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Posted by: kruchone Jun 12 2007, 05:28 PM

I am trying to do various solos on this site, and I can hit the notes, not a problem with the speed that they are at, but I am hitting other notes barely, and it makes the solo sound very sloppy. Is there any technique that I need to be using to make sure that there is only one note is being hit at a time?


Thanks,
Zach

Posted by: Iluha Jun 12 2007, 05:36 PM

Well you can allways palm mute the strings above the string you'r fretting, other then that it might be a good idea to slow it down a bit and get it clean at lower speeds.

Posted by: kruchone Jun 12 2007, 05:39 PM

You see, that would be fine if I am doing certain solos, but even when I pick my finger up at slow speeds, I get that open string sound. I can do it as slow as molasses and I will still make it sound sloppy.

Posted by: Andrew Cockburn Jun 12 2007, 05:58 PM

Its a generic skill, and practice at slow speeds helps enourmously .... try this:

1. Palm mute all strings above the string you are hitting
2. Wherever possible, deaden strings below the string you are hhitting with the fingers you are using to fret them

Practice the above nauseatingly slowly until you get a perfectly clean sound, then speed it up slowly with a metronome.

Eventually you will end up doing this without thinking for all playing.

BTW, learning sweeps is great for this because they sound totally awful until you start getting the muting right.

Posted by: Ryan Jun 12 2007, 06:37 PM

ahhahahaha you got that right

Posted by: Pavel Jun 12 2007, 06:41 PM

Well - you can't say you can play them up to speed if they sound sloppy - that means you CAN'T play them up to speed. So basically you'll have to slow things down and practice A LOT with a metronome on turtle speeds until you learn to control strings and muting. Btw. it's not only muting but also FRETTING that matters - you also have to hit only the notes you play.

Good luck with practicing!

Posted by: Ryan Jun 12 2007, 09:45 PM

hey pavel..you shoudl really do a lesson on this type of thing..or something...i really dotn know how you coudl do it other then by telling the people.and them practicing..it...but idk..maybe you could try..cus sometimes i have troubles at high speeds...muting and everything.....

Posted by: Pavel Jun 12 2007, 10:38 PM

That's the thing that's almost impossible to describe. It's something you have to feel.

I don't know - maybe one day i'll get an idea of how to describe it and make a lesson.

Posted by: Ryan Jun 12 2007, 10:42 PM

yea if you could make a lesson on that.you .would be offically..an AMAZING TEACHER....but for now..PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE

Posted by: mattacuk Jun 13 2007, 11:19 PM

Thats some good advice there! Again just to go over andrews advice, sounds like you need to palm mute. Rest your palm over the strings your not playing and that should dampen the strings your not playing. I tend to use the part of my hand above my thumb, but others use the other side of there palm - its personal prefrence.

Posted by: Lurgen Jun 14 2007, 07:19 AM

I only recently (the last few days) figured out how to palm mute the top strings while muting the bottom strings with the fingers that are fretting the notes. It sort of seemed sloppy to me at first, with my left hand touching the strings but suddenly things were coming through more cleanly.

Keeping a couple of fingers from my right hand on the pickguard also means that I can bring them up to mute the bottom strings if things get messy in that area.

I also agree with a couple of the other posts here - until you can play something cleanly at speed, you can't lay claim to being able to play it yet. Which is why I'm still a nub - heaps of the fast stuff sounds fine for me slowly, but at speed it gets fluffy around the edges as I brush the wrong string or don't fret the note cleanly. So much to practice...