Description
To get started place the side of your picking hand palm on the bridge of your guitar. Try to get the heel of your palm to rest lightly right on top of the bridge saddle for the low E string. Play the low E string four times to see what it sounds like. You want to hear the note E clearly, but you don't want it to ring out. You want it to sound somewhat muted and staccato, or cut short.
The idea here is to have the skin on the side of your palm slightly mute the low E string from ringing out completely. If you move your hand towards the pickups, then you might mute too much because you aren't letting the string ring enough. That gets you a thin sound without much of the note ringing. It sounds too choked.
If you move your hand toward the back of the guitar, off of the strings, you'll get the string ringing out completely free of muting. So, that's not enough muting! You're looking for just the right balance of having the note sound then stop and not ring out.
You can slightly vary the sound by slightly adjusting your palm back and forth. It's a great idea to experiment with this not just to get the hang of the basic technique, but also to explore what sounds are possible with this technique on your guitar.
Lesson Info
