Excellent - thanks! As a banjo picker, I got started using the thumb and fingers position you described because that's what J.D. Crowe does, known as "the claw". I found I got better accuracy, tone, and volume. So this lesson is a great reminder to use it on guitar, too. Love the comment, BTW, that this will distinguish blues finger picking from folk. :-)
This! The final cog into place. I got to where my muting was fine, but was having a problem with the notes ringing out. Watching this showed me what I was doing wrong. My hand position was fine when doing normal fingerpicking, but as I moved my palm to mute, I was squaring up my hand again. Thanks, Dave
Good lesson on thumb & finger placement, I use my pinky as a anchor point. I find this gives me a lot more control especially when using my palm to mute the strings !
I want to express my gratitude to you, David, for lavishing such painstaking detail, an entire lesson, on what to many is probably a trivially basic technique but which was a vexing stumbling block for me. Many online resources address palm muting in passing, pointing out the thumb extension and the turn of the wrist,. But the insight (and turning point) for me was your tip to rest the wrist (or maybe the heel of the picking hand) on the bridge pins. Until that insight I had tried to hover my hand over the strings, resulting in unsatisfactory and inconsistent results. (A "heavy hand" so to speak.) With the wrist just behind the bridge, on the pins, a pivot is established. With my hand now further back everything feels slightly unfamiliar, but I know now it's the proper placement of that hand. Please, please never underestimate the hunger of those of us without benefit of an in-person teacher for these detailed, granular tips and lessons on the fundamentals. You never know what little nugget is going to resonate with a beginner.
A good lesson, I have been struggling with dampening the bass strings, placing the palm of my hand in the correct position. What name brand and gauge of strings do you use?
Great lesson David! I try to think about making a claw with the picking hand (like my kids pretending to be a lion) which bends the fingers and stretches the thumb forward. I think that gets you in a good position to palm mute. By the way, where do you get your hats? Can't find a good hat shop anywhere around me.
Do you have any advice for those occasions when one needs to dampen the treble strings? When working on a Bo Diddley tune, I try spreading my hand so as to mute the top strings, but just can't manage to get the sound I'm looking for.
I'm a bit confused about the part of the palm you pointed too to use for the muting. I thought you were supposed to use the edge of your palm that is below your pinky if you hold your hand with fingers up. But here, you point to the fleshy part under the thumb as the muting part.
Ah well, in this case, the idea is to mute or damp the bass notes while letting the melody notes ring out. So the focus is on using that area between your thumb and your wrist rather than the area below your pinkie. Let me know if that clarifies things!
@@FretboardConfidential Thanks for the reply. Trying to get that area of the palm to work but so far no luck. My hand seems to be so far back when trying this and I'm having trouble muting all 3 of the strings without over muting one of them. The good news is I seem to be able to do it with the pinky side of my palm close to my wrist. Not always consistent on the 4th string but getting better.
I've been using the bottom edge of my palm below the pinkie, too. There is a knob there. I place the knob on the A-string, then slide it back until it the knob is on the string where the string leaves the saddle. At that position, the E, A, and D strings are damped. I've been happy with the results. This is the first time that I've ever heard of using the base of the thumb. I tried it and it works. Of course, just like any new skill, it feels more awkward than what I'm used to. I'd say that DH's way changes the angle of my hand and puts in into a position closer to the one that he says to avoid in the beginning of the video. I speculate that if my thumb were longer, the new method would feel more natural than it does with my short thumb. I'm not going to use my thumb length as an excuse, though. I"ll dedicate a month to playing like DH coaches and then decide how to proceed.
@@cptvanier "Not always consistent on the 4th string but getting better." I was like that, too. I gained consistency when I focused on it. It's just an ever-so-slight tilting of the hand, using the A-string as the fulcrum. It requires conscious effort in the beginning, but soon becomes second nature. I'm not even aware that I'm doing it anymore. In fact, I might not be doing it. But the conscious effort got me there.
It never occurred to me, but this is exactly what makes David's playing so satisfying. This is so valuable.
Best instruction on palm muting. Thankyou.
I've been struggling with palm muting. This solved the problem. Thank you so much.
Excellent - thanks! As a banjo picker, I got started using the thumb and fingers position you described because that's what J.D. Crowe does, known as "the claw". I found I got better accuracy, tone, and volume. So this lesson is a great reminder to use it on guitar, too. Love the comment, BTW, that this will distinguish blues finger picking from folk. :-)
That comment smacked me in the face too!
