I'd like to silence a Gypsy guitar for late night practice and my girlfriend's sanity. My old man said I should try stuffing it with pillow-like foam, I'd like it to be very quiet, almost like an unplugged solid-body. Any suggestions? maybe a can of sprayfoam?
Thanks for any input,
Jason
Oh yeah, free live mp3's if anybody want's them. Yipee free music.
www.myspace.com/thecooktrio
Comments
Isn't it horrible having neighbours. I'm buying a boat that's it.
Listening to the percussive part of my playing helps me to hear the rhythm of my picking a little better without the ringing of the strings to mask mistakes in timing or missed strings with the right hand or missed pressing with the fingers of the left. I can get that kind of Al Dimeola muted string effect without palming the strings and defeating the rest stroke hand position we work so hard to learn and maintain.
Running through some chromatic and arpeggio exercises or some of the examples from Michael’s Gypsy Jazz Picking book like this for even 5 to 10 minutes, I think, will make a difference in how I play otherwise. It does also have the added advantage of being quieter, if that’s what’s needed.
Anybody else do this or some variation?
It does sound quite percussive so it works well for working on right hand technique without being so loud and without having to alter your technique.
I posted in another thread that I initially thought that it does not work well however for rhythm practice, but after practicing rhythm with the FretWrap on for a while it does actually work. You are able to tell what chord you are playing without it ringing out obviously.
I am not sure since I have not tried the double sided strap of Velcro tape method.
I do have a decibel meter, so I can do a test between the muted and unmuted guitar if anyone is interested.
Like I said, I find I can practice more forceful downstrokes than I would tend to do in the quiet of my study. I can really concentrate on the percussive aspects of la pompe, and I can hear more precisely the meter of some of my triplet and chromatic exercises.