Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Muting
- Thread starter jcopas
- Start date
so yall dont mute with both hands whenever and wherever its possible?
Of course we do.. but reading the OP and talking about his thumb and being able to find the strings my guess is open strings are ringing below what he's playing or inbetween notes. I don't know about everybody else but my left hand is generally resting on the strings when I'm not playing. This sounds more like the result of that left hand already being in use trying to play a lick.
"Floating Thumb" and "Moveable Anchor" are often confused. Yes, the thumb "floats" in both, but with the former, it does not rest on anything. Have you tried the Floating Thumb ?
i use left hand to mute a lot. especially the d and g strings. when fretting on the E or A string, fingers are muting unfretted strings below if needed.
I do not play with a pick, so palm muting does not really work. I do use right hand fingers to mute when that finger is not plucking....hard to explain. but it works for me.
In contrast, here's the "moveable anchor":
I prefer the floating thumb for two reasons: First, I have the same problem as OP when using moveable anchor, i.e., have trouble smoothly moving my thumb from one string to the next. Second, I find that when my thumb is anchored anywhere, including on a string, I tend to pluck harder than I have to. I'm a strong believer in plucking softly and turning up the amp. With the floating thumb I find it much easier to maintain a soft touch.
There are a few videos on Youtube but the best I've seen is Scott's Bass Lessons (SBL). He covers about 3 or 4 different techniques as well as combinations of them. Gary Willis (mentioned above) is one of the teachers in SBL, so Scott talks about his technique too. You can get a free 14 day trial, which would give you enough time to work through the Technique Deep Dive course in the beginner section. Disclosure: I am not affiliated with SBL in any way but I am a paid up member. I find the materials well presented (I work in L&D myself, so have an interest in how courses are set out), well informed and easy to follow.
Personally I use a combination of the floating thumb and the pinky and ring finger (Jaco style). I used to fret (pardon the pun) about this a lot but a teacher once told me that my hands would eventually find something that works for themselves, which is pretty much what happened.
Personally I use a combination of the floating thumb and the pinky and ring finger (Jaco style). I used to fret (pardon the pun) about this a lot but a teacher once told me that my hands would eventually find something that works for themselves, which is pretty much what happened.
Yes, he hits the nail on the head when he talks about moving the hand with arm movements such that the attitude of the hand wrt the strings doesn't change, only it's position over them.
I use movable anchor. I've only been playing about 2 years and had a rough time with strings ringing out and "gauging" where the strings were (searching with my plucking fingers). Floating thumb was really frustrating so I started using the movable anchor technique. I have small hands and short fingers and if I rested my (plucking hand) thumb on the pickup, it was a bit of a strain reaching for the G string. I needed to to stop doing this because I was slowly developing some pain and discomfort in my plucking hand wrist. That's when the movable anchor came into play. This technique still took me a while to get used to (moving my thumb from the pickup, to the E string, to the A string and at one point I truly thought it was never going to happen. But as someone mentioned earlier in this thread... "practice, practice, practice". I was determined to get this down. It took several weeks of consistent practicing. And then one day, SHAZAM! I was doing it! Just use the inside part of the heel of your thumb to rest against the strings as you are moving up and down, when you are plucking the strings. It will come around; a lot of that depends on how bad you want to achieve it. Good luck and keep at it.
Two main types of muting that I use are right-hand/palm muting and left-hand muting. Palm muting is fairly self explanatory, while left hand muting involves you fretting the note with your index finger while the other three fingers loosely lay on the strings, muting them slightly.
In regards to your thumb position, I'd suggest trying the "floating thumb" technique, where you dont need to rest your thumb on the strings and instead keep them from ringing out with LH/RH muting.
In regards to your thumb position, I'd suggest trying the "floating thumb" technique, where you dont need to rest your thumb on the strings and instead keep them from ringing out with LH/RH muting.
Ha, I had to go play something and look!
Being self taught at the age of 50 thirteen years ago, before all this Internet info was really rolling, I do remember spending a month or so on muting ringers, but it's long since been habitual and those details forgotten. Reading all this technical technique discussion, I'm thinking geez, it's not that hard and it seems like folks way over-think this, and I don't do any of these "proper" things. But adult learning methodology dooes vary tremendously with each individual, so it's cool that all these suggestions are coming in for the OP.
