Pick players - how do you get tidy, clean staccato notes?

[Ajsweet]

Finger players seem to get beautiful clean note-mutes/staccato notes with a finger mute after plucking.

Pick players who want note mute /staccato notes can release the fretted note, however the mute is not as clean.

Pick players, how do you get tidy and clean staccato notes?

 

[Pyrrho Epoche]

Finger players seem to get beautiful clean note-mutes/staccato notes with a finger mute after plucking.

Pick players who want note mute /staccato notes can release the fretted note, however the mute is not as clean.

Pick players, how do you get tidy and clean staccato notes?

Compressor or roll back sustain.

It is similar to a pianos pedals:

•No pedal equals no sustain.

•Pedal equals sustain.

Also:

 

[superheavyfunk]

Without resorting to effects or sponges, you can practice using your picking hand or your fretting hand to mute notes. I use a combination of both, personally.

If you sling your bass low, it’ll be hard to use your picking hand for anything other than traditional chugging type of muting but if you wear it a bit higher, it’s not that difficult with practice.

With the fretting hand, I use the tips of my free fingers to gently touch the string (a Rocco Prestia trick that I modified) just as I’m lifting my hand to move to another note. Again, practice is key.

Also, a compressor is absolutely the wrong tool, imo. A compressor is meant to even out the level of attack (squish) and increase sustain (if wanted) - you don’t want this if you’re specifically looking for clean muting.

 

[Iristone]

You could mute with your right palm or other fingers. I often do it, it takes just a bit of practice and becomes intuitive.

 

[Ajsweet]

Thanks guys...That's (^^^^^ a combination of right and left hand muting) what I've been kinda getting into with a (right hand) bouncing motion to mute the unfretting.

I'm hoping with practice my unfretting will get really clean and I won't need to do to much right hand muting

Just wondering how others approached this

 

[Pdaddy1978]

Yep... palm mute...near the bridge.

 

[Deleted member 394181]

Left hand mutes the notes played in those instances. It does take some practice obvi.

 

[Ajsweet]

I was hoping there was a better way than using my right palm (picking hand) as I want to emulate the beautiful muting finger players use and enjoy.

And when playing staccato notes , for me , a right hand palm mute is pretty slow and inaccurate to mute the note after unfretting, however, pretty good for keeping the other strings under control.

I think what's really going on in my case is after unfretting a note, the string stills rings/vibrates slightly, (which finger players can mute to dead silence easily and quickly ) and I will try to silence by better fretting (and unfretting) technique.

 

[MartinB]

The right hand technique for silencing a string isn't so different to fingerstyle - instead of pressing a finger against the string to stop it moving, you press the side of the pick against it. Trapping the string between your fingertip* and the pick is even cleaner, if you're not playing a lot of notes in a short space of time.

* Or thumb, depending on whether you've just played a downstroke or an upstroke.

 

[Geogio]

up down, up down, up down, up down... for at least 20 minutes per day.

Once the muscle memory kicks in (might even be a few weeks) break out the metronome and work on getting that to swing - then you're on to something.

 

[SteveCS]

Finger players seem to get beautiful clean note-mutes/staccato notes with a finger mute after plucking.

As a non-pick player (99% fingerstyle) pretty much all of that muting is from the left hand. When playing, stop the string as close to the back edge of the frets as possible, and keep contact with the string as you lift off. For the lift, movement of the fingertip is little more than a mm or so - enough to fully clear the fret quickly without losing contact. Playing on the back edge of the fret will minimise the movement and eliminate fret clank as you lift off. The lift should be very fast and straight up - don't slide around or give the string any reason to start moving. As far as possible, to prevent harmonics ringing out, try to keep more than one finger in contact with the string as you lift.

 

[Ritter667]

Same as when using my fingers.

Lifting the fretting finger from the fret, and thereby damping the string, very shortly after it has been stroked with the pick/right hand finger/fingers.

It's just a matter of practice to get it to sound cleanly.

 

[Deleted member 394181]

I like pick playing. If I have to, ill use a pick. I like playing all different kind of ways, but for some reason, I can't learn Slap.

 

[Ajsweet]

As a non-pick player (99% fingerstyle) pretty much all of that muting is from the left hand. When playing, stop the string as close to the back edge of the frets as possible, and keep contact with the string as you lift off. For the lift, movement of the fingertip is little more than a mm or so - enough to fully clear the fret quickly without losing contact. Playing on the back edge of the fret will minimise the movement and eliminate fret clank as you lift off. The lift should be very fast and straight up - don't slide around or give the string any reason to start moving. As far as possible, to prevent harmonics ringing out, try to keep more than one finger in contact with the string as you lift.

Thanks Steve. I'm working on it