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Importance of Muting

Bass_Bear

Bass_Bear

Jun 4, 2008
119
3
Ottawa, Ontario
#1
I'm new to the bass, less than a month playing now, and with all the reading I've been doing with regards to technique and such, i've come across a question that I can't seem to answer myself.

Now this isn't me trying to be lazy or sloppy, or trying to learn the technique half-assed, so please keep that in mind. Now according to the site I'm using, you have to mute every string but the one or ones your playing with your right hand.

My question is, do all bassist mute their strings all the time when playing? Or is it more of a beginners guide to being less sloppy and not hitting off strings?

Thanks for any incite,
Jason
 
#2
That's the correct tehnique! You use both hands to make sure only the string (or strings) you are playing can be heard, and the other strings don't vibrate sympathetically.

It's why they say tone comes from the hands, proper placement on the strings that are played, and muting those that are not.
 
#3
Hi Jason,
Short answer, yes, I encourage you to learn good muting, and no, it is not something that only beginners do! To me, muting is a big difference between a beginner and intermediate player. I never used to worry about it until my teacher called me out on it. Since I've spent time practicing good muting, I can easily hear bad muting on a lot of recordings and live performances.

I guess what it comes down to is, do you want to be a precise player or a sloppy player? Personally, I want to be precise and have control over every sound I make on the instrument. But, a lot of great-sounding music is sloppy. Much of the time, audiences respond better to music that is sloppy but has emotional energy than to music that is too perfect and technical. Personally, if the music calls for playing sloppy, I want to be capable of playing non-sloppy but choose to play sloppy, rather than playing sloppy because that's the only way I know how--do you see what I'm getting at?

Anyways, enough rambling. I think that as a beginner, you have a lot of different skills you need to learn. Is muting the #1 skill you should learn first? Probably not--other skills like creating a solid groove, understanding chord progressions, and learning to support other instruments are probably more important at this point. I will say that, for me, poor muting skills started to hold me back when I joined a band that was more dynamic (transitions from very loud to very quiet) than I'd ever played before. At that kind of volume, poor muting is very distracting.

Hope that answers your question!
 
#7
I generally use the floating thumb technique, see the great thread stickied at the top of this forum.
However if I need a bit more attack then I will plant my thumb on the pickup and play with my straight fingers. But generally this won't involve complex string crossing so I get away with the flaw in the new technique.
 
#8
I'm struggling with this early on. I've not even been playing long at all but the "sympathetic" vibration of strings I'm not playing is bugging me. The big problem I have at the moment is muting a higher pitched string after I've played it and am moving to lower pitched strings.

The only thing I can figure is to cover the higher strings with my fretting hand when fingering a lower note but I'm having difficulty because I keep wanting to fret notes with curved fingers that aren't touching any other strings but the one I'm playing. Kind of like guitar players I guess when they are fretting a chord. Hopefully I'll get my head wrapped around it sooner or later. It's just going to take time to get used to it all.
 
#9
There are many techniques of muting and they have a place just as differing methods of attack have their place.
IMO this gets back to one of the reasons why often piano is taught as a beginning instrument to many children. The elements are applicable to other instruments even though the technique per se' is often vastly different.

I was shown a method of muting with my right interior arm that is similar to turning off the volume knob (or the mute pedal on a piano).
Additionally one of the reasons why I have grown to love a very low action is that I don't have to attack the string with a great deal of force, making sympathetic vibration less of a problem.
 
#10
When it comes to muting, I have to be especially careful when I play a note at a location that might cause an overtone once I lift my finger off the string. On my bass a real "danger point" is the D on the fifth fret, second string. Other places to be careful are the octaves (12th fret), and the 4th, 5th, and 7th fret. It's not noticeable on faster passages, but when playing a slow piece the overtones tend to sound themselves more. Good muting techniques, along with good knowledge of the fretboard, usually takes care of it.
 
#12
When I used to play with a pick 100% of the time, I had a much harder time with muting. Now that I play with my fingers 98% of the time, I find it much easier. Try recording yourself practicing alot and it will help you identify what needs work.
 
#13
Muting is essential to lay down a clear and strong sounding tone.
If you get harmonics and sympathetic vibration in the way, it'll get all muddy.
It might not be all that bad when you play alone, but in a band, it can drown your bass in the mix - if you don't mute properly, expect your recording engineer to give you frowny faces as well.
 
#15
Muting is essential. It's important to practice good left and right hand techniques. It will become second nature as to which hand is muting what after you spend some time studying and practicing all the various ways to do it.

