Dampening Chords -- Overtones

Terry Payne

I'm playing an acoustic -- no pickup or anything. You know when you strike a chord then lift your hand a bit so the chord is dampened? Well, I'm finding that a considerable amount of my time in learning how to form chords is dedicated to making sure I'm not dampening the 5th or 6th string anywhere near a node, because otherwise it keeps ringing even while dampened. I mean, there should be dead silence, right. It's like the nodes are everywhere; even the small ones are a problem. It's so hard to get away from them. I have to treat the same chord shape a little differently from fret to fret. I've experimented with dampening the 6th string with both my thumb AND the side of the finger making a note on the 5th string. And I've experimented with forming my chords so that a free finger, when there is one, lies lightly on the 5th and/or 6th string, so that it contributes to the dampening being done by the normal chord fingers. And I've experimented with jamming a handkerchief under the strings at the nut. That helps a bit, but I'm afraid it would be frowned upon by my colleagues. Are any of those techniques common? Or do you think I'm worrying about it too much? Maybe a little overtone ringing is considered acceptable; it's not really heard while playing with a group, and I should just worry about the louder ones but not all the little ones? Or do you think it sounds like it might be my guitar? It's a $2000 Dell' Arte, so that would would suck.

Toohey

hi there-
it helps to consentrate on playing as far back off the fret as u can...know what I mean?...dampening over the fret seems to contribute considerably to excessive ringing...the left hand can really take care of a lot of that...a good guitar,unfortunately, helps a lot as well...
hope that helps and keep at it,
-t