caused part of it. Also if you buy a sound gate pedal you can adjust how much noise is needed for the sound to be produced. So small ringing of a string or amp feedback can be muted out!
Good luck

 

[Daniel Bernard]

I second what Ben said, I had my action as low as it could be and was struggling with it. I raised it a little bit and it helped. The other part is that when practicing licks, instead of focusing on my picking or my left hand, I’d focus on my palm muting. You have to listen very closely to all the nuances of your playing, all the unwanted noises, pick attack, etc.

 

[Robert Freeborn]

I would have never thought about my action! That’s interesting, thanks!
I also don’t tend to focus on my muting while practicing, thanks for the tip!