Muting strings when playing with pick

[johnsmith1261]

Hi!

I know similar questions have been asked here before countless times, but I hope I can get a better understanding by presenting my own specific example.

When playing with a pick, I experience problems with sympathetic vibrations (unwanted ringing strings that are not played or touched).

To be specific, I try to play the intro of The Cure's Secrets.
Here is the tab: The Cure - Secrets (bass tab)

When I play only on strings D and G, at about half of the intro riff, the E string starts to vibrate heavily, so it clearly should be muted somehow. But how should I do that? I would like to learn the proper technique from the start, so please help me.

My instinct is to touch the E and A strings with the fleshy part of my picking hand, that is under my thumb, when I notice some ringing.
I mean this part

Is this a correct technique that I should develop so I get more consistent results or am I just asking for injuries in the long run? How do you do it?

Many thanks,
j

 

[j_nition]

works for me

 

[WarPhalange]

When I play with a pick, I rest my hand on the lower strings anyway. Not squishing them down, mind you, just touching them enough so that I know where my hand is relative to the strings, so that when I want to move to a different string I'll know how far to go, and at the same time to mute the lower strings. Basically, the entire fleshy part of my hand beneath my pinky touches the strings.

 

[fearceol]

Is this a correct technique that I should develop so I get more consistent results or am I just asking for injuries in the long run? How do you do it?

Take some advice/instruction from a master pick player here ( see tips 26 & 27 ) :



http://www.carolkaye.com/www/education/tips1.htm

 

[CameronPutnam]

You could put a hair tie on your strings up against the nut. Depending on how bad it is that should fix it. If I not then I vote for palm muting with the right hand

 

[johnsmith1261]

Thank you for your help!

Also, Carol Kaye's tips were very useful. Unfortunately I normally wear the bass somewhat lower than recommended, which makes hard to use her method 100% correctly.
Nevertheless it would still be a great technique for practicing or making clean recordings in the studio, where I could play while sitting.