So for what it's worth, here's what I'm doing. I basically keep my thumb on the upper edge of the neck pickup where I spend most of the time, and when I want the edgier bridge sound it goes to rest on the face of that pickup, but up against the E string if not being played. I mostly play with my index finger, then some with the middle and with the ring finger if things get really busy or the index needs a little break.
But I looked, and here my little finger is curled a bit and barely resting on the E most of the time when it's not being played! The darned things lifts up a bit when I do play the string, and goes back down when the note is supposed to be over, all by itself! Huh. That must have been what I found that works back then.
Then I noticed that likewise my left pinky us sometimes sitting lightly on the G and maybe D strings when not doing anything else, and it gets out of the way when playing on those strings as my hand rotates back to fret them.
And then I even noticed that when playing on the A or D that my plucking finger lands on the lower string as a part of plucking the upper one! I had no idea I was doing all this stuff!!!
I don't know if that aligns with anybody's "real" technique, and I really haven't even thought about it in over a decade. Point for the OP being find out whatever works for you most efficiently, naturally and comfortably, and play the heck out of it for a couple of months, and you'll never have to go back and worry about it again.
Being self taught at the age of 50 thirteen years ago, before all this Internet info was really rolling, I do remember spending a month or so on muting ringers, but it's long since been habitual and those details forgotten. Reading all this technical technique discussion, I'm thinking geez, it's not that hard and it seems like folks way over-think this, and I don't do any of these "proper" things. But adult learning methodology dooes vary tremendously with each individual, so it's cool that all these suggestions are coming in for the OP.
So for what it's worth, here's what I'm doing. I basically keep my thumb on the upper edge of the neck pickup where I spend most of the time, and when I want the edgier bridge sound it goes to rest on the face of that pickup, but up against the E string if not being played. I mostly play with my index finger, then some with the middle and with the ring finger if things get really busy or the index needs a little break.
But I looked, and here my little finger is curled a bit and barely resting on the E most of the time when it's not being played! The darned things lifts up a bit when I do play the string, and goes back down when the note is supposed to be over, all by itself! Huh. That must have been what I found that works back then.
Then I noticed that likewise my left pinky us sometimes sitting lightly on the G and maybe D strings when not doing anything else, and it gets out of the way when playing on those strings as my hand rotates back to fret them.
And then I even noticed that when playing on the A or D that my plucking finger lands on the lower string as a part of plucking the upper one! I had no idea I was doing all this stuff!!!
I don't know if that aligns with anybody's "real" technique, and I really haven't even thought about it in over a decade. Point for the OP being find out whatever works for you most efficiently, naturally and comfortably, and play the heck out of it for a couple of months, and you'll never have to go back and worry about it again.
My way i play is keeping the palm straight and muting by putting my smallest (5th.) finger right on string near the bridge, so it gives me small 2 second sustein. That's it.
Buldog echoing "nnnnn" how in the devil do you mute with your palm while plucking? My palm is away from the strings while I'm playing. Would love to see how you do it.
Play clean and more "down" on the strings and play with a little lighter touch. When I play #2 string, I automatically mute the 3rd string. I use my 1st 2 fingers. Do you play the same or are you using your thumb? Or are you slapping?
buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
It's a $&(_$# to photograph your own hand while playing, but this gives an idea. Just roll your wrist back.
One way to "unanchor" your plucking hand would be to play with your thumb like Sting. You don't have to do it all the time. You can mute with your palm. You can incorporate your index and middle like a guitarist. You can hit harder with your thumb like Victor Wooten. You can use your thumbnail like a pick going up and down. You can use your index finger like a pick like Bernard Edwards. You don't need to anchor your thumb. When your thumb is not anchored, it can mute. Happy woodshedding
I don't mute with my plucking thumb often. Or on purpose. I know the "floating thumb" is supposed to be awesome, but I have never mastered it. I am, however, pretty good at muting with my fretting hand.
Don't sweat it.
It comes just natural to me:a combination of left- and right hand fingers that are not in use, resting on the unused strings and my thumb has its own life resting and floating around, between the 3rd and 5th string and has its occasional pluck. Never thought of it as muting, just hated the ringing sound of the unplucked strings and coped with it....
Im a pick play, not that it matters for muting. I use palm and left hand finger tips. I also use a strip of camera case foam under the strings right against the bridge.
