String Muting

Hi Mike: I have to preface this by saying, I hope my questions doesn't get too confusing... (i'll try my best to explain) and thank you for helping me!

...When playing certain chords (ones with unplayed strings) and single notes on guitar (soloing) , how important is it to mute the "other strings", ones not being played ? i.e. when the guitar is played loud through amp, via overdrive or high gain-volume.

An old guitar teacher showed me that in High Gain-volume, your guitar strings catch even slightest of subtle noises. i.e. you can just 'blow' on your strings and they will give noise/ vibration. (which I found is true)

So, I want to cut down on ambient "un-needed" noisea on strings thru higher gain. Should I be muting unplayed string when they are not being played..is this even necessary or overly important? What do professional musicians do to avoid the extra noises from strings played in distortion or high gain? Thank you! -Rick M.

Hi Rick, thanks for this great question!

String muting is indeed very important, particularly while using high gain tones.

The first step is to slow down while practicing and be very mindful of how your picking hand is positioned.

The most common way to mute the lower strings while playing on the higher ones is to lightly rest the side of your picking hand on top of the strings right next to the bridge. Now you can adjust how low or high your picking hand is positioned in order to change strings and still mute below the strings you are fretting and picking. Zoning in on how your picking hand moves while you play will allow you to analyze it and make any necessary adjustments to keep the unused strings muted.

As for the higher strings, it is more likely you will be muting them with your fretting hand. Say for example you are playing single notes on the G string, your fretting fingers will naturally curl around the higher strings. Again, zone in and analyze how your hand naturally sits and, if necessary, adjust the curl of your fingers to lightly touch the higher unused strings.

The more and more you practice these little adjustments and hand positioning, over time you'll find it starts to become second nature, and you won't have to think about it very much anymore.

Another valuable tool to see if it's working is to record yourself playing something you've been working on -- and listen for any extraneous noises from the unused strings. If you can hear something that's not supposed to be there, then go back, focus into your hand positioning, analyze and adjust. If it sounds very clean -- what you are doing is working!

Hope this makes sense and gives you something to go on -- please check in and let me know how it's going!

Mike

....And worded the explanation perfectly, the only rub is: This technique is WAY harder in practice. I thought practice songs was slightly hard and now this just took it up a few levels. This is frustrating but I will practice and let you know how it goes. GT is so worth it: your expertise, enthusiasm, knowledge and skills are invaluable. Many thanks Mike!

Hope you see this Mike... so from your explanation how does this all apply when you are doing a 6 string multi-fret solo? Are you saying when you are ALSO lay down riffs, you are muting the other strings as well? Boy, this guitar stuff is a science!

Thx, Rick

Hi Rick -- yes this all applies when playing solos using all strings and riffs as well. In my tutorials I always try to give specific tips on muting unused strings when playing riffs or chord progressions so look out for those.

It can be quite daunting at first given that there are so many other things to pay attention to when you're practicing!! But just hang in there ... the muting comes naturally the more you play.

Mike