| | | And you don't need to have huge hands...
Hey Friend,
Another technique power chords are especially suited for is palm muting.
Yesterday I talked about using the fingers on your fretting hand to mute strings surrounding the notes you want to play. This type of muting is one that you'll want to practice a lot - until you get good at it.
In other words, what you don't play can be even more important than what you do. Guitarists that haven't learned muting techniques tend to sound very sloppy when they play.
The palm muting technique is super easy compared to muting at the fingerboard.
First the how-to...
As the name implies, the palm of your hand is used to mute the strings. More specifically, it's the bottom edge of your hand that does the work.
Place the fleshy edge of your hand (that runs parallel to your pinky) over all six strings at the edge of your bridge, just inside where they connect.
In case you're not quite sure where I'm explaining, guitar strings produce sound based on vibrating between two fixed points on the guitar - the nut (up by the tuners) and the bridge. Between those two points, the vibrating string creates sound waves based on how many vibrations occur in a second.
For example, the fifth string pitch is A2 (in the second octave we can naturally hear), which vibrates at 110 hertz, or vibrations per second. That means when you pluck the open string, it vibrates back and forth between the nut and the bridge 110 times every second until it fades off.
So the trick with palm muting is to place the edge of your hand just inside the bridge so the strings can't vibrate freely. This gives a muffled sound when you pluck a string.
You get the best sounding results from palm muting if you use a pick (plectrum) when you strum.
Here's a quick Youtube interlude demonstrating palm muting (note: you don't have to be using distortion, but it sounds great!)
What you'll be more interested in knowing is what songs you can play that use palm muting. Here's just a few examples:
- "Jessie's Girl" by Rick Springfield
- "Hold On Loosely" by .38 Special (as seen in the palm muting video above)
- "You Better Run" by Pat Benatar
- "Barracuda" by Heart
- "Magnet and Steel" by Walter Egan (which included Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks from Fleetwood Mac)
- and sooo many more...
Often times you use palm muting in conjunction with open strums. You can use the technique to build intensity in a song, starting with the chords muted and gradually increasing the strum attack while releasing the palm from the strings. Check out the intro chords in "Magnet and Steel" above.
Palm muting is another technique you'll want to master. It's one you can practice quite easily with power chords, and it's a technique that gives a huge boost to both your sound and your confidence.
Why? Because you'll sound like a pro! Now why don't you go get yourself a copy of Easy Power Chords so you can be rockin' out this afternoon? Don't you deserve to elevate your playing? I think you do...
Peace~
Dave
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