(Also a 5-string picker here btw)
This is a great explanation
thank you
This! The final cog into place. I got to where my muting was fine, but was having a problem with the notes ringing out. Watching this showed me what I was doing wrong. My hand position was fine when doing normal fingerpicking, but as I moved my palm to mute, I was squaring up my hand again. Thanks, Dave
Ekkkxcellent !! As always David! thanks so much!!
Thank you for these three techniques! Now to find that sweet spot..
Gritty details, love it
Good lesson on thumb & finger placement, I use my pinky as a anchor point. I find this gives me a lot more control especially when using my palm to mute the strings !
That helped me a lot.
Forganized? I like it....Great fundamentals lesson!
You definitely got me with the title
I want to express my gratitude to you, David, for lavishing such painstaking detail, an entire lesson, on what to many is probably a trivially basic technique but which was a vexing stumbling block for me. Many online resources address palm muting in passing, pointing out the thumb extension and the turn of the wrist,. But the insight (and turning point) for me was your tip to rest the wrist (or maybe the heel of the picking hand) on the bridge pins. Until that insight I had tried to hover my hand over the strings, resulting in unsatisfactory and inconsistent results. (A "heavy hand" so to speak.) With the wrist just behind the bridge, on the pins, a pivot is established. With my hand now further back everything feels slightly unfamiliar, but I know now it's the proper placement of that hand. Please, please never underestimate the hunger of those of us without benefit of an in-person teacher for these detailed, granular tips and lessons on the fundamentals. You never know what little nugget is going to resonate with a beginner.
A good lesson, I have been struggling with dampening the bass strings, placing the palm of my hand in the correct position. What name brand and gauge of strings do you use?
What is the tune you’re playing for the intro? Kinda sounds like My Baby Don’t Stand No Cheating
Great lesson David! I try to think about making a claw with the picking hand (like my kids pretending to be a lion) which bends the fingers and stretches the thumb forward. I think that gets you in a good position to palm mute. By the way, where do you get your hats? Can't find a good hat shop anywhere around me.
Do you have any advice for those occasions when one needs to dampen the treble strings? When working on a Bo Diddley tune, I try spreading my hand so as to mute the top strings, but just can't manage to get the sound I'm looking for.
Another great tutorial, David. Thanks. What gauge strings are you using?
Thanks Tim! I'm using John Pearse phosphor bronze lights, with a .012 on top. At least, that's what they were when I put them on a year ago :-).
I'm a bit confused about the part of the palm you pointed too to use for the muting. I thought you were supposed to use the edge of your palm that is below your pinky if you hold your hand with fingers up. But here, you point to the fleshy part under the thumb as the muting part.
Ah well, in this case, the idea is to mute or damp the bass notes while letting the melody notes ring out. So the focus is on using that area between your thumb and your wrist rather than the area below your pinkie. Let me know if that clarifies things!
@@FretboardConfidential Thanks for the reply. Trying to get that area of the palm to work but so far no luck. My hand seems to be so far back when trying this and I'm having trouble muting all 3 of the strings without over muting one of them. The good news is I seem to be able to do it with the pinky side of my palm close to my wrist. Not always consistent on the 4th string but getting better.
I've been using the bottom edge of my palm below the pinkie, too. There is a knob there. I place the knob on the A-string, then slide it back until it the knob is on the string where the string leaves the saddle. At that position, the E, A, and D strings are damped. I've been happy with the results.
This is the first time that I've ever heard of using the base of the thumb. I tried it and it works. Of course, just like any new skill, it feels more awkward than what I'm used to. I'd say that DH's way changes the angle of my hand and puts in into a position closer to the one that he says to avoid in the beginning of the video. I speculate that if my thumb were longer, the new method would feel more natural than it does with my short thumb.
I'm not going to use my thumb length as an excuse, though. I"ll dedicate a month to playing like DH coaches and then decide how to proceed.
@@cptvanier "Not always consistent on the 4th string but getting better." I was like that, too. I gained consistency when I focused on it. It's just an ever-so-slight tilting of the hand, using the A-string as the fulcrum. It requires conscious effort in the beginning, but soon becomes second nature. I'm not even aware that I'm doing it anymore. In fact, I might not be doing it. But the conscious effort got me there.
I can only do the muting with a thumb pic if I don’t have a thumb pic, my whole hand is not at the right angle to mute 10:08 10:08
The tune is My Babe, right?
🙏 The lesson I needed at this precise moment - from the very best teacher in the whole of Youtubia. Thank you 🙏