Muting unwanted strings

Paulius Volkovas

I have a habbit of mutting the strings that i don't play with my right hand. Sort of palm muting, the lower part of my thumb is sometimes touching the strings. This prevents open strings from ringing and also prevents the notes that sometimes occour when i release left hand fingers. I see GJ players doesn't touch the strings that way.

Is it bad to have my lower part of thumb (right hand) touching the strings? Should i avoid this?

I find i am getting some open strings ringing if i pick harder, how do you deal with that? I am not a beginner player, i played jazz more than 10 years, but this new hand position makes me feel like a newbie.

lezard

I think it's just a characteristic of these guitars, particularly the cheaper ones. My guitar could be in a case across the room and you can still hear it resonate due to a cough or a sneeze.

I've heard that putting a strip of leather in the tail piece or upgrading the bridge can reduce this somewhat.

Paulius Volkovas

So you're saying that open strings shouldnt sound? It seems to me that it is natural that they vibrate when you hit other strings. Is it only me having this problem? I can surely mute them with my right hand, but i honestly whant to learn the right way of this style and i don't see others doing this.

I'm playing a Manouche Moreno guitar and I just fitted a Biggertone bridge to it, so changing the bridge again would be painful. Would changing the bridge help anyway?

Passacaglia

Edit: Sorry, missed that you were talking about picking and not rhythm.

Jazzaferri

If one is using gypsy picking the only part of your thumb that is anywhere near the strings is the tip holding the pick

If you want to learn this style I suggest getting one of the many instructional books or DVDs. Checkout the list on djangbooks /home go to the store and see what michael carries

MichaelHorowitz

pauliusmm wrote:

I'm playing a Manouche Moreno guitar and I just fitted a Biggertone bridge to it, so changing the bridge again would be painful. Would changing the bridge help anyway?

That's a big part of the problem, Asian guitars in general and especially that model are characteristically "wet" with a lot of overtone ringing. Higher quality, handmade guitars are much "direr" and don't suffer from this problem as much. Something like a Dupont, even the relatively inexpensive Nomade, has a much clearer, direct tone.

Paulius Volkovas

Michael Horowitz wrote:

pauliusmm wrote:

I'm playing a Manouche Moreno guitar and I just fitted a Biggertone bridge to it, so changing the bridge again would be painful. Would changing the bridge help anyway?

That's a big part of the problem, Asian guitars in general and especially that model are characteristically "wet" with a lot of overtone ringing. Higher quality, handmade guitars are much "direr" and don't suffer from this problem as much. Something like a Dupont, even the relatively inexpensive Nomade, has a much clearer, direct tone.

I am willing to adapt my picking to a propper gipsy picking, but as i see its not a my technique problem, but my guitar's problem. So Is there a way to fix/ minimize this ringing ?

lezard

Oh, were you talking about rhythm playing? If so I'd take a look at your left hand fingerings because the unused strings can be muted with the fretting hand for pretty much all voicings I've seen.

If it's lead playing you're refering to then, yes, I also have that open string ringing but it's covered up by backing tracks and or the rhythm section so it hasn't been a problem.

klaatu

You can also use your left hand to mute while playing solo. It would be intermittent, but you can occasionally damp the strings with your little finger when you get a momentary gap in your playing. It doesn't totally solve the problem, but it can help.

Paulius Volkovas

It is on lead playing, i can mute with the left hand pretty well. I tried recording myself and it did prove that this is not that big problem as i thought. This ringing is not so annoying and noticeable as it seems from the players point of view. I'm getting used to it.
Thanks for help
Paulius