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With proper muting technique, you'll be able to strum all 6 strings but only allow a select few to ring out. This will make your rhythm guitar playing sound very clean and accurate.
Check out min @1:38 for a demonstration.
For Power chords, you're probably familiar with this shape, you can either use:
-Index + Ring Finger
-Index + Pinky
We are using the fretting hand to mute the strings we don't want to ring out, a big mistake a lot beginner guitar players make is curving their fingers when strumming power chords.
Check out min @2:17 for a demonstration.
This means they are leaving out some open strings to ring out which create a lot of chaos and sloppiness in your playing.
Like I said this is a recipe for disaster, open strings = string noise!
What you want to do instead is flatten your fingers especially the index to mute all the strings below it.
Try picking the strings below to make sure they are muted, check out min @2:44 for a quick demonstration.
This small adjustment will help mute all these strings.
Disclaimer: Don't press too hard, or the notes will ring out, you need to find a balance between muting the strings and not actually fretting them.
Another thing worth mentioning is that we can also mute a string above by slightly brushing it with our index finger.
check out min @3:27 for a quick demonstration.
For the root on 4 one you can also use your thumb to mute the Low E string.
Check out min @3:46 of the video lesson for a demonstration.
And that's how you can strum all 6 strings without making any unwanted string noise.
This also works for open power chords, If you want to sound like ACDC or any other band that predominantly uses open power chords you need to check out this other lesson for a deep dive into ''getting the perfect open power chord sound''
But in a nutshell you basically use the same combination of tactics we used for regular power chords, check out min @5:00 for a brief explanation.
Lead guitar is no stranger to string noise, that's why having a proper muting technique is essential for you to play fast clean and accurate solos.
Here we have to talk about two main factor:
-The fretting hand muting
-Picking hand muting
Let's start with the fretting hand muting technique:
So as I mentioned before the index is key here, we will also use the flesh of our index finger to mute all the strings below the note we are fretting.
Check out min @6:57 for the demonstration.
And for the picking hand muting technique:
We will mute using the palm of the hand but be careful this is not the palm muting technique we will mute using the palm of the hand near the thumb, hence why we call this the thumb muting technique.
Check out min @7:31 for a more in depth explanation.
All you need to do is bring in you picking hand, and this will help you mute all the strings above where you are playing.
Check out min @8:00 for the demonstration.
These two factors working hand in hand will allow you to play amazing solos and eradicate all the sloppiness in your playing.
