Electric guitar - eliminating unwanted string noise; does Neil have any lessons on this?

[sbutler]

michelew wrote:

Neil gives great advice on muting electric strings in this week's news http://www.totallyguitars.com/forum/145 ... -2013.html it starts at about 11:06 minutes. Thanks so much Neil, that's exactly what I was after.

Thanks

Michele

See, I told ya!

[michelew]

sbutler wrote:

michelew wrote:

Neil gives great advice on muting electric strings in this week's news http://www.totallyguitars.com/forum/145 ... -2013.html it starts at about 11:06 minutes. Thanks so much Neil, that's exactly what I was after.

Thanks

Michele

See, I told ya!

Haha!!!! yes you tooooold me....but didn't teeeeeeell meeee what you were telling me. cheeky man! and here I was thinkin' I was just being really sloppy and imprecise... which may still be true of course.

But, yep! You told me alright. B)

Shel

[michelew]

Neil's advice here is really effective and straightforward. It's making a difference for me already, except when I forget to position my barre-ing finger appropriately. . Very cool.

[daryl]

michelew wrote:

Neil's advice here is really effective and straightforward. It's making a difference for me already, except when I forget to position my barre-ing finger appropriately. . Very cool.

....Skillful, subtle handling of a situation....

[michelew]

Well I can't argue with that.

[BigBear]

Shel- as primarily acoustic players who dabble in electrics (not the other way around) we are challenged by the fact that with acoustics we make noise through percussion on the strings and then the vibrations amplified by the wooden guitar box, primarily the top or sound board.

Electrics pick up the vibrations of the strings and rely on electronic amplification to make sound. My point being that most acoustic players "over play" their electrics. The attack on an electric is very subtle even if the amp is pushing out a lot of sound. Because we use very light strings over very sensitive pickups electric stray sounds get picked up more easily than on our acoustics. So you have to learn to use them to your advantage. Very few electric players use a clean amplified sound. Instead they infuse distortion, compression, reverb, tremolo and a host of other effects. This has the effect of covering up imperfect playing.

So first lesson is back WAY off on your attack. Very light and build up. Let the amp do the work!!

Learn not only palm muting but string muting. Electrics use a lot of the muted "chuck-chuck" sound. Especially if you play power chords where only the top two or three strings are needed. This muted sound is fine for electric music but would be considered poor play on an acoustic.

Learn to play chords differently like an open A chord with your middle finger and not three fingers like we do on an acoustic. And the A shaped barre chords lean toward power chords versus full 6 string chords. If the high E gets muted it's no big deal.

I grew up on an electric and then switched back to an acoustic but when I pull out my Les Paul I have to unlearn a lot of acoustic habits and it takes a bit.

Finally, I LOVE that picture of you!!! Great smile!!! :cheer:

[michelew]

Bear,

Thanks SO much for the great advice. I have to admit that it hadn't really sunk in completely that you need to back way off on the attack because the strings are lighter and especially because the pickups are sensitive (deeeerrrrrrrrrrrr!). Well it had, but it hadn't if you know what I mean. It's bloody obvious when someone points it out to you. It sort of feels counter intuitive since rock/hard rock/metal are the stereotypical genres you think of for electric guitars. But, of course there's the elegant playing that Daryl was eluding to.

So I'll definitely take your advice on board. I've been playing A-barres and I've had to go with a deadened high e string out of necessity. But, my A-shaped barres are improving yeh!!!

Thanks for the nice comments about my profile picture. That's very nice to hear.

Thanks again.

Shel