June 22, 2022
Pro tip: please watch the short video version of this blog post. It will give you a much clearer grasp of what I’m sharing here. Transcript of video included below...
What is palm muting, when it comes to guitar? Well, first of all, don’t let the term “muting” confuse you – it’s not like the mute button on your TV remote. We aren’t silencing our strings. We’re just making them ring for a shorter amount of time. Plus, if we’re playing the acoustic guitar, we’re adding a low “thump” that adds a fun additional percussive sound.
Palm muting is actually one of the coolest articulations we can add to our strumming.
I invite you to choose a simple chord for your fretting hand, like E minor. We’ll really only be focusing on the 3 lowest strings for this quick exercise, so once you’ve formed an E minor chord, just leave your fretting hand in position, and focus on your strumming hand. We’re basically going to make contact with the palm of our hand at the same moment that our pick makes contact with the strings.
If you want to see exactly where I have my palm landing, check this out. I’m going to put a little paint on my strings, like this.
And now when I make contact, the paint gets on my hand and shows you which part of my hand is touching the strings.
So now that I’ve got the paint all cleaned up, let’s try some palm muting.
First, some simple quarter notes.
Next, some 8th notes strummed down and up.
Palm muting is possible with up strums, but if this is your first time trying this, maybe save that for later.
Now let’s try some 8th notes strummed down only. This makes me think a little bit of 80s rock.
The next level is to apply palm muting to a strumming pattern. Check out what happens when I play a pattern I like to call the 3+3+2 strum.
First, no palm muting.
Now, palm muting added.
Hear those palm muting accents on beats 1, the “&” of beat 2, and beat 4? They really add character, especially when the higher strings are unmuted.
So that’s a quick window into palm muting and how it can add artistry to your palette. Go try these techniques out and listen as your playing develops more depth and artistry!
Palm muting is actually one of the coolest articulations we can add to our strumming.
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David Harsh
Singer, Guitarist, Teacher
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