The ONE Technique That Every Guitarist NEEDS To Master (Including Beginners)

In this episode I will show you The ONE Technique That Every Guitarist NEEDS To Master - MUTING Strings properly.

——————————————————————————————————————

My Links to Follow:

——————————————————————————————

Special Thanks to My Supporters:
Kevin Wu
David Harris
Robert Zapolis
Jeremy Kreamer
Sean Munding
Jim Zaroulis
Nat Linville
Bobby Alcott
Peter Glen
Robert Marqusee
James Hurster
John Nieradka
Grey Tarkenton
Joe Armstrong
Brian Smith
Robert Hickerty
comboy
Peter DeVault
Phil Mingin
Tal Harber
Rick Taylor
Bill Miller
Gabriel Karaffa
Frederick Humphrey
Frederick Humphrey
Brett Bottomley
Debbie Valle
Nathan Hanna
Stephen Dahl
Scott McCroskey
Dave Ling
Rick Walker
Jason Lowman
Jake Stringer
Piush Dahal
Jim Sanger
Brian Lawson
Eddie Khoriaty
Ronnie Thompson
CL Turner
Vinny Piana
Vijay Vaidyanathan
Kyle Dandurand
DOUGLAS BUTTON
Michael Krugman
Vinicius Almeida
Lars Nielsen
Kyle Duvall
Alex Zuzin
tom gilberts
Paul Noonan
Scott Thompson
Jaime Villescas
Kaeordic Industries LLC
Duane Blake
Kai Ellis
Zack Kirkorian
Joe Ansaldi
Rob Kline
Calvin Wells
David Trapani
JP Rosato
Orion Letizi
Mike Voloshen
Peter Pillitteri
Jeremy Hickerson
Travis Ahrenholtz

[thehoser]

Paul Gilbert had a great tip to help practice this. He said to practice with your amp gain turned way up and try to play clean. The excessive noise will instinctively drive you to try to control the strings you don’t want to hear. Try this for a few days then try to go back to normal gain or clean and it will be so much easier to control. This type of practice finally got me to understand and incorporate string muting into my playing and that one thing alone made me sound a hundred times better.

[alexmanujlov]

Playing "Can't Stop" by RHCP really helped me to improve in muting.

[autodidacticprofessor]

This is such a big thing. One of the things I struggle with the most, is other strings ringing out when they aren't supposed to be. It's annoying and I totally agree that it's an underrated skill that needs to be worked on.

[BSIII]

Some of SRV's tone comes from his insane muting ability when soloing. He banged on all the strings for one note, and it thickened up that note like rue in gravy.

[NorthsideJonnyBeato]

I’m so glad I showed you how to do this long ago!

[Chuck-U-Farlie]

this is probably the MOST important lesson for anyone who gets a few years in to their playing/ writing.
It's not just about the notes you play, but also the notes you don't play.
Look at a player like Kurt Cobain. there is no way he could play with the amount of gain he used unless he had a mastery of which notes of the chords he wanted to play and which he didn't.
I would add that the pick attack itself can help with this, as eventually you learn that you don't need to hit all six strings on every strum, but may only want to hit the three low strings on the down strum, and the three high strings on the up strum.

It really does separate a real musician playing a song on an acoustic from that friend of yours playing around the campfire.
This realization completely changed my playing.

[HeathenwoodOfficial]

Muting is especially important for distortion. Its common knowledge but as a beginner, I never heard how bad it sounded when I let unwanted strings ring.

[elrincondelaguitarra]

I agree. Learning this is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT. It took me a while to get the basics of this. Even now, whenever my playing's sloppy, it's because I'm not paying attention to mute properly.
And yeah, It IS difficult but keep at it. You will be rewarded, guaranteed!

[Matt-d]

Being self-taught, and having played exclusively acoustic for 22 years, I never knew this was a thing. Then I started playing electric, and the unplayed strings rang out horribly. So learning how to mute quickly became imperative, and I've been working on it for the past two years. This video was the most useful I've seen about teaching specific techniques for muting under different circumstances.

[Smudger]

Excellent Rick! Probably your most important lesson in a long time. I've been trying to get this stuff over to my students for years. I've tried to get over to them that this is often the main reason why their playing doesn't sound as good as they want it to - particularly when they record themselves. I've also warned them that there is relatively little coverage of this important subject on the Internet. At least I can point them at something now. By the way, I often like to draw a comparison between the guitar and the piano, which is of course damped by default, and where you have to press the sustaining pedal to allow the strings to ring.

[Vyrall-nkxd]

When people learn the very basics of guitar, open/ cowboy chords, it is highly stressed not to touch a single other string in any way, shape, or form. “In absolutely no way can you touch any of these other strings if you want to play an open C chord. Only touch the fretted notes. You can’t mute any other strings if you want to play cleanly.” We have to internalize that and make it an ingrained and automatic habit. Then when you get more advanced, you have to throw that out the window because you realize that half the time, pros play only parts of open chords and chord fragments and so many lead lines and chordal lead guitar riffs require your fingers to touch the other strings. Now it’s “you have to touch every other string if you want to play cleanly.” I think this is why it’s hard to mute: it goes against the foundations of technique we learn as basic beginners.

[grizelda]

Yes! Your video about how important this is for bass players is always in my head.

[luckysmile]

Most important guitar video of the year and the best invested 10minutes if everyone's practicing it. THIS is influencing. So many thousand guitar videos on gear on YouTube, but this awareness about muting is essential to be placed into the minds. Thank you Rick!

[FrankNawrot]

This is a nice video. To the young guitarists watching this: it is of equal importance to be able to pick with accuracy. You should be able to pick a power chord, or any chord, in the manner Rick lays out here—you should also be able to pick chords without your pick touching the other strings. If your goal is to only play aggressive rock riffs, you can probably ignore my comment.

[MinuteAxe]

Great lesson Rick. I've been doing a lot of Doc Watson/Chet Atkins alternating bass with a thumb pick and proper muting is extremely important to the sound. It definitely takes a very specific amount of palm muting to articulate the note without it fully resonating. And for sure, muting is essential for those Wes style octaves. The intro to the Road Song is a great workout for those looking to get into octave soloing. I really appreciate it. Take care! -Mark

[thomasmorelli]

I agree...have played for 46 years, 40 years in bands. Muting is the process of taking away what's not wanted/needed. Like sculpting - taking away what doesn't belong, and you have a statue! In my early teens I didn't take lessons but played with some older really good guitarists and noticed this technique and how clean they played. LOVE your posts, and thanks for this one.

[thewhim]

Rick: goes from a G power to a C power chord
Me: IT'S MORE THAN A

[mikekohary]

Couldn't agree more. I actually reached an advanced level of playing without paying much attention to string muting, and after a while I noticed that I just didn't sound as "clean" as my favorite players. My right hand was working things pretty well, but I guess nobody ever told me how important the left hand was to making things sound polished, and so I just never paid attention to that. When I finally figured it out, I worked on it, and in about 6 months I went from kind of messy to crystal clear, and the difference was amazing. I emphasize left-hand muting with all my students and it helps them sound nice and polished too. I would agree that this is one of the most important things to learn, if not THE most important thing.

[nostro]

"Getting the angle right with your finger, " now there's some solid advice! 😊

[ReleasedFromQuiet]

Great video. Thank you for all your educational content. Dave Matthews is one great example of the left hand muting.