Ending notes cleanly

[NeilGB]

i searched for advice on this but didnt find anything.

I am doing more recording now and find that my standard method of ending a note (lifting the fretting finger) is too noisy/buzzy. Doesnt seem to be a problem live.

I can compensate by ending the note with the plucking finger, however this is a whole new technique i am going to have to master.

Does anyone have advice on how to quietly and efficiently end notes without stopping them with the plucking fingers?

I am going to work on the setup side of things that should help (action, relief, tone setting etc).

Thanks in advance for any insights you may have.

Neil

 

[elgecko]

Don't lift it all the way up, just high enough to end the note while still muting the string.

 

[jallenbass]

If you're playing a note with your first finger you still have fingers to stop the sound with. Same with 2 and 3.

 

[Mushroo]

Both hands should be involved in muting notes. If you end the note with BOTH a left hand finger and a right hand finger, I think you will find the note has a nice, clean ending. Practice at a slow tempo is the key to building technique.

 

[MalcolmAmos]

I'm old school and use my thumb to sound notes. Like if I had a pick, but, use the thumb instead of a pick. I just rest my thumb on the string just sounded. If you finger pick +1 to what was said about muting with both left and right hand.

 

[oysteivi]

When I'm feeling lazy, I do it like you, lifting the fretting finger to mute the string. This works best from the 3rd fret up, and sometimes I want to play lower frets or open strings, and then I mute with the picking finger (or maybe the next picking finger - I'm not sure). Muting open strings by touching the string at the 5th fret for the 4th harmonic gives a nice effect.

For proper clean muting, the only way I know is the one described by Mushroo. Basically, as long as you touch the string in two places, at sufficiently different distances from either end, the vibration will stop quickly and you won't get any harmonics.

 

[Bob_Ross]

Does anyone have advice on how to quietly and efficiently end notes without stopping them with the plucking fingers?

Both hands should be involved in muting notes. If you end the note with BOTH a left hand finger and a right hand finger, I think you will find the note has a nice, clean ending.

I see my work here is done.

 

[Mushroo]

I see my work here is done.

If you can't mute with the plucking hand (for whatever reason) then you could try muting with 2 (or more) fingers of the fretting hand. For example, if you are fretting a note with your 1st finger, you could "end" the note cleanly by both lifting the 1st finger and simultaneously placing the 2nd, 3rd, and/or 4th fingers lightly on the string to stop unwanted noise/ringing.

 

[Bondobass]

Lately, I've been trying more staccato on just about everything I'm working on, short little notes you know. And its a really good workout for what you are saying. I find these big fat Bass strings harder to stop than skinny little Guitar strings. Like another poster said sometimes(if not all the time) use both hands to mute.

Pat

 

[NeilGB]

Thanks everyone for the great advice. I am going to work on developing my technique accordingly.

Cheers
Neil