Flat finger muting and seventh fret harmonics

[R Flynn]

When I’m trying to play properly I use flat fingers to mute the higher strings. That works fine except when playing the seventh fret. Is there a way around this?

 

[SteveCS]

Just use one of the other non-stopping fingers to mute (provided they don't also align with a node). Sometimes when in the vicinit of nodes it can help to mute with more than one LH finger.

 

[R Flynn]

I’ll experiment with that, thanks. It doesn’t happen often but is a problem, for me, with the bass line from The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.

 

[SteveCS]

Presumably you mean the Gil Scott-Heron tune?


So is it the part where you play the high E on the G string and need to mute the E on the A string? Assuming you play fingerstyle, have you tried using your right thumb to mute the A string? Or stop the low E with your left middle finger and mute behind with index (roughly over fret 6) whilst hitting the high E with pinky? Also, perhaps consider playing it all (mainly) on the E/D strings higher up the neck and avoiding the 7th-fret nodes altogether?

 

[albertus]

using two fingers at once is a solution that never fails

 

[micguy]

using two fingers at once is a solution that never fails

Even Django could do that, the rest of us have no excuse.

 

[jj.833]

Do you know about the 'home position' or 'neutral position' left hand shape, used when left hand muting is necessary? It's useful for slap, free stroke and much more techniques, generally for anything funky. The idea is to mute all other strings than the one played, preferrably with two fingers, without even thinking about it.

I recommend to watch this and this. Don't mind the slap (though it's a good technique to learn proper muting). Just focus on the left hand.

 

[micguy]

The idea is to mute all other strings than the one played, preferrably with two fingers, without even thinking about it.

Damping of unplayed strings is, once you've done it for a while, a very natural thing - as stated, I really don't think about it - it just magically happens somehow. When I transitioned from 4's to 5's, there was a short time when I noticed my damping wasn't as precise, but somehow, without even working at it, I adapted.

 

[Aloe]

the 12th and 7th fret are easiest to make the harmonics. however, if you look closely, you might have ringing harmonics when muting on other frets, for example, the fifth. they might be faint enough for you to notice, but that doesn't mean they won't be noticed by anyone in your band or audience.

I use an already suggested technique using two or more fingers to mute a string. when I'm picking ghost notes, I typically use the whole palm, muting both with index and ring/pinky.

another option is a headband/fretwraps.

 

[daveX99]

I’ll experiment with that, thanks. It doesn’t happen often but is a problem, for me, with the bass line from The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.

I don't have any advice, but I sure hope you work it out because that song kicks ass and should be shared far and wide.

 

[R Flynn]

Yeah, its the E B E E riff, on the G D A strings, and the subsequent C# and B octave/fifth bits. Originally I tried to play it in other positions, but the 7th to 10th frets require less hand movement. I find it tricky to strike that balance between muting and triggering harmonics. The fingering is taking a bit of work also.
Carter has good technique...duh. Its not surprising to believe that really fast complex lines require good technique, its a bit of a lesson to discover that apparently simple bass lines require it.

 

[R Flynn]

Just thinking about it, a more “finger creeping” technique would help. My “finger flying/jumping” technique probably contributes.

 

[Les Fret]

If you don’t want the harmonic you have to use more than one left hand finger to mute. If you mute correctly with more than one finger you never get a harmonic.

 

[R Flynn]

Thanks all. Muting is difficult to understand until you hear the need for it. Practice practice

 

[SteveCS]

Thanks all. Muting is difficult to understand until you hear the need for it. Practice practice

Just practicing won't work unless you are practicing the right things played right - if you practice the wrong things (or practice things played 'wrong') they will end up embedded in your technique, will eventually start to aggregate and hinder and will become more and more difficult to correct as time goes on - ask me how I know!!

If you really want to hear the need, and target specific issues rather than blindly apply general principles, try recording yourself playing along to something (the track given is a great place to start) then listen back to just the bass. It will be a shocker if you've not done much (any?) recording like that, but it will help you pinpoint what works, what doesn't, what needs fixing/changing and where you are doing OK.

 

[SteveCS]

I just want to give props to @R Flynn for bringing the 'Pieces of a Man' album to my attention. I am familiar with Ron Carter's double-bass jazz work, but (call myself a bass player?) I hadn't really heard much of his electric bass work, so I just bought the album. What a monster player! I feel some shed-time coming on.