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Posted by: maharzan Mar 3 2010, 05:20 AM

Hey Muris,

I have asked this a tonne of times and have got many many answers and also have been working on them some of which I have kind of 'mastered' it. I am trying your Bb Minor Phrasing - Advanced Lesson these days and I have few places which I cannot mute the strings that well.

Legato has been a huge problem since it involves hammering / pull offs and the string is going to get that noise even just slightly enough. You probably know this. I have huge gain (8 & 7).. Petrucci stuff. Its really hard to mute the strings with that high I gain. I understand. I am not using noise gates nor any string dampening ribbon. I want to do it right without these. What is the trick? How do we mute the string?

I somewhat can have no noise if I play slow in this case but at fast speed, it goes crazy.

Another major problem I have found is the string skipping section. Theres like 1st string legato and jump to 3rd string. When I do this, somehow 2nd string also rings slightly. I cannot mute with my right hand because its in the middle of 1 and 3. I can lower the gain but the string still rings.

Please suggest some tricks and tips how playing clean. I do see that you are using some damping method (ribbon or something) but how can we avoid using that and play clean at that smooth lead sound.

Cheers!
Chandra

Posted by: Muris Varajic Mar 3 2010, 01:37 PM

Hi Chandra.

I know the feel and it is frustrating sometimes to say the least.
Muting is not only about picking hand muting tho,
there is also a fretting hand muting.
Fretting hand muting might be the thing that you're missing imo.
First of all, there's a part of this muting that isn't actually a muting
but more like preventing the noise.
It means that your fingers have to move very smoothly,
when you do pull-off it has to be pull-off on that very string only
and not touching other strings while doing it.
Same goes for hammer-ons.
And then real fretting hand muting.
There are few things available here.
Place your index finger on G string, 7th fret, just an example.
At this point you can easily mute B and high E string by using your index finger,
just straight it up and slightly touch those 2 strings, job done.
But you can also mute D string with the very top of your index fingertip, close to nail.
Same goes for all other fingers.

Fretting hand muting is very delicate matter
made of very small details that take lot of time to absorb
and become natural in your playing.

Just think of them, apply them as much as possible and you'll get there.

Oh, and btw, noise gate has nothing to do with string noise.
Also, more gain is very often your friend when playing legato and wanna keep it clean.
And here's why.
With less gain you have to fret harder which means your movements become less smooth
which might lead to some extra string noise.

But either way, it's not much about gain and noise gate but more about us.

Posted by: NoSkill Mar 3 2010, 03:23 PM

Saving that reply.

Posted by: Muris Varajic Mar 3 2010, 11:23 PM

QUOTE (NoSkill @ Mar 3 2010, 03:23 PM)

Saving that reply.

Posted by: maharzan Mar 4 2010, 04:08 AM

Thanks Muris. I do the left hand muting as well. Most of the time, in your example, I am muting the 4 string say by the tip of middle finger.

The problem is when you are moving down the scale 3nps and using hammer ons. I cannot mute the upper strings by left hand since I am moving down. So, are we supposed to mute it with the right palm, one string at a time? Because as soon as you move to the next string down and let go the upper string, it rings (from left fingers).

The most serious case is the skipping string part. I will try your suggestion and see if I can mute that middle string.

Thanks again,
Chandra

Posted by: Muris Varajic Mar 5 2010, 07:07 PM

The trick is in preventing noise then,
even when you go from one string to another you should remove your finger
REALLY gently without making another pull-off and create noise.
This is totally surgery thing, you have to do it micro accurate and smooth otherwise there'll be some noise.

Try this for a while, play legato only without any right hand muting, put your right hand in a pocket.
Play very slowly, play ascending, descending, skipping, whatever you want.
Also play with different tones, clean, less gain, more gain etc.
That should give you nice explanation of how much you can actually prevent noise from happening,
play VERY slowly and try to make as much noise as possible,
pay attention on how you remove finger from a string etc, should be helpful.
After spending some time doing that you should add right hand muting as well
and thing might be better.
It takes time, lot of time, don't be hasty and have patience, it'll come natural after a while.

Posted by: maharzan Mar 6 2010, 05:29 AM

Thanks Muris. I will do that and observer the mechanics.