The Mute Strings With Your Hands Trick

Zaphod B

Zaphod B

Raccoons-Be-Gone, Inc.
Hey

Any of you guys use the "mute strings with your hands" trick? It's where you actually use your hands to mute strings that you don't want to be ringing, and that mutes all unwanted noise when playing a solo and you don't have to wrap a cloth around the top of the neck. I find it necessary all the time except when I don't.

Just a question, will this throw it out of tune?


;)
 
When I play classical, I am frequently muting strings with my right hand. Just touch the finger pad to the string to stop it.

For electric, I do it with both hands. If I'm playing a power chord with the bass note on the A string, I use my middle finger to mute the low E.
 
What about the palm of the picking hand?? Aren't you suppose to use that?? With talc powder to prevent chafing... right?? :laughings:
 
Chili said:
What about the palm of the picking hand?? Aren't you suppose to use that?? With talc powder to prevent chafing... right?? :laughings:
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I was talking about both hands. Hmph. :mad:

Talc? Well, duh, everyone knows it has majikal powers. :laughings:
 
A little off topic and maybe more serious than this thread deserves, but have any of you experimented with any of Satriani's hand-over-hand muting or fretting techniques? Say, "The Power Cosmic" arpeggios or the atonal blowout in "Cool #9", or fretted stuff like the intro to Raspberry Jam Delta-V? He plays it conventionally these days, but when he recorded it he was holding down a B octave on the 4th fret G, 7th fret A so the top three strings were B, unison B, and B octave up, and then tapping out a mixolydian riff pulling off to the B strings with his fretting hand.

Seeing a tab of that in a guitar magazine when Crystal Planet came out got me curious enough to go out and buy that album, which promptly turned my guitar world on its head. :laughings:
 
Chili said:
What about the palm of the picking hand?? Aren't you suppose to use that?? With talc powder to prevent chafing... right?? :laughings:
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Are you still talking about muting strings or have you removed your shorts again while nobody was looking? :eek:
 
"The Mute Strings With Your Hands Trick".....

is the single most important trick of all.
 
Pros know that using a dirty diaper (preferably fresh, for a warmer sound) is the way to get the sound you want - including the "brown sound" (other similar colors are frequently an option as well). Robert Johnson used cloth diapers, because that's all there was back then. Nowadays, we've got a variety of patented polymers to choose from as well.

In a pinch (maybe, um, three guitar players, but only one dirty diaper?), I guess you could rub your hands in the diaper and mute with your hands, but that's for the low end forum.
 
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antichef said:
Pros know that using a dirty diaper (preferably fresh, for a warmer sound) is the way to get the sound you want - including the "brown sound" (other similar colors are frequently and option as well). Robert Johnson used cloth diapers, because that's all there was back then. Nowadays, we've got a variety of patented polymers to choose from as well.

In a pinch (maybe, um, three guitar players, but only one dirty diaper?), I guess you could rub your hands in the diaper and mute with your hands, but that's for the low end forum.
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Nonsense and rubbish. :rolleyes:

What are you going to do in live situations? Have some groupie offstage with a screaming brat just waiting to fill up a diaper for you? What if the kid has had too much apple juice - what are you gonna do then? Use a diahhrea-soaked diaper? Dear lord, think of the consequences. Your tone would be all, like, thin and runny. :(
 
Zaphod B said:
too much apple juice -
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too much apple juice provides a tart, biting tone - better for some forms of music. There's no one way to approach this, but you may also have to turn down the tone on your guitar or the treble on your amp if there's much citrus involved.
 
antichef said:
too much apple juice provides a tart, biting tone - better for some forms of music. There's no one way to approach this, but you may also have to turn down the tone on your guitar or the treble on your amp if there's much citrus involved.
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I think the whole diaper thing is a non-starter. If you're not brave enough to use your bare hands, nothing sounds better than greasy, oily shop rags. They're great for conditioning your fretboard, too.
 
DrewPeterson7 said:
but when he recorded it he was holding down a B octave on the 4th fret G, 7th fret A so the top three strings were B, unison B, and B octave up, and then tapping out a mixolydian riff pulling off to the B strings with his fretting hand.
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I seriously have no idea what you just said. :o :laughings:

ocnor said:
Are you still talking about muting strings or have you removed your shorts again while nobody was looking? :eek:
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I'm always up for the philisophical pun... even the cheesy ones. :p
 
Chili said:
I seriously have no idea what you just said. :o :laughings:



I'm always up for the philisophical pun... even the cheesy ones. :p
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:laughings:

Ok. Take your fretting hand, reach up, and grab the neck around the 4th fret with your thumb on the back of the neck. Take your pointer finger, and fret the 4th fret on the G string. Take your pinkie, and fret the 7th fret on the E string. You now have a B note on all three of your top strings.

Then, take your fretting hand, and hit on/pull off this lick:

Code: 
|-----------12p11p7-------------------|
|-10p0-12p0---------10p0-12p0-10h12p0-|
|-------------------------------------|
|-------------------------------------|
|-------------------------------------|
|-------------------------------------|

|-----------12p11p7------------------|
|-10p0-12p0------------------10h12p0-|
|-------------------9p4-11p4---------|
|------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------|

...at a pretty brisk tempo. It sounds fuckin' awesome, even my non-guitarist friends think it's cool as hell. :D
 
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