String noise and muting technique

[SpiderVenom]

E----------12-13-15-13-12-------
B-12-13-15----------------15-13-

So there's a moronically simple little shred pattern. The problem is, under gain, the G string rings out.

I've played through very carefully, and I'm not touching the string whatsoever, and my picking hand isn't nudging it at all, but it makes noise clearly enough, just from sympathetic vibration when I hit the other strings (or whatever the correct term is).

This is really driving me nuts. It's something that's always annoyed me about high gain - whack one string and all the others start getting loud.

Now, when I'm playing the first three notes, I can mute the G string with my index fingertip, and that's fine. When I move to the E string, though, I can't do that anymore. Usually, I mute the lower strings with my palm, but in this case the string is a bit close, and it's all rather clumsy.

So how do you guys deal with stuff like this?

[Kindred_Spirits]

Honestly, practice.

[SpiderVenom]

Practice what? Listening to the unwanted string noise?

95% of the guitarists I know have terrible technique, because they "just practice", instead of figuring out what's best to be practicing, and how do something right before training their muscles. Some of them are very good, but they wasted a lot of time getting there.

Figured it out in the end anyway... managed to cover the string with my right hand.

It's kinda odd... I've done a billion other licks across the B and E strings both slow and at breakneck speed, and never had this problem. Something about that one just went funny.

[metalspider]

use your picking hand palm to mute the G D A E strings

[joeydude]

Playing this thign i just noticed my palm naturally falls on the strign below the one im playing on, muting it. this technique is essential for clean accurate sounding high gain leads, especially sweeping/taping type shred stuff.

but yeah

practice

[daemon barbeque]

Yeah spidey,i just solve this problem last week too!Moving my hand down when i pick is the only solution.It's the same thing when you tap!BTW ,do you have a neck-thru guitar?YOu won't have that problem with a LP

[YJM_Rocks]

Wait, why does the G ring out? You're only playing B and E. ???

[joeydude]

Wait, why does the G ring out? You're only playing B and E. ???

in his original post he called it "sympathetic vibration.

if you pluck a string without muting any of the other strings, it wil cause some of the other strings to ring because of matching harmonics.

try this: without muting the other strings, pluck the high e string fairly hard then mute only it right away. there shoudl still be some sound resonatong form your guitar. this is coming from the other e string and the a string. mute them and the sound will stop. this is noticible even on a clean setting or using an acoustic.

[YJM_Rocks]

Oh I missed that, thank you for pointing that out. Try muting the G with your index finger tip?

[BigAlTheBird]

Yeah I've always had that problem with my guitars. I just learned to automatically mute any string I'm not playing. PITA, but it works.

[SoCalSteve]

use your picking hand palm to mute the G D A E strings

Alot of guitar teaching books don't address this problem. I found a great series of books by Troy Stetina and in his Metal Lead Guitar Primer he addresses this problem of keeping strings quiet right at the start.

He teaches, as you know already, to use your fingertip on the adjacent string, the side of your first finger when playing the low strings, wrapping your thumb around can mute the 6th string when playing the 5th, and this paragraph:

"When you play notes on the first, second or third strings, some of the lower strings can't easily be muted with the left hand. Instead, try using your right hand palm to hold them quiet, if necessary."

Check out Troy's stuff at www.stetina.com

[metalspider]

Yeah spidey,i just solve this problem last week too!Moving my hand down when i pick is the only solution.It's the same thing when you tap!BTW ,do you have a neck-thru guitar?You won't have that problem with a LP

i dont understand how the neck to body link would matter you'll always have sympathetic vibration.

i see there's another spider here,lol.
i have guitars with all 3 types of construction makes no diffrence to me.
i have a jackson soloist (neck thru),esp m1 tiger and custom frankstrat (bolt on) and a hamers speial fm (set neck,gibson scale).

[metalspider]

Alot of guitar teaching books don't address this problem. I found a great series of books by Troy Stetina and in his Metal Lead Guitar Primer he addresses this problem of keeping strings quiet right at the start.

He teaches, as you know already, to use your fingertip on the adjacent string, the side of your first finger when playing the low strings, wrapping your thumb around can mute the 6th string when playing the 5th, and this paragraph:

"When you play notes on the first, second or third strings, some of the lower strings can't easily be muted with the left hand. Instead, try using your right hand palm to hold them quiet, if necessary."

Check out Troy's stuff at www.stetina.com

thats how i learned it from my teacher back when i was taking lessons,mute lower strings with plam and higher ones with the fretting hand leaving only the string you're playing unmuted.

[suislidE03]

EDITED...I do the same as Joeydude, my picking hand automatically sits on the strings adjacent to the ones im playing on. If its chording (say octave chords), then i use my fretting hand fingers to rest on those strings or just touch them.

[metalspider]

im not the poster who asked about this,and yes i have been playing for a while so my muting is pretty good the way i do it.
and its 4 guitars
sl2h
m1 tiger
frankstrat (jackson kramer parts)
hamer special fm

[suislidE03]

oh... WHOOPS.. hehe

[SpiderVenom]

Alot of guitar teaching books don't address this problem. I found a great series of books by Troy Stetina and in his Metal Lead Guitar Primer he addresses this problem of keeping strings quiet right at the start.

He teaches, as you know already, to use your fingertip on the adjacent string, the side of your first finger when playing the low strings, wrapping your thumb around can mute the 6th string when playing the 5th, and this paragraph:

"When you play notes on the first, second or third strings, some of the lower strings can't easily be muted with the left hand. Instead, try using your right hand palm to hold them quiet, if necessary."

Check out Troy's stuff at www.stetina.com

Thanks infinitely. I'm a massive fan of Troy's stuff*, but I started with Metal Lead 1, skipping primer. It was ok for me, but muting strings has always given me problems. Nice to see it written here.

*I have Metal Lead 1&2, Metal Rhythm 1&2, Speed Mechanics, Metal Tricks, Thrash Metal Method, and The Ultimate Scale Book