Stop the "ringing"

Hi all,

Just starting the switching between chords (D to Em) how to I stop the "ringing" of the chord I just played "D" when switching to Em to make it "clean"? thanks for any input

You could quickly lay the palm of your strumming hand on the strings

You will probably end up doing that (Muting) sooner or later anyway, as your skill grows. It is how you keep control of the sound of the instrument. The heel of your palm, or the backside of the strumming hand's fingers, or the backs of your unused, fretting hand, fingers. The all can play a part. The guitar can also produce instantanious silence, another powerful shaper of guitar's voice. I think I once heard it said that Mozart called silence "The most powerful force in music."

All that comes from learning how to mute and unmute strings. Muting is also where the real depth of guitar's voicing can be found. You might even end up spending a lot of you life learing those skills so... Sounds like it might be a good idea to start playing with that Idea soon.

Hey & welcome to GT!

Originally Posted by: charleseubanks64

Just starting the switching between chords (D to Em) how to I stop the "ringing" of the chord I just played "D" when switching to Em to make it "clean"?

[br]Effective muting technique will fix this. Use your picking/strumming hand palm to mute any & all strings that you don't want to ring. Use your fretting hand to mute also. When you are done fretting a string don't pull your fingers away from the strings. Continue to make slight contact with the strings. Just release enough pressure to stop the string from ringing. Keep enough pressure on the strings to stop them from making unwanted sound.

Also, remember if you are a beginner, then you are doing great just to get some notes fretted, picked & sounding good! Muting is another layer of technique to add in once you get the basics mechanics of fretting notes. Guitar is a constant process of refinement. Your scale in that video sounds good for a beginner. You just need to add muting to clean up the unwanted sound!

This tutorial covers fretting & strumming hand muting. In particular have a look at the beginner level tips.

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=2281

I also cover basic right & left hand technique involving muting in this series of lessons.

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=359

Hope this helps. Please ask more if necessary & best of success!