Help With Muting The Strings When Doing Power Chords On 5th String, NOT palm muting Options

[Irfan21]

hi guys,

i was just wondering, when i play a power chord (let say A power chord with the root note on 5th string), i do it with the standard fingering, pointer finger for the root note, and the other two notes with the ring finger and pinky, and i put my middle finger on the 6th string (just touching it not fretting it). the middle finger was supposed to mute the 6th string completely so when we strum the strings with our pick it doesnt sound at all.

but what im experiencing is that the 6th string was sounding like a natural harmonic, please note that i am not touching the string with my middle finger "on top" of the fret(which was a natural harmonic fingering position), i just touch it lightly beetween the two frets nearby.

how can i get rid of the sound? because its kind of annoying.

i know its not a big problem when we do some "accuracy strumming" and strum the strings only from the 5th string and not strumming the 6th string at all. but its kind of hard when i got into the music and i just strum from the 6th string.

can you tell a different technique for this? is my finger in the wrong place? or what? please tell me

thanks in advance guys

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[DeepRoots]

This can get quite frustrating...however you may need to experiment a bit to get rid of it.

Personally, i like to mute the strings below what im playing- for example 6th string like your case, with my picking hand's palm.

I find i can still get a nice percussive sound form where im muting that string too.

However- if you're set on using your left hand, then i suggest you eith use more fingers (a harmonic wont be produced if the string is being touched in more than one place <usually!>) or maybe just using a little more pressure when trying to mute it.

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[steve25]

Muting lower strings is generally easier. If you don't want to go through the trouble of using the rule just don't hit it, then try bring your fretting hand thumb up over the top and touch the lower string to mute it.

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[Chris Evans]

just so I understand this right, your playing an A chord on the seventh fret on the A&D strings only? and you want to mute the E string?

I think a lot of it comes down to what your actually playing before or next, depending on this I`d play this one of 3 ways, I`d fret both strings with one finger (my pointing finger) and do as Steve25 said and bring my thumb over the top to mute the E string, or again depending on what was being played fret both strings with my ring finger and mute with my pointing finger probably around the 6th fret, for me you can also give the chord a good old shake and introduce some vibrato into the chord which can sound cool in certain cases

I say depending on whats being played purely for economy, if your playing a fast chord changing progression, it`ll be a lot easier and a lot quicker to do the above rather than making a fake barre chord and introducing another finger into the equation to mute.

I also agree with Deeproots that to do it the way you describe I`d be using my right palm to mute.

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[RIP Dime]

Try using your palm, along with your middle to mute, and do your best to avoid hitting the E string. Or you can try putting a little more pressure on the E string with your middle finger, just experiment around with it, and I'm sure you can come up with your own technique that works for you.

BTW just out of curiosity, you only have this problem with distortion, no? What is your gear set up?

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[Bogdan Radovic]

When it comes to playing power chords on A and D string , I would suggest you one approach..That is : try muting the E string with your index finger of the left hand while you at the same time fret the root note with that finger..Just move it slightly upwards so its tip is blocking the E string firmly while playing the note on A string..That way + resting the middle finger on the E string too should give you nice fully muted string

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[Marcus Siepen]

I would also suggest that you experiment a bit with how much pressure you put in your muting finger, but well, the golden rule is: Don't hit the string that you don't want to sound, so the best solution would for sure be to use a more precise strumming.

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[Hisham Al-Sanea]

you can mute the string with first finger while you are playing the power chords for example
D5 power chord fret 5 in A string finger 1 and fret 7 string D third or fourth finger in the same time
first finger can mute the E6 string

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[Ivan Milenkovic]

I would suggest not hitting the low E string at all, practice that. Also you can mute it somewhere on the 6th fret - he harmonic is a little weaker there. But again, this should be done only "in emergency", so more precise strummin is the soultion.

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