Muting & D major/minor

[simplexify]

Hey ho,

I wanted to ask you nice guys regarding muting the low E (and A) string when playing open chords.
I have been playing for 2 years now and my teacher is not a proponent of string muting. Therefore I never got in the habit, but I feel like it's no good to always think about not hitting the low E string (and eventually you will anyway).

How do you mute your C type chords - thumb or ring finger? And why? :confused:
I tend to go for the "spill-over" technique, because the wrist is more down and the whole shape looks cleaner.

When playing D major/minor I can't get my thumb to mute E AND A strings. What do you do to prevent hitting the A string? Or don't you care at all?

Thanks :)

[screamin eagle]

Well I do care and I can wrap my thumb around to mute the E, but not the A. What I do with a D/d is just strum the top couple of strings, it is a chord that doesn't have much bass in it even with the open D in it, so if I miss the open D when strumming I figure it is better than hitting an open A with it. If I want some more bass to round out the sound than I'll just play a D/d barre chord.

If you can touch an open string with a finger that you are using in a chord than great (like your ring finger in a C), but if you can't than just learn to strum accurately enough that you don't hit that unwanted string--which is a tech. that everyone needs to learn, and is probably what you teacher is trying to teach you, but I do think that once you get the hang of that you do need to learn to mute strings.

You can also mute the E and A strings in a D/d with your strumming hand. Just rest your palm on those two strings when strumming.

If you play around with it for a while, you'll get it.

[screamin eagle]

Well I do care and I can wrap my thumb around to mute the E, but not the A. What I do with a D/d is just strum the top couple of strings, it is a chord that doesn't have much bass in it even with the open D in it, so if I miss the open D when strumming I figure it is better than hitting an open A with it. If I want some more bass to round out the sound than I'll just play a D/d barre chord.

If you can touch an open string with a finger that you are using in a chord than great (like your ring finger in a C), but if you can't than just learn to strum accurately enough that you don't hit that unwanted string--which is a tech. that everyone needs to learn, and is probably what you teacher is trying to teach you, but I do think that once you get the hang of that you do need to learn to mute strings.

You can also mute the E and A strings in a D/d with your strumming hand. Just rest your palm on those two strings when strumming.

If you play around with it for a while, you'll get it.

[Leviskardsen]

I actually do use my thumb to mute out the low E and A, for me it's easy. Some people can do it with little effort, others have to work at it.

[simplexify]

thanks for the help.

i feel, it's REALLY a tech not to hit the low E string.
i'm working on it though.

question:when playing major barre chords with root note on the A string (i.e. C major on the third fret), the high E string is muted too.
only hitting the 4 inner strings is driving me crazy - especially on upstrokes.
any advice?

thanks

[TomServo1]

I'm not very good at it myself, but when doing what you're describing, I find it helps a little to try to hit the strings with a bit of a "scooping" motion in the pick hand. It feels a lot more natural to me since I don't have to think as much about the exact position of my pick.