One of the problems I see with my student regarding muting is that he jumped in with both feet playing gigs very shortly after he started playing bass. Because he's playing in a classic rock band - playing classically loud covers, much of the sloppiness of his technique get's absorbed - or ignored. But when he comes over for a lesson, it sounds like a s*!% storm of clangy, ringing nonsense.

Floating thumb is a great plucking hand technique to tame ringing strings. I have always found the fretting hand to almost take care of itself once you get a decent fretting hand technique under control.

The time that a sloppy muting technique will utterly destroy you is if you ever go into the studio. There will be 'stuff' in the mix and the board op will start muting things to find it. When they get to the bass track and discover a forest of yuck between the bass notes that's when you realized slop costs $$.
 
#17
Chief2112 said:
Let's get back to sympathetic ringing of strings and vibration of the strings when lifting your fingers from the frets.

Other than muting is there a chance my bass needs set up properly? I get quite a bit of both when playing.
Click to expand...

That's possible. It also depends on your plucking technique. With round-wound strings and low action, if you have an 'aggressive' attack with your plucking hand it can lead to excessive vibration that makes fretting and releasing the strings with your left more volatile.

Same goes for your left (fretting) hand. If you don't have a light touch - or if your left hand is also aggressive, it can lead to excessive string/fret noise. You also want to avoid sliding your fingers around on the strings. Practicing a light fretting hand touch and a more controlled plucking technique can go a long way to taming all the extra noise.

But starting with a good setup is a good idea. One way to check that is to discover if you have any buzzy frets. A few high frets can lead to extra, unwanted noise. If you don't know how to set up your bass, find a tech or luthier who can help you out. Pay for a good setup and ask whomever does it to educate you about it. There are also a lot of threads here on the subject.
 
#18
Muting becomes second nature once you've been at it while, but in my limited experience with teaching it's fairly universal that players starting out struggle with it quite a bit.

It's important to understand that it means little to play the correct note if something else is coming out inadvertently. :scowl:
 
#19
nysbob said:
Muting becomes second nature once you've been at it while, but in my limited experience with teaching it's fairly universal that players starting out struggle with it quite a bit.

It's important to understand that it means little to play the correct note if something else is coming out inadvertently. :scowl:
Click to expand...

Regarding new students and muting - or just plain left and right hand techniques in general - I've found there are a few common things.

Way too heavy fretting technique. The tendency to grip the neck like a baseball bat and choke the life out of every note. This is usually aggravated by poor setup and high action.

It's a given that 'if it works, it works' but there is something to be said for learning proper left/fretting hand technique which is placing the thumb in the middle of the back of the neck, gently curving the fingers over the strings and keeping them close to the strings. When fretting, you press just hard enough to make the note speak by pressing just behind the fret - not right on top, not in between the frets.

Now you need to have action that allows for you to press the string lightly and get a note - but if you have your bass set up properly, this should not be a problem.

You want to keep all fretting fingers close to the strings and avoid what I see all beginners to where they fret a note (within an inch of it's life) then the finger flies off the string like it was propelled off of a trampoline and the next finger comes down onto the board like a dive-bomber and again frets a note within an inch of it's life.

It shouldn't take a lot of pressure to get a note to speak clearly and you should practice using as light a touch as you can. Volume is your friend. You don't have to attack the strings with all your might to get an aggressive sound.

Right hand technique is equally misguided in many beginners. Because there are so many examples of extraordinary players who really do have very heavy-handed techniques - like Steve Harris and even Geddy Lee - a lot of beginners think that's the best way to attack their instrument. That usually results in 'clanking' (as my teacher called it) - where the strings are forced into the frets by the plucking hand generating metallic 'clanks' with every note. In some instances that's desired - in MOST it's not. If your plucking technique does that 100% of the time, then about 90% of the time you are making way too much extra noise.

A good teacher - and a good setup will go a long way toward rectifying all the extra, unwanted noise that comes from a poor setup and uncontrolled left and right hand technique.
 
#20
Great subject! An issue for me as well... been struggling with this for awhile. Problem is very aggravated by practice at low volume levels, you (I) can't hear the un-muted strings in practice, but it sure stands out badly when the gain is increased for a rehearsal or gig. The string mutes on my 79 Rick are gone and this bass has huge sustain that really exaggerates any muting problems. Should I fix/replace the string mutes? Just practice more and master the muting challenge? Do basses with bolt-on necks and less sustain exhibit this issue to a lesser degree? I've seen Pro P bass players stick a piece of foam-rubber under the strings just above the bridge to act as a string mute. Is this legit? Thoughts and suggestions please!
 

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