ringing open strings and the stopping thereof

VimFuego

so, going through one of my periodic learning how to play with a pick phases and I seem to have this recurring problem, in that when I'm changing between open chords, the open strings continue ringing. I find it really irritating and as it doesn't happen on the vids I'm learning from, I have deduced it is a failure of technique. Any tips for stopping this from happening?

 

[/delurk]

Roland

Can you damp the ringing string, either immediately or when the note needs to end, using left hand fingers? Finger tip or underside depending on where the finger is in relation to the string. There is a Tommy Emmanuel video where he talks through how he plays a particular piece. At one point he says (to paraphrase) if finger X doesn't damp the string then I catch it with finger Y.

VimFuego

generally it's the high E that rings, I will slow it all down and see if I can dampen with the pad of my pinky finger.

noisepolluter

VimFuego said:

so, going through one of my periodic learning how to play with a pick phases

'ee be prackersing richcraft!!! 

(I think that one's © Frank)

Generally sporking, I think I'm usually muting either with the side of my picking hand, or the pinky.

viz

I use a daughter's hair band thingy. Also check out what Jennifer Batten uses. For legato solos I sometimes do the Steve Vai thing of putting my right hand all the way over by the nut and clamping the strings while fiddling and twiddling up top with the left hand.

richardhomer

^
Lucky Jennifer....

VimFuego

viz said:

. For legato solos I sometimes do the Steve Vai thing of putting my right hand all the way over by the nut and clamping the strings while fiddling and twiddling up top with the left hand.

good to know, but if we could keep things vaguely guitar related I'd be ever so grateful.

 

ahem, sorry, when you say hair band thingy, is that to dampen the strings behind the nut?

viz

Haha yew-guise!

The hair band sits just behind the nut, then when you want to do a twiddle, you quickly flick it past the nut to approx the first fret and twiddle away, then when you've finished your twiddle and want to play an E major chord or whatever, you quickly push it back over the nut again.

guitarfishbay

By definition, if you don't stop the strings ringing they will continue to ring. The only distinction is to make sure you're not accidentally brushing the strings and causing them to ring. If it is just a case of strings continuing to ring rather than you making them sound again then the way to solve it is to learn more about string dampening. When playing with your fingers you can mute easily with your playing fingers (and notes dampen between picking as your finger strikes), when playing with a pick that often isn't the best option. I tend to use a combination of fretting hand muting and using my picking hand palm, or little finger for higher strings. A teacher might be a good option for a small number of lessons, it is hard to teach decent muting technique via text especially without seeing what you're doing now.

Evilmags

Learning to palm mute really helps. It's just a very quick touch and increases your dynamic range a lot.