If you are into playing rock and metal music then you must have heard and know about palm muting, if not then by the end of this post you will know. Planning to switch from acoustic to electric guitar? This is the right time to learn this awesome guitar technique.
What is Palm Muting
Palm-muting is a right-hand guitar technique that requires you to rest your picking hand on the strings ( over the bridge or pickups ) of an electric guitar to partially mute the sound.
For newbies, it can be little ticklish but with time and practice one would be able to master this great technique.
Guitarists like Dave Mustaine, James Hetfield, Paul Gilbert, Mark Morton, Matt Heafy, and much more, use this technique to make riffs and solos.
The Actual Technique ( how to do palm muting on guitar )
To use palm muting, first of all, you need an electric guitar and an amplifier with overdrive or distortion for the best results. Simply rest your picking hand heels over the bridge or pick up of your electric guitar and try to play downstrokes without lifting your palm. This way the sound produced will be thick and heavy, perfect for rock and metal sound. You can experiment with different positions to get a different and unique sound. This technique sounds best when used to play power chords.
How can I Improve my Palm Muting?
Well, there are many ways and exercises that you can use to improve your palm muting. Let’s understand, whenever you play a chord or a note it usually sustains for a few seconds but in palm muting the basic idea is to dampen the sound using the side of the picking hand. To improve your palm muting simply fret ( hold ) a chord and strum down and up while dampening it with your picking hand. Apply this same process when playing a scale. This way you can easily improve your palm muting technique.
As I have already mentioned palm muting is used mostly in rock and metal music so try to use a electric guitar with some overdrive or distortion to take the real feel of it.
Conclusion
There are songs from bands like Megadeth, Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, and many more that used this technique to the extreme. One popular song is Holy Wars by Megadeth, where you actually get to feel the heat of this technique.
In my opinion, the best way to practice palm muting is by practicing these songs over and over.
So, this was my interpretation of this great technique that you must learn and